Bill Text: CA AB1284 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Tribal ancestral lands and waters: cogovernance and comanagement agreements.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-05-01 - Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. [AB1284 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1284-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Tribal ancestral lands and waters: cogovernance and comanagement agreements.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2024-05-01 - Referred to Com. on N.R. & W. [AB1284 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB1284-Introduced.html
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 1284
| Introduced by Assembly Member Ramos |
February 16, 2023 |
An act relating to Native American tribes.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1284, as introduced, Ramos.
Tribal ancestral lands and waters.
Existing law governs various interactions between the state and federally recognized Native American tribes within the state. Existing law encourages and authorizes state agencies, as defined, to cooperate with federally recognized California Indian tribes on matters of economic development and improvement for the tribes.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that recognizes the Natural Resources Agency’s ability to enter into cogovernance and management agreements with federally recognized Indian tribes and authorizes the agency to do so.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) California’s Native Americans have always been the stewards of California’s land and waters.
(b) California’s Native Americans have distinct cultural, spiritual, environmental, economic, and public health interests, and hold indigenous traditional knowledge relating to natural systems in California.
(c) Federally recognized tribes in California have the sovereign governance authority to enter into agreements with other sovereigns.
(d) Executive Order No. N-15-19 acknowledges and
apologizes on behalf of the State of California for the historical “violence, exploitation, dispossession and attempted destruction of tribal communities” and the subsequent removal of California Native Americans from their ancestral lands.
(e) Executive Order No. N-15-19 reaffirms and incorporates by reference the principle of government-to-government engagement established by Executive Order No. B-10-11 and the state’s commitment to strengthening effective government-to-government relationships with tribes.
(f) Executive Order No. B-10-11 recognizes and reaffirms the inherent right of California’s Native American tribes to exercise sovereign authority over their members and territory.
(g) Governor Newsom’s Statement of Administration Policy on Native American Ancestral Lands seeks “opportunities to support
California tribe’s co-management of and access to” lands that are within tribal ancestral territories and under the ownership or control of the state.
(h) The purpose of the Statement of Administration Policy on Native American Ancestral Lands is to partner with tribes to, among other things, facilitate comanagement and support tribal self-determination and self-governance.
(i) California’s 30x30 Initiative is committed to strengthening tribal partnerships, including the development of opportunities for “meaningful and mutually beneficial tribal management and tribal co-management within new and existing state lands, marine waters, and private lands, through formal agreements and other means.”
(j) The Fish and Game Commission has adopted the following definition of comanagement: A collaborative effort established
through an agreement in which two or more sovereigns mutually negotiate, define, and allocate amongst themselves the sharing of management functions and responsibilities for a given territory, area, or set of natural resources.
