And now:[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Sat, 9 Oct 1999 08:44:02 EDT Subject: HR 1814 Anit-Indain Bill in Congress Everyone PLEASE write or otherwise contact your House of Representative to STOP this bill before it gets any further! The Anti-Indian forces are still at work and we must be diligent! Together we will prevail! (This notice came from the Pechanga Gaming newsletter of Victor Roacha). Walk in Balance, Carol HR 1814 IH 106th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 1814 To provide incentives for Indian tribes to collect and pay lawfully imposed State sales taxes on goods sold on tribal lands and to provide for penalties against Indian tribes that do not collect and pay such State sales taxes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 13, 1999 Mr. VISCLOSKY (for himself, Mr. ISTOOK, Mr. SANDLIN, Mr. LAHOOD, Mr. ROEMER, Mr. MCINTOSH, Mr. SKELTON, Mr. COBLE, Mr. SOUDER, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. HOSTETTLER, Mrs. EMERSON, Mr. NEY, Mr. NETHERCUTT, Mr. HILL of Montana, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. TANCREDO, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. ROTHMAN, Mr. BUYER, Mr. GRAHAM, and Mr. CANADY of Florida) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A BILL To provide incentives for Indian tribes to collect and pay lawfully imposed State sales taxes on goods sold on tribal lands and to provide for penalties against Indian tribes that do not collect and pay such State sales taxes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. INCENTIVE FOR INDIAN TRIBES TO ENSURE COLLECTION OF STATE SALES TAXES. Priority among Indian tribes competing for Federal grants shall be given to Indian tribes that certify, through a process established by the Secretary in consultation with the States, that retail establishments operating on trust lands within a tribe's jurisdiction are collecting and paying to the appropriate State all qualified State retail taxes. SEC. 2. CERTIFICATION OF FAILURE TO PAY TAX. If an Indian or Indian tribe consistently and willfully fails-- (1) to pay any qualified State retail tax on any retail item sold, by a retail establishment located on land that is held in trust for the benefit of the Indian or Indian tribe, to a person who is not either a member of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land is held in trust or a member of the same Indian tribe as the Indian for whom the land is held in trust; (2) to make equal payment to the State in lieu of such qualified State retail tax; or (3) to make payment to a State pursuant to a compact governing the payment of qualified State retail tax between the Indian or Indian tribe and the State, then the Governor or the Attorney General of the State may document and certify such failure to the Assistant Secretary and request that the land upon which the structure which houses the retail establishment is located be taken out of trust status. SEC. 3. NOTICE OF REQUEST; COMMENT PERIOD. (a) NOTICE- (1) FEDERAL REGISTER- Not later than 30 days after receiving documentation, certification, and a request from the Governor or attorney general of a State in accordance with section 2, the Assistant Secretary shall publish notice of the request and the reason therefor in the Federal Register. (2) OTHER NOTICE- Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate rules to ensure prompt notification of any Indian or Indian tribe regarding whose land a request for removal from trust has been made under section 2, the time and manner in which the Indian or Indian tribe has to respond to the request, and the Indian or Indian tribe's rights regarding the request. (b) COMMENT PERIOD- The Assistant Secretary shall provide a period of 90 days after the publication pursuant to subsection (a) for interested persons to submit comments on the request. (c) HEARING- (1) IN GENERAL- If a request is made under this Act for removal of an Indian or Indian tribe's land from trust, the Indian or Indian tribe may request a timely hearing on the request to remove such land from trust. (2) TIME PERIOD- If a hearing is requested under paragraph (1) not later than 60 days after the publication pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary shall grant the hearing request. A hearing under this paragraph shall be held not later than the expiration of the 90-day period provided for comment under subsection (b). (3) REGULATIONS- Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to implement this section. SEC. 4. INVESTIGATION; PUBLICATION OF FINDINGS. (a) INVESTIGATION- Upon receipt of documentation, certification, and a request from the Governor or attorney general of a State in accordance with section 2, the Assistant Secretary shall begin an investigation to verify that the Indian or Indian tribe consistently and willfully failed to make payment described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 2 as documented and certified by the Governor or attorney general of the State. (b) DETERMINATION- Not later than 60 days after the completion of the 90-day notice and comment period required by subsections 2(a) and 2(b), the Assistant Secretary shall publish the results of the investigation in the Federal Register. SEC. 5. REMOVAL OF LAND FROM TRUST. (a) IN GENERAL- If the Assistant Secretary determines pursuant to section 4 that an Indian or Indian tribe consistently and willfully failed to make payment described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 2 in relation to any retail item sold by a retail establishment located on land that is held in trust for the benefit of the Indian or Indian tribe to a person who is not either a member of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land is held in trust or a member of the same Indian tribe as the Indian for whom the land is held in trust, the Assistant Secretary shall inform the Secretary of such determination. Upon receipt of such determination, the Secretary shall remove from trust status such land as the Secretary determines to constitute the extent of the retail operations. (b) EFFECT OF REMOVAL FROM TRUST- Removal of land from trust under this Act shall eliminate tribal authority regarding taxation and make the property subject to all applicable State and local sales taxes on goods purchased on such land regardless of the purchaser's status as a tribal member. (c) EFFECT OF PAYMENT OR AGREEMENT TO PAY- If, before the Secretary removes land from trust status pursuant to subsection (a), the Indian or Indian tribe that was determined to have failed to make payment described in paragraph (1), (2), r (3) of section 2, makes all such payments to the State or enters into an agreement with the State to make such payment, the Governor or attorney general of the State, the Indian, or the Indian tribe may inform the Assistant Secretary of such payment or agreement and request that the land not be removed from trust status. If the Governor or the attorney general of a State so requests, the Assistant Secretary shall immediately inform the Secretary of the request and the land shall not be removed from trust status unless new documentation, certification, and a new request is submitted, published, and investigated in accordance with this Act. (d) APPEAL OF DECISION- The Secretary's determination under this section shall be final agency action for purposes of judicial review. We) TRUST STATUS RESTORED- The Secretary shall take into trust for the benefit of an Indian or an Indian tribe any land that was held in trust for that Indian or Indian tribe but was taken out of trust in accordance with the provisions of this Act, if each State in which such land is located certifies to the Secretary that, for not less than 1 year following such removal, the Indian or Indian tribe has made all applicable payments described in section 2 to the State or has entered into an agreement with the State to make such payment. SEC. 6. ELIGIBILITY FOR BENEFITS. For the purposes of the delivery of services and benefits furnished to federally recognized Indian tribes and members of such tribes, land taken out of trust pursuant to this Act shall be considered part of the service area of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land was held in trust or the Indian tribe of the Indian on whose behalf the land was held in trust. SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. For the purposes of this Act-- (1) the term `Assistant Secretary' means the Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs; (2) the term `Indian' means any individual who is a member of an Indian tribe; (3) the term `Indian tribe' means any federally recognized Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized group or community, excluding any Alaska Native village or regional corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act; (4) the term `qualified State retail tax' means a lawfully imposed, nondiscriminatory State excise or sales tax on any retail item sold by a retail establishment located on land that is held in trust for the benefit of the Indian or Indian tribe to a person who is not either a member of the Indian tribe on behalf of which the land is held in trust or a member of the same Indian tribe as the Indian for whom the land is held in trust; and (5) the term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the Interior. SEC. 8. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, not less than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall issue interim rules to implement the provisions of this Act. END Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine of international copyright law. &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&& Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit) Unenh onhwa' Awayaton http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/ &&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
