To take certain land in the State of California into trust for the benefit of the Pechanga Band of Indians, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 5682) to take certain land in the State of California into trust for the benefit of the Pechanga Band of Indians, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 5682, the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise to support H.R. 5682, introduced by Congressman Issa, which would place approximately 860 acres of Bureau of Land Management land into trust for the Pechanga Band of Indians.

Located in Temecula, California, the Pechanga Band has a deep desire to protect its ancestral and cultural land. This includes the Pu'eska Mountain, which is central to the Pechanga's creation stories and spiritual life. The Pechanga Band was able to purchase Pu'eska Mountain in 2012 and placed it into trust in 2015.

The 860 acres of BLM-managed land conveyed in this legislation are interspersed within the Pechanga Band's existing holdings, including the Pu'eska Mountain. This unwieldy checkerboard pattern of land ownership has complicated the Pechanga Band's access to and stewardship of its sacred land.

With this transfer, however, the Tribe will consolidate its ownership and will reasonably maintain the land. The legislation requires that the land remain as open space and be used only for cultural and conservation purposes. The bill also includes an explicit prohibition on gaming, pursuant to the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

I want to thank my friend Mr. Issa for working diligently with the Pechanga Band to develop H.R. 5682, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa), the lead sponsor of this bill.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further requests for time. I am prepared to close, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, again, the Pechanga Band of Indians have worked to consolidate their ancestral and cultural land for years. The conveyance authorized by this legislation will unwind much of the checkerboard pattern that has prevented the Pechanga Band from readily accessing its lands, including its most sacred site, the Pu'eska Mountain.

I thank Mr. Issa for his work on this straightforward but important legislation. I support H.R. 5682, and I yield back the balance of my time.

I thank the chairman for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, this is not the first or the second time the Pechanga have reached out to expand these historic and ancestral lands and to preserve them. We have a long track history now of the Pechanga Indians taking into trust and improving the lands that they have purchased or that are transferred.

Previously, the Bureau of Land Management came to us and said: We have land we cannot afford to maintain. It has no value. It is a mountainside. Is there any interest in it by the Native American Tribes in the area? We were pleasantly surprised to discover that, yes, there was. And, in fact, they had for years been clandestinely trying to do what they could to preserve the land.

As many people know, California's Native Americans were landless for many years, displaced by the Spaniards, taken away, and not until Ulysses S. Grant did they begin returning to their ancestral homes.

As a result, there are massive amounts of their historic lands that either lie in private hands or public hands.

Pechanga has bought at its own expense private lands, in this case public lands which are not able to be maintained properly and which would have a cost to the Federal Government. These lands will be taken over and maintained by the Pechanga Band of Native American Indians. That means that the Federal Government saves money through this transfer.

More importantly, their stewardship has, in fact, been good for the surrounding area. As many people know, fires rage in southern California on a regular basis. Land that is not properly maintained, especially with low-lying, highly flammable shrubbery, burns quickly and spreads to surrounding areas. Under the Pechanga stewardship, that will be partially abated and, in fact, managed.

Lastly, Pechanga at its own expense has built a large fire department, one that maintains these lands as well or better than the surrounding communities. That means for Temecula, Riverside County, and other areas, again, this is a savings at the expense of the Tribe. They do this because of the importance of the land to their people.

For that reason, I ask that this be moved forward positively on behalf of the Federal Government's benefit and the benefit of our Native Americans.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in support of H.R. 5682, which will return ancestral homelands in southern California to the Pechanga Band of Indians. The lands that would be returned under this bill are located within the Pu'eska Mountain, a sacred site with cultural, historic, and religious significance to the Tribe.

In the mid-2000s, the Tribe fought tirelessly to protect these lands from destructive mining that would have destroyed the mountain. They ultimately purchased and took into trust much of these lands.

In addition to the Tribe, the Bureau of Land Management holds several parcels on the mountain, including approximately 1,261 acres adjacent to the Tribe's trust land.

H.R. 5682 will take these lands into trust for the benefit of the Tribe, consolidating most of the mountain into Tribal trust land and allowing the Tribe to steward their ancestral lands.

I urge my colleagues to support the passage of this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.