The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is formally opposing a bill in the state legislature that could impact the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians’ bid to annex 1,400 acres of tribal property under the federal fee-to-trust process.
Since last year, the tribe members petitioned lawmakers for legislation allowing them to transfer property they own near the intersection of highways 246 and 135—commonly referred to as Camp 4—into federal trust. The process would essentially make the land exempt from state and local laws and taxes.
An amendment to Senate Bill 162, introduced on May 21, would prohibit state agencies from “opposing specified fee-to-trust land acquisition applications.” The bill, co-authored by Republican state senators Joel Anderson (R-Temecula) and Mark Wyland (R-Carlsbad), as well as Assemblyman Martin Garrick (R-Solana Beach), would also define a federally recognized Indian tribe as one appearing on a register by the Secretary of the Interior. The department’s list currently includes the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians.
In response to the bill, Santa Barbara County supervisors have sent a letter, dated June 11 and authored by 3rd District Supervisor Doreen Farr, to Anderson and other state legislators voicing the county’s opposition on grounds it doesn’t “fully provide for the voice and commentary from all impacted.”
“The County of Santa Barbara recognizes the need for local governments, the State, and tribal governments to work within local land use, and public engagement process, as well as all environmental review required by CEQA, when considering future development of any magnitude,” the letter reads. “However, SB 162 summarily ignores the critical need for review and comment by the State on housing, environmental protection, and cultural preservation. Taking fee land-into-trust has significant impacts at the local level which is critical to provide public safety and other critical services to all served by the County.”
Introduced in the state Senate in Feb. 2011, SB 162 originally addressed Indian gaming. Senators passed it unanimously last May, and it sat inactive in the Assembly for a year before being amended earlier this spring.
In a separate letter to her constituents in the Santa Ynez Valley, Farr wrote the bill would effectively silence state officials from opposing future fee-to-trust acquisitions. She also objected to what she characterized as a last-minute “stealth maneuver” on the part of legislators to avoid public scrutiny.
“The authors of the bill claim the “gut and amend” was done in response to something that occurred to a tribe in San Diego County which they represent,” Farr wrote. “However, clearly, if signed into law, this bill would have enormous impacts across the state in any county where tribes are interested in acquiring more land through the fee to trust process.”
SB 162 is currently undergoing a review by an Assembly committee. It must clear the Appropriations committee, and the full Assembly and Senate by Aug. 31 to be enacted into law.
Tribal spokeswoman Nerissa Sugars said the tribe had no comment on the legislation.
