California Indian Legal Services continues its long-standing relationship with and assistance to the Advisory Council on California Indian Policy (ACCIP) in advocating for major policy changes in the way the federal government deals with the unique problems and needs of California’s federally recognized, terminated, and unacknowledged tribes. The ACCIP, created by federal statute in 1992, reports directly to Congress and the Secretaries of Interior and Health and Human Services on the social, economic, and political status of California Indians. The ACCIP’s efforts have brought increased attention to the special needs of the California tribes and individual Indians within the Congress, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other federal agencies by examining the effectiveness of the policies and programs of the United States that affect California Indians; by identifying the unique unmet needs of the California Indians; and by reporting on the inadequacy of the services, programs, and facilities being provided to California Indian tribes compared to those being provided to Indian tribes nationwide.

CILS began its relationship with the ACCIP shortly after the Council commenced its work in 1993 and thereafter assisted the ACCIP in completing and submitting its final report and recommendations to Congress regarding the special problems of California Indians. Later, CILS represented the ACCIP in its successful effort to extend its term through March 2000 and expand its mandate to include implementation of the ACCIP recommendations to Congress and the Secretaries of Interior and Health and Human Services. Currently, CILS represents the ACCIP in its ongoing efforts to obtain regulatory and legislative implementation of the recommendations included in its report to Congress.

In its report to Congress, the ACCIP made extensive recommendations in the areas of federal acknowledgment, termination, health, education, natural and cultural resources protection, trust responsibility, economic development, and community services. Included in these were recommendations for: creation of a fairer process for the review of petitions for federal acknowledgment filed by California’s many unacknowledged tribes; legislative restoration of the remaining terminated California tribes; policy and legislative changes that will eliminate the long-standing institutional discrimination against, and provide for more equitable treatment of, California tribes in the funding and development of federal Indian programs and services in California; and reconsideration of federal land policies in California to provide opportunities for landless and land-poor California Indian tribes to reacquire areas of their original homelands currently under federal ownership or management for housing, economic development, and natural and cultural resources protection and preservation. Many of these recommendations will be included in a draft California Indian omnibus bill that the ACCIP hopes to have introduced during the current session of Congress.

The ACCIP is striving to ensure that the federal policies and legislative and regulatory standards that guide the Federal-Indian relationship into the 21st Century will provide greater protection and more equitable treatment of the California Indians than those that have prevailed throughout this century. CILS is proud to assist and participate with the ACCIP in this important endeavor.

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