TRIBAL ALERT!
URGENT!!!  TESTIMONY AND SUPPORT LETTERS NEEDED FOR MAY 7, 2003 SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING RELATING TO THE PROBATE 
AND INHERITANCE OF INDIAN TRUST LANDS
May 1, 2003

California Indian Legal Services (CILS) has just learned that the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has scheduled a hearing on S. 550, the Indian Probate Reform Act, and other important amendments to the Indian Land Consolidation Act. This bill contains a provision that is of extreme importance to California Indians and Indian tribes. S. 550 defines who is a California Indian for purposes of inheriting trust land in very broad terms. This definition of "California Indian" will guarantee that our Indian elders can leave their trust lands to their children and grandchildren, and that California trust allotments will remain in trust.

The 2000 amendments to the Indian Land Consolidation Act, which have not yet taken effect, would result in much of California’s scarce trust lands passing out of trust. As applied in California, the 2000 amendments would act as another termination bill – with possibly even more devastating results, as more Indian lands and more Indians would be affected than in the original Termination Acts. S. 550’s broader definition of Indian in general, and its specific definition of "California Indian," would undo the threat of the 2000 amendments and secure the definition of "California Indian" which would otherwise be subject to the Secretary of the Interior’s discretion under the original Indian Land Consolidation Act. CILS strongly supports S. 550 for this reason.

We urge you to contact the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs via fax to both (202) 228-2589 (Majority side) and (202) 224-5429 (Minority side) or via e-mail to testimony@indian.senate.gov to express your opinion on this bill. Written testimony is generally accepted up until noon two days before a scheduled hearing; in this case, until 12 noon Eastern Time (9 a.m. Pacific Time) on Wednesday, May 21, 2003.

CILS believes very strongly that California tribes and California Indians should support S. 550, especially with special provisions pertaining to California. For further information, please contact CILS Executive Director Michael S. Pfeffer at (510) 919-8503 or CILS Washington D.C. Office Directing Attorney Lisa C. Oshiro at (202) 255-5643.

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