The California Rancheria Termination Acts refer to three acts of Congress and an amendment passed in the 1950s and 1960s as part of the US Indian termination policy . The three Acts, passed in 1956, 1957, and 1958 targeted 41 Rancherias for termination. An additional seven were added via an amendment in 1964. Including three previous terminations, 46 of the 51 targeted Rancherias were successfully terminated. Through litigation and legislation, over 30 Rancherias have been restored and at least five are still working to be.
34-598: The first termination occurred on 29 March 1956 for the Koi Nation of the Lower Lake Rancheria in two laws, Public Law 443 [H. R. 585] 70 Stat. 58 and Public Law 751 [H. R. 11163] 70 Stat. 595 which amended the description of the property. Lake County purchased the Lower Lake Rancheria property to build an airport and the tribal position was that though they were landless, they had not been officially terminated. Indian Health program records, however, show that
68-465: A "gift" from the government. The tribe was terminated on March 28, 1956 by two laws, Public Law 443 [H. R. 585] 70 Stat. 58 and Public Law 751 [H. R. 11163] 70 Stat. 595. Indian Health program records similarly show termination as of that date, with no tribal members eligible for services. The termination was part of the Indian termination policy of the mid-1940s to mid-1960s, and specifically part of
102-506: A $ 600 million casino resort. Koi Nation attorneys filed an application to place the land into trust with the federal government, to make it eligible for casino construction under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act . The development would be about 1.2 million square feet and have about 2,000 employees when completed, according to a spokesman for the tribe. The tribe has declined to provide the names of any investors in
136-619: A class action case. On 19 July 1983 a U.S.District Court in Tillie Hardwick, et al. v. United States of America, et al. Case #C-79-1710-SW ordered federal recognition of 17 of California's Rancherias. The Hardwick decision restored more terminated tribes than any other single case in California and prompted the majority of the terminated Rancherias to pursue federal restoration. Of the 46 terminated Rancherias 27 have been restored, one (Coyote Valley) didn't need restoration because it
170-717: A determination from the Chairman that the Nation was a restored tribe within the meaning of 25 U.S.C. 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii). On June 18, 2008, the Chairman disapproved the ordinance. He deferred to a December 29, 2000, determination of the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, which reaffirmed the government-to-government relationship between the Nation and the United States and found that the Nation had never been terminated. Moreover, he said that determinations about
204-478: A fund which distributes payments to federally-recognized tribes which operate fewer than 350 gaming devices. Payments started in 2001, and through June 30, 2021, the Koi Nation had received $ 21.39 million. In July 2023, the Koi Nation sued the city of Clearlake , seeking to delay the city's development of a sports complex on 25 acres (10 ha) of land. The tribe argued that a full CEQA environmental review
238-470: A historic Ghost Dance . By 1871, their homes had been burned and destroyed by European-Americans. Disease, enslavement, and murder greatly reduced their population. By the beginning of the 1900s, tribal members were primarily living around Santa Rosa, Windsor, and Sebastopol. As of 2021, the Koi Nation has 90 members, most of whom live in Sonoma County. The Koi became a recognized tribe in 1916,
272-541: A portion of the assets were ineligible to receive any more federal services rendered to them based on their status as Indians. In 1957–58, a State Senate Interim Committee investigation revealed that little had been done to prepare Indian reserves for termination. In 1958, the Rancheria Termination Act was enacted. A memo from the Department of Interior shows the insufficiency of the notice given
306-529: A set of Congressional acts that targeted 51 Rancherias in California . The tribal position was that though they were landless, they had not been officially terminated. After years of attempting to have their status reaffirmed, the Bureau of Indian Affairs , "citing oversights in official records", again recognized the tribe on December 29, 2000. At the time, the tribe consisted of 53 members, mostly children. In California, tribes with gaming operations pay into
340-613: Is currently recognized, and at least five Rancherias are still trying to restore their federal status. The ACCIP Termination Report: The Continuing Destructive Effects of the Termination Policy on California Indians , (ACCIP Termination Report) prepared by the Advisory Council on California Indian Policy in September, 1997 lists 7 additional reservations which were terminated as a result of the 1964 Amendments to
374-428: Is planned to have 2,500 gaming machines, a 400-room hotel, six restaurant and food service areas, a meeting center and spa, and a live entertainment venue. In 2022, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) began preparation of an Environmental Assessment (EA) to analyze the potential environmental consequences of the proposed fee-to-trust transfer of the Sonoma County property, including a comment period in mid-2022. The EA
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#1732782526469408-681: Is restored to Federal recognition.” [25 U.S.C. § 2719(b)(1)(B)(iii)]. On January 19, 2017, DOI denied the tribe's eligibility for the IGRA exception. In January 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the tribe was in fact eligible. In 2005, the tribe officially announced its plans to build a world-class tribal government gaming facility, resort and spa near the Oakland International Airport . The Tribe's Crystal Bay Casino, Resort & Spa project
442-562: The 19th century, European-Americans occupied Pomo lands in large numbers. The US government signed two treaties with Pomos in 1851–1852 which defined Pomo territory; however, these treaties were never ratified by Congress. In 1856, the US government forcibly removed many Pomo people to a reservation in Mendocino County ; however, the Koi remained on their island. In 1870, Koi people attended
476-629: The Articles of Association. The tribe is governed by a democratically elected five-person community council. In March 2008, the tribe submitted a gaming ordinance for the National Indian Gaming Commission (NICG) Chairman's review and approval. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), 25 U.S.C. 2710(b), requires the NIGC Chairman to review and approve (or disapprove) tribal gaming ordinances. The ordinance sought
510-768: The California Indians, which was simply posted on the Rancheria for 30 days. In many testimonies, like that of the Nisenan of the Nevada City Rancheria , plaintiffs alleged that BIA officials spoke only to whoever was occupying the homestead at the time, rather than consulting with Indians living in the surrounding area. In 1964, an amendment to the California Rancheria Termination Act (78 Stat. 390 )
544-719: The Clear Lake in what is now Lake County , and migrated seasonally to the California coast. The "Purvis Tract" is located on the Northwest corner of the Clear Lake. For thousands of years, the Nation lived under the Purvis Tract. In that time, the nation continued to assert its unique identity and maintain control of its area. The Koi people were among the Southeastern Pomo who lived in north-central California for millennia. They fished, hunted, and gathered. In
578-495: The Koi Nation, this may have been a recording error, as the tribe is a federally recognized entity. One final Rancheria appears to have been terminated prior to the 1958 Act. According to the Indian Health program records, Laguna Rancheria was terminated effective 4 February 1958. On 18 August 1958, Congress passed the California Rancheria Termination Act, Public Law 85-671 (72 Stat. 619 ). The act called for
612-611: The National Archives regional center in San Bruno show that in 1953, when Lake County expressed interest in acquiring the land for an airport, the only two Indians living on Purvis Flats were a couple, Harry Johnson and his wife, Isabella. A special Act of Congress in 1956 gave 99 acres (40 ha) to the county for the airport, and the remaining 41 acres (17 ha), occupied by the Johnsons, became their private property,
646-545: The Rancheria Act, the source of this discrepancy is unknown. Many tribes expressed dissatisfaction with termination immediately. Federal failures to live up to promised improvements and educational opportunities that were supposed to be part of an agreement to accept termination led eventually to lawsuits calling to reverse terminations. The first successful challenge was for the Robinson Rancheria which
680-472: The Rancheria Act, which did not list them by name. Koi Nation The Koi Nation of the Lower Lake Rancheria is a federally recognized tribe of Southeastern Pomo people in northern California . Their name for their tribe is Koi Nation of Northern California , from their traditional village, Koi , once located on an island in Clear Lake . Koi, meaning people of water, lived on islands in
714-564: The city between $ 10 million and $ 20 million a year, along with generating thousands of jobs. In January 2015 the Vallejo City Council voted to reject all gambling proposals and to concentrate solely on industrial proposals for the site. In September 2021, the tribe announced that it had purchased a 68-acre vineyard (28 ha) site on unincorporated county land on the southeast border of Windsor, California , north of Santa Rosa , for $ 12.3 million, and planned to turn it into
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#1732782526469748-402: The distribution of all 41 rancheria communal lands and assets to individual tribe members. It called for a plan "for distributing to individual Indians the assets of the reservation or Rancheria, including the assigned and the unassigned lands, or for selling such assets and distributing the proceeds of sale, or conveying such assets to a corporation or other legal entity organized or designed by
782-626: The government-to-government relationships between the United States and Indian tribes are made by the Secretary of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 2006, 2009, and 2014, the tribe requested from the Department of the Interior (DOI) a determination that the tribe qualified to conduct gaming on lands taken into trust, as part of “the restoration of lands for an Indian tribe that
816-422: The group, or for conveying such assets to the group, as tenants in common." Before the land could be distributed, the act called for a government survey of land on the rancheria. The government was required to improve or construct all roads serving the rancheria, to install or rehabilitate irrigation, sanitation, and domestic water systems, and to exchange land held in trust for the rancheria. All Indians who received
850-626: The project. In January 2022, the tribe announced a pre-development agreement with the Chickasaw Nation , a much larger tribe that owns 23 casinos in Oklahoma. The agreement calls for Global Gaming Solutions, a wholly-owned Chickasaw business, to manage and operate the proposed facility. In February 2022, the tribe announced an agreement with the Northern California Carpenters Union, for the site, which
884-747: The sale of the Coyote Valley Rancheria by the Secretary of the Interior to the Secretary of the Army for the Russian River Basin project to build the Coyote Valley Dam. Though this band was relocated a few miles away to the Coyote Valley Reservation, records of the Indian Health program show that it was terminated and all tribal members were ineligible for further services as of 10 July 1957. Like
918-513: The tribe was officially terminated as of 29 March 1956 and no tribal members were eligible for services. After years of attempting to have their status reaffirmed, the Bureau of Indian Affairs "citing oversights in official records", recognized the tribe on 29 December 2000. The second termination occurred on 10 July 1957 when the Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians was displaced with passage of Public Law 85-91 71 Stat. 283 authorizing
952-557: The year the federal government bought 140 acres (57 ha), known as Purvis Flats, near the town of Clearlake in Lake County, and designated it as the Lower Lake Rancheria . An official of the Bureau of Indian Affairs described it as "a rock pile," and it remained uninhabited until a handful of Indians took up residence there in the 1940s. Seven tribal families lived on the rancheria in 1950. Records on file at
986-896: Was 22 March 1977 and it was followed by 5 others: the Hopland Rancheria was restored 29 March 1978; The Upper Lake Rancheria was restored 15 May 1979; the Table Bluff Rancheria was restored 21 September 1981; the Big Sandy Rancheria was restored 28 March 1983; and the Table Mountain Rancheria was restored in June, 1983. Each of these decisions only pertained to one reservation. The success of these suits and frustration with unmet promises, caused Tillie Hardwick in 1979 to consult with California Indian Legal Services, who decided to make
1020-561: Was enacted, terminating additional rancheria lands. Overall, then, there were 3 rancherias terminated prior to Public Law 85-671, 41 mentioned in Public Law 85-671, an additional 7 included in the amendment of 1964 and 5 that were never terminated but were listed, correcting the number of California Rancherias terminated from the oft-cited 41 to 46 total terminations. The Bureau of Indian Affairs states that while 41 Rancherias were slated for termination ultimately only 38 were terminated under
1054-574: Was funded by Florida real estate developer Alan Ginsburg . Facing community opposition, the tribe dropped its plans. In late 2014, the tribe was one of eight applicants for the development of a site in Vallejo, California , which had been part of the Mare Island Naval Shipyard ; four applications involved Indian gambling. The tribe partnered with developer Cordish Company for a proposed $ 850 million project, promising to pay
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1088-716: Was issued in late 2023; in March 2024, the BIA decided that an environmental impact statement (EIS), a more comprehensive assessment, was required. In addition to the EIS, a determination is needed as to whether the project meets the requirements of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. The final major regulatory step would be for the tribe to negotiate a gaming compact with the state of California. Hopland Rancheria Too Many Requests If you report this error to
1122-467: Was required, instead of a mitigated negative declaration by the city. The Lower Lake Rancheria is headquartered in Santa Rosa, California . In 1961, the tribe organized under the Articles of Association. In 1994, a new tribal government apparently was formed to make a claim for Pearce Field, a small airport which Lake County closed that year. In June 2008, a new Constitution was ratified, replacing
1156-620: Was said to create an estimated 4,440 new jobs, 2,200 directly, annual payroll approaching $ 80 million and $ 1 billion in overall annual economic activity for the local area. The Tribe also began talks with the city to explore potential benefits the project could bring to the local economy. Discussions included a proposal for annual payments from the Tribe to mitigate impacts to city services, including funding for additional police and fire protection, reimbursement for lost property taxes and parking tax revenue, and road and traffic improvements. The proposal
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