Bill > HR1499

This bill amends the Grand Ronde Reservation Act to clarify and preserve the hunting, fishing, trapping, and animal gathering rights of the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community. The bill maintains the existing Grand Ronde Hunting and Fishing Agreement from 1986, which allows the tribe to continue these activities, while providing flexibility for future modifications through government-to-government agreements between the tribe and the State of Oregon. Importantly, the bill specifies that any new or amended agreements cannot affect, expand, or limit the tribe's existing ancestral, aboriginal, treaty, or statutory rights, and any hunting and fishing rights in future agreements will derive solely from Oregon state authority. The bill also provides for judicial review of the original Consent Decree without being constrained by legal doctrines like res judicata, and explicitly states that the legislation does not determine or define the rights of any Indian Tribe. The bill includes clear definitions of key terms like the Consent Decree and the Grand Ronde Hunting and Fishing Agreement, and references the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act in defining the term "Indian Tribe".

Agriculture and Natural Resources

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1499/all-info