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Posted on 08/28/2003 10:00:47 AM PDT by Bernard Marx
August 26, 2003
Amid the chaos of the budget crisis and the recall election of Gov. Gray Davis, the Legislature is about to set up a powerful new regulatory agency in an effort to protect Indian sacred sites.
While the sacred places of Native Americans should be protected, the imperious method chosen by lawmakers and the haste with which this new bureaucracy is being formed would scare Californians – if they knew about it. By rushing the sacred sites bill through in the last days of the legislative session, lawmakers are severely restricting public debate on the measure. The law of unintended consequences is sure to broadside the people of California shortly after the bill goes into effect.
Senate Bill 18 would empower the Native American Heritage Commission to regulate development on any land that includes or is close to an Indian sacred site. This would add a new, lengthy and costly regulatory process onto the already complex California Environmental Quality Act. There's no distance limit between a project and a sacred site, so the Native American Heritage Commission could have power over projects that are quite removed from the sacred site itself.
What's more, the bill includes very questionable secrecy provisions. It would make it a crime for anybody engaged in identifying a sacred site and gauging its importance to divulge any information about it to the public. The Native American Heritage Commission could conduct its proceedings on sites, including proposed mitigation measures required of developers, in secret. This would violate the public's right to know about the process of government. And it could prevent property owners from learning if there are sacred sites on or near their land until the commission acted against a project on that property.
Gov. Gray Davis vetoed a very similar bill last year but supports this year's effort. The current bill is co-authored by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, and Sen. Denise Ducheny, D-San Diego.
There's so much about this new regulatory process that hasn't even been considered by the governor and lawmakers. For example, who is going to pay for it?
Complying with new sacred sites regulations on top of environmental regulations would add costs for both property owners and public agencies planning development and construction. Not only would building a new house possibly become more expensive, but so would building a new school or road. When revising a general plan for a region or specific plan for a development, cities and counties would have to consult with the commission first. Who will pay those public costs?
And just how far will the new commission expand its reach? Will it insinuate itself far afield from proposed developments, if it could argue that the developments would affect sacred sites? It certainly could.
There's a much better way to proceed. Instead of this heavy-handed approach, funding could be established, using tribal and public resources, to protect sacred sites identified by the Native American Heritage Commission. These sites could be set aside as preserves, administered by the commission. The answer to protecting sacred sites need not be a powerful new state regulatory commission whose costs will be borne by property owners and local governments.
The Palm Springs (CA) Desert Sun newspaper says that provision has been eliminated. Now there appears to be NO distance limit: it could be more than five miles!
"Proponents did make one change in attempt to pacify critics. They dropped a proposed five-mile zone around sacred sites for tribal notification of development projects. Critics, however, said that change could make the process even more uncertain, possibly expanding the area around a proposed development that would be subject to the new review process."
The Kaus File comments: "What's more, the bill includes very questionable secrecy provisions. It would make it a crime for anybody engaged in identifying a sacred site and gauging its importance to divulge any information about it to the public. [Emphasis added]"
I'm in the same position as you. But this is the camel's nose under the tent. If this is allowed in CA, it'll only be a brief time before it's the law of the land. America is being deconstructed and it's starting in the CA legislature.
You are right on with this assessment and the cynicism is appropriate. No group has ever played the sacred site card like the American tribes. Hell, they even invoked it when it was proposed to place Hubbell's ashes on the moon.
The legislature has no hair!
Probably not all that many. But with their new-found casino wealth they're among the biggest contributors to the state Democrat Party. When they beat their drums Davis and the legislature start the old tribal campaign contribution dance.
It's been scalped.
Yeah...like that gay "marriage" bill. Whoops, that was Vermont. And the Ten Commandments stuff....whoops, that was Alabama. It's true that California has a very far Left Wing legislature. But a vast majority of its members are transplants from the other states.
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