Sec. 502. Sense of Congress
363 words·~2 min read·
/bill/117/hr/9439/ih/section-502A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
It is the sense of Congress that— Congress should determine and provide the funding needed to meet the essential utilities and core infrastructure needs on Tribal lands, such as electricity, water, telecommunications, and roads; Congress should— provide direct, mandatory funding to Indian tribes and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands; and allow Indian tribes and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to leverage Federal funding; in cases in which Federal infrastructure projects occur on or affect Tribal lands or Tribal or Native Hawaiian communities, the Federal Government should engage in, as applicable— consistent, transparent, and deferential consultation with Indian tribes; and consistent, transparent, and deferential collaboration with the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands and Native Hawaiian organizations; the Federal Government should include Tribal sovereignty principles for Indian tribes to manage and self-govern natural resources, including electromagnetic spectrum over Tribal lands, in accordance with the Federal trust responsibility and acknowledgment of their sovereignty, to promote economic development and self-management of those modern natural resources; the Federal Government should clarify the inherent ownership by Indian tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations of spectrum licenses and spectrum over Tribal lands and Hawaiians, and preserve that ownership, in furtherance of the Federal trust responsibility over, and Indian and Native Hawaiian self-governance of their own modern natural resources; the Federal Government should— diminish the effect of the Tribal priority filing windows, auctions for spectrum licenses over Tribal lands, and assignment and leasing of spectrum over Tribal lands carried out by the Federal Communications Commission; ensure the competitive bidding authority of the Federal Communications Commission does not apply to licenses or construction permits issued by the Commission over Tribal lands and Hawaiian home lands; and permanently eliminate the public availability of spectrum over Tribal lands and Hawaiian home lands; and legislation to address the lack of spectrum access by Indian tribes over Tribal lands and to deploy wireless broadband services, in furtherance of Tribal sovereignty (known as the DIGITAL Reservations Act or the Deploying the Internet by Guaranteeing Indian Tribes Autonomy over Licensing on Reservations Act , S. 4331 and H.R. 7774, 116th Congress, as introduced on July 27, 2020, and July 24, 2020, respectively), should be enacted without delay.