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<br />WES ERN FebruarylO,1995 <br />I -.... o. 1082 <br /> <br />STATES ('-' ~ ~ ~~ <br />WATER :0 :;fsP;~;;r <br /> <br />.~- .1 <br />'I " <br />, ,I <br />',>~- :i <br /> <br />. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />EIVED <br />B 14 1995 <br /> <br />Colol'i'lC:v \:~"<-':f:; <br />Conservati~"i ;:;0';';:0 <br /> <br />THE wEEKLY NEWSLETTER OF THE WESTERN STATES WATER COUNCIL <br /> <br />,- . <br />-. .... - <br />. - . -.. .: ..--. .. <br />Creekview Plaza, Suite A-201/942 East 7145 So. IMidvale, Utah 840471 (801)561-5300 1 FAX (801) 255-9642 <br /> <br />Chairman - Larry Anderson; Executive Director. Craig Bell; Editor - Tony Willardson; . Typist - Carrie Curvin <br /> <br />CONGRESSIONAL UPDATE <br /> <br />Federal Advisary Cammittee Act <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />On January 30, Rep. Narman Dicks (D-WA) <br />introduced a prapased amendment ta the Federal <br />Advisary Cammittee Act ta pravide far an exemptian far <br />any meetings between representatives .of the federal <br />gavemment and representatives .of state, lacal, and tribal <br />gavernments. The bill wauld alsa exempt fram the Act <br />any cansultatian .of the Departmental' the ;lnteriar With a <br />tribal argan~atianregarding the management .of funds <br />held in truslfarthe tribe. H.R. 742 has been referred ta <br />the Cammittee an Gavernment Refarm and Oversight, <br /> <br />Safe Drinking Water Act <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />While the primary facus has .been an issues' <br />assaciated with the Republicans' Cantract with America, <br />(see SPECIAL ISSUE, February 3, 1995). the Senate <br />Enviranment Cammittee repartedly plans ta issue <br />sametime this manth adraf:t;biU t.o (~autharize the~afe' " <br />Drinking Water Act Chairman Jahn Chafee (R'RI)" <br />wauld like ta reach a consensu5an.the bill quickly. The <br />Subcammittee an Fisheries, Wildlife and Clean Water <br />will hald hearings, and it is.expected that the new bill will <br />resemble the measure that passed the Senate in the <br />103rd Cangress. Th;lt bill wauld have established state <br />revalvihg'laansta help pay far improvements ta water <br />systems,'and .alsa included risk assessment pravisians <br />that wauld affect haw EPA regulates cantaminants. On <br />the Hause side, Rep. Jahn DingeH{D.'MI), the ranking <br />minarity member an the Hause Cammerce Cammittee, <br />has intraduced H,R. 226, a reautharizatian measure that <br />is repartedly identical ta the cansensus versian passed <br />by the Hause last September. Additianally, Rep. <br />Thamas Bliley (R-VA), Cammerce Cammittee Chairman, <br />expects ta intraduce his awn reautharizing bill. <br /> <br />L1TiGA:rloN <br /> <br />Caeur D'Alene Tribe .of Idaha v, Idaha'< <br /> <br />The Ninth Circuit Caurt .of Appeals' iri the abave- <br />entitled case recently affirmed the lawer caurt's ruling <br />that the Eleventh Amendment bars the Caeur D'Alene. <br />tribe's claim ta submerged lands against the state and its <br />agencies, as well as it~.ql;liet title claim against state <br />.officials, . Hawever, the Ninth Circuit Caurt reversed the <br />district court's dismissal .of claims' for injunctive and <br />declaratary relief insafar as they seek tapreclude future <br />vialatians .of federal law, as well as the dismissal far <br />failure ta state an arguable claim ta .ownership .of the <br />praperty at issue. The Caeur D'Alene Tribe .of Idaha <br />("tribe") earlier braught suit in federal district caurt in <br />Idaha against the state, several state agencies and <br />.officials, claiming tille ta the submerged land within its <br />reservation baunda~ies, as well as the water an the land, <br />pursuant ta treaty ar'abariginal title. The caurt dismissed <br />the claim, and the tribe appealed. <br /> <br />-'. . . <br />The' ,Ninth Circuii reas~ned that the Eleventh' <br />Amendment bars actians that campramise states' <br />savereign immunity, This immunity, the apinian states, <br />can .only be surrendered under the plan .of canventian <br />adapted by the states upan entry inta the unian, .or if <br />waived by the state .or abragated by Cangress. The <br />caurt faund that nane .of these surrenders .of immunity <br />applied in this case, Since the tribe was nat a signatary <br />ta the plan .of canventian, the state's waiver .of savereign <br />immunity daes nat apply ta suits invalving the tribe. The <br />tribe's pasitian that actians ta quiet title are nat claims <br />against the savereign alsa did nat persuade the caurt. <br />Further, thecaurt did nat recagnize in Idaha's <br />canstitutian and case law a waiver .of the state's <br />Eleventh Amendment immunity fram suit in a federal <br />caurt. Finally, the caurt faund that Cangress did nat <br />abragate the state's savereign immunity by enacting 28 <br />