Bill Text: CA SJR17 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: The Sáttítla National Monument.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-09-10 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Res. Chapter 209, Statutes of 2024. [SJR17 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SJR17-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  June 06, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Joint Resolution

No. 17

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Introduced by Senator Allen

May 28, 2024

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Relative to the Medicine Lake Highlands National Monument Sáttítla and the Kw’tsán National Monument.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SJR 17, as amended, Allen. The Medicine Lake Highlands Sáttítla National Monument and the Kw’tsán National Monument.

This measure would urge the President and the Congress of the United States to establish the Medicine Lake Highlands Sáttítla National Monument and the Kw’tsán National Monument.

Digest Key

Fiscal Committee: NO  

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Bill Text

WHEREAS, Approximately 60 percent of land in the continental United States is in a natural state, but we are losing a football field worth of it every 30 seconds, and the decline of nature threatens wildlife as approximately 1,000,000 animal and plant species are at risk of extinction in the coming decades across the globe, including one-third of United States wildlife; and

WHEREAS, The United States Geological Survey reports that only 12.9 percent of United States lands are permanently protected, and other studies show that roughly 23 percent of the ocean waters under United States jurisdiction are currently strongly protected, with the vast majority of these protected waters being in the Pacific Ocean along the Western United States; and

WHEREAS, On January 27, 2021, President Biden signed Executive Order No. 14008, which launched a governmentwide effort to confront climate change, restore balance on our nation’s public lands and waters, create jobs, and provide a path to align the management of our nation’s public lands and waters with national climate, conservation, and clean energy goals; and

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. 14008 directs the United States Department of the Interior to outline steps to achieve the President’s commitment to conserve at least 30 percent each of our lands and waters by the year 2030, known as the 30x30 goal, in order to safeguard our health, food supplies, biodiversity, and the prosperity of every community and to undertake the process with broad engagement, including agricultural and forest landowners, fishermen, outdoor enthusiasts, sovereign tribal nations, states, territories, local officials, and others to identify strategies that reflect the priorities of all communities; and

WHEREAS, In October 2020, Governor Newsom outlined a comprehensive and results-oriented agenda to expand nature-based solutions across California through Executive Order No. N-82-20, elevating the role of natural and working lands in the fight against climate change and advancing biodiversity conservation as an administration priority and committing the state to the goal of conserving 30 percent of our lands and coastal waters by 2030; and

WHEREAS, Executive Order No. N-82-20 directs the Natural Resources Agency to coordinate the execution of the 30x30 goal with other state agencies and stakeholders through a series of actions, including the development of a strategy document by February 2022 titled “Pathways to 30x30,” that sets California on the path to successfully implement our 30x30 conservation goal; and

WHEREAS, California Tribal Nations have protected and conserved their indigenous and aboriginal lands since time immemorial utilizing Traditional Ecological Knowledge, also known as Indigenous Knowledge or Native Science, evolved over hundreds of thousands of years through direct contact with the environment, and are continuing the tradition of stewardship by leading efforts to establish or expand national monument land protections in California; and

WHEREAS, The Pit River Tribe is leading the effort to establish a Sáttítla Medicine Lake Highlands National Monument, totaling approximately 205,000 acres so that the area will be recognized for its cultural, geologic, and ecological value, and its resources and wildlife preserved; and

WHEREAS, The Medicine Lake Highlands are Sáttítla is an irreplaceable resource as a major source of water for the state of California, an area of singular geological features, and home to numerous endangered species, including the bald eagle and the northern spotted owl, and are is also culturally significant to the Pit River, Modoc, Shasta, Karuk, and Wintu peoples of northeastern California, and are is a spiritual center for the Pit River and Modoc Tribes who gather there for ceremonies and other important gatherings; and

WHEREAS, The Fort Yuma Quechan Indian Tribe is leading the effort to establish the Kw’tsán National Monument, which would protect more than 390,000 acres of the Tribe’s aboriginal homelands located in The County of Imperial, California; and

WHEREAS, The proposed Kw’tsán National Monument lands contain incredible cultural, ecological, recreational, scenic, and historic values, including trails, desert life, petroglyphs, geoglyphs, and lithics, and the establishment of a national monument would provide protections for wildlife, cultural places, sacred sites, and scenic features; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate and the Assembly of the State of California, jointly, That the State of California urges the President to use the Antiquities Act of 1906 (54 U.S.C. Sec. 320101 et seq.) to establish the Medicine Lake Highlands Sáttítla National Monument and the Kw’tsán National Monument; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States, the United States Secretary of the Interior, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, the Majority Leader of the United States Senate, the Minority Leader of the United States Senate, and to each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of the United States.