PETITION OPPOSING CALIFORNIA ASSEMBLY BILL 52

To: California State Legislature and Governor 

Subject: Opposition to Assembly Bill 52 Regarding Tribal Consultation

WHEREAS, California's rich cultural heritage is fundamentally tied to the Indigenous peoples who have stewarded these lands for thousands of years; and

WHEREAS, many California tribes remain without federal recognition despite their documented historical presence, cultural continuity, and ongoing community presence; and

WHEREAS, AB 52 creates a discriminatory two-tiered system that prioritizes federally recognized tribes while relegating non-federally recognized tribes to merely "participating" in consultations; and

WHEREAS, the bill explicitly states that "only federally recognized tribes are legally entitled to government-to-government consultation," thereby diminishing the sovereign rights of non-federally recognized tribes and perpetuating indigenous erasure; and

WHEREAS, all California tribes, regardless of federal recognition status, have inherent rights to protect their ancestral lands, cultural resources, and sacred sites; and

WHEREAS, many non-federally recognized tribes like the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, Acjachemen Nation have been formally acknowledged by the California Legislature as the aboriginal peoples of their respective territories; and

WHEREAS, the federal recognition process itself has been widely criticized as flawed, arbitrary, and historically unjust; and

WHEREAS, policies that systematically exclude non-federally recognized tribes from meaningful consultation represent a continuation of historical genocide and cultural erasure of Indigenous peoples;

NOW, THEREFORE:
We, the undersigned, petition the California State Legislature to:

REJECT Assembly Bill 52 in its current form;

DEVELOP new legislation that ensures equal consultation rights for all California tribes, regardless of federal recognition status;

AFFIRM that tribal consultation is not merely a courtesy but a recognition of the inherent sovereignty of all tribal nations;

ESTABLISH a tribal consultation process that honors California's commitment to respecting the authority of all Indigenous peoples over their ancestral lands and sacred sites;

CONSULT extensively with both federally recognized and non-federally recognized tribes in the development of any new tribal consultation legislation.