Issues & Legislation

Provides that if the Cocopah Indian Tribe of Arizona transfers title to certain described land to the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary shall take it into trust for the benefit of the Tribe, if there are no adverse legal claims to it, including outstanding liens, mortgages, or taxes owed. Considers such land to be part of the Tribe's initial reservation. Prohibits its use for gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The bill would enable the Park Service to purchase from willing sellers 283 acres adjacent to the Park's East Unit, including three miles of an important creek, and 300 acres adjacent to the West Unit.

Permanently establishs the Native Nations Institute for Leadership, Management, and Policy. The Institute provides leadership and management training and other resources to tribal leaders, helping them to develop important skills.

Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior, in cooperation with Pima County, AZ, to participate in the planning, design, and construction of water recycling facilities and to enhance and restore riparian habitat in the Black Wash Sonoran Desert ecosystem.

Authorizes the Secretary of Education to make grants to providers of family literacy services to improve the literacy and English skills of limited English proficient individuals who are parents or children in families where each parent is at least 16 years old and where at least one child is under age eight.

Makes technical corrections to the Morris K. Udall Scholarship and Excellence in National Environmental and Native American Public Policy Act of 1992, and increases the authorization amount.

Establishes the Santa Cruz Valley National Heritage Area in Arizona. Designates the Santa Cruz Valley Heritage Alliance, Inc. as the management entity for the Area.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an Indian tribal government, in the case of a facility that uses a renewable energy resource to produce electricity in which such government has an ownership interest in the gross sales from such facility, to assign to any other person who has such an ownership interest in such facility any portion of the production from the facility that would, but for this Act, be allocated to such government for purposes of the renewable electricity production credit.

Establishes in the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) the National Landscape Conservation System (thus, enacting into law the National Landscape Conservation System (NLCS) created by BLM in 2000) in order to conserve, protect, and restore nationally significant landscapes that have outstanding cultural, ecological, and scientific values for the benefit of current and future generations.

To amend the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to repeal a rebuttable presumption that the use of a categorical exclusion under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 would apply with respect to actions by the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture with respect to certain activities for the purpose of exploration or development of oil or gas.

Creates a Border Protection Strategy, provides DHS with the flexibility to choose appropriate methods of border security, repeals Section 102 of REAL ID that waived environmental, labor, and other laws for construction of roads or barriers along the border, and creates a Borderlands Conservation Fund to help initiatives that mitigate damage to borderland habitat and wildlife.

Reauthorizes the Improving Literacy through School Library program of the No Child Left Behind Act and encourages the hiring of highly qualified school library media specialists in our nation's school libraries. The bill will also ensure adequate funding for these programs and allow state and local professional development funds to be used to assist in recruiting and training highly qualified library media specialists.

Prevents the unnecessary slaughter of American black bears, and protects highly endangered bear species across the globe, by instituting on the federal level a simple, uniform policy against the killing of bears for their gallbladders.

Provides the National Park System with $100 million per year in mandatory spending, paid for through fees on commercial activities on federal land.

The Tumacacori Highlands are the largest remaining unprotected Forest Service roadless area in Arizona. The legislation calls for permanent protection for the Highlands.

Reauthorizes the Environmental Dispute Resolution Fund for FY2009-2013, which is part of the Morris K Udall Foundation.

To provide grants to States to ensure that all students exit the middle grades prepared for success in a high school with an academically rigorous curriculum that prepares students for postsecondary education and the workplace.

To withdraw certain Federal lands and interests located in Pima and Santa Cruz counties, Arizona, from the mining and mineral leasing laws of the United States, and for other purposes.