Attorney General Bonta Files Amicus Brief on the Importance of Protecting Tribal Cultural Resources

OAKLAND - California Attorney General Rob Bonta filed an amicus brief with the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, in support of Appellant the Koi Nation in Koi Nation v. Clearlake. Last year, the Koi Nation sued the City of Clearlake, contending that the site of a proposed hotel contains tribal cultural resources and that the City did not adequately conduct consultation with the Koi Nation or consider the project's impacts on tribal cultural resources, in violation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), including tribal consultation requirements added to CEQA by Assembly Bill 52 (AB 52). The trial court ruled against the Koi Nation, finding that the Koi Nation failed to properly request consultation and that the City met its CEQA obligations.

"Preserving tribal cultural resources is critically important in the Clearlake area where Native American tribes call home," said Attorney General Bonta. "With today's amicus brief, we urge the Court not to impose additional barriers to tribes seeking consultation that do not exist and are inconsistent with AB 52."

"The Koi Nation feels it's our sacred duty to protect the ancestors without voices and funerary objects associated within the region dating back 20,000 years," the Koi Nation Tribal Council stated. "We feel AB 52 was created to assist in these endeavors and when the law isn't being followed we must allow the voices of the ancestors to be heard. It's with deep gratitude that our efforts are supported by Attorney General Bonta and the AG's office on this historic case."

In October 2023, the Attorney General filed an amicus brief in the trial court in support of the Koi Nation, contending that the City of Clearlake did not adequately conduct consultation with the Koi Nation or consider impacts on tribal cultural resources in its approval of a proposed 75-room hotel development, known as the Airport Hotel and 18th Avenue Extension.

In the amicus brief, Attorney General Bonta highlights the importance of AB 52 to the protection of tribal cultural resources. The brief argues that:

• Courts should not impose additional barriers to AB 52 requirements for tribes to request consultation. Consistent with the Legislature's intent in adopting AB 52, courts should consider whether tribes substantially complied with the statutory requirements on tribes wishing to consult on a CEQA project.
• CEQA requires lead agencies to consider the significance of a resource to tribes when it determines whether a resource is a "tribal cultural resource" under the law. The City of Clearlake failed to comply with this important legal mandate.
• After a lead agency identifies a resource as a tribal cultural resource, CEQA requires the lead agency to consider tribal expertise and input when evaluating whether a project would have significant impacts on the resource. Because the City of Clearlake relied solely on an archaeology study to identify tribal cultural resources and impacts to those resources, the City did not comply with CEQA.

A copy of the amicus brief can be found here.