SACRAMENTO, CA-Controversy is stirring over a bill in California that offers tax relief for tribes whose land-into-trust applications have been approved but have not yet been finalized.

Land placed in trust is not subject to local and state taxation. But appeals in the courts and through the administrative process can tie up tribes for years.

That's the situation facing the Santa Ynez Band of Chumash Indians. Although the BIA approved the tribe's application for 1,400 acres back in 2014, opponents have prevented the acquisition from being finalized.

AB 953, if it becomes law,...