19–010

Calendar No. 285

108TH CONGRESS REPORT " SENATE ! 1st Session 108–151

PROVIDING FOR THE USE AND DISTRIBUTION OF THE FUNDS AWARDED 

TO THE WESTERN SHOSHONE IDENTIFIABLE GROUP UNDER INDIAN 

CLAIMS COMMISSION DOCKET NUMBERS 326–A–1, 326–A–3, 326–K, AND 

FOR OTHER PURPOSES 

SEPTEMBER 22, 2003.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. CAMPBELL, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 618] 

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the bill 

(S. 618) to provide for the use and distribution of the funds awarded to the Western Shoshone identifiable group under Indian Claims 

Commission Docket Numbers 326–A–1, 326–A–3, 326–K, and for 

other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably 

thereon with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and recommends that the bill (as amended) do pass. 

PURPOSE

The purpose of S. 618 is to provide for the distribution of judgment funds awarded to the Western Shoshone Indians in Docket 

Number 326–K before the Indian Claims Commission (Docket No. 

326–K) and Docket Nos. 326–A–1 and 326–A–3 before the United 

States Court of Claims, together with all accrued interest. Funds 

under Docket No. 326–K are to be awarded on a per capita basis 

to eligible Western Shoshones who have at least 1⁄4 degree of Western Shoshone blood, are citizens of the United States, and are living on the date of enactment of this legislation; provided, however, 

that any individual who has or is eligible to receive a per capita 

payment from any other similar judgment fund derived from an aboriginal land claim shall not be eligible to receive payment under 

this legislation. Funds under Docket Nos. 326–A–1 and 326–A–3 

are to be placed in a trust fund to be established in the Treasury 

of the United States for the benefit of Western Shoshone members 

and to be known as the Western Shoshone Educational Trust Fund 

(Educational Trust Fund). Interest income from the Educational 

Trust Fund shall be distributed as educational grants to eligible inVerDate jul 14 2003 05:41 Sep 23, 2003 Jkt 019010 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR151.XXX SR151
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1Treaty with the Western Shoshone (also known as the Treaty of Ruby Valley), 18 Stat. 689 

(Oct. 1, 1863; ratified June 26, 1866), reprinted in II Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties 

851–53 (1904). 

dividual Western Shoshone members and may also be used to pay 

the expenses of the Administrative Committee established to oversee the distribution of such educational grants and assistance.

BACKGROUND

The Shoshone are an Indian people living mostly in the Great 

Basin of western North America. In 1863 the Western Bands of the 

Shoshone Nation signed a peace treaty with the United States at 

Ruby Valley, in what is now central Nevada.1 This treaty granted 

the United States certain rights within the area claimed by these 

bands, extending from the Snake River Valley of Idaho through Nevada and Utah to southern California. Certain individual Western 

Shoshone Indians filed a claim for the alleged loss of their lands 

with the Indian Claims Commission, Western Shoshone Identifiable 

Group v. United States, Docket No. 326–K. The Indian Claims 

Commission held the Western Shoshone were ‘‘deprived of their 

lands’’ in the nineteenth century by ‘‘gradual encroachment of 

whites, settlers and others.’’ Based on this finding, in 1979 the 

United States Court of Claims awarded about $27 million (the 1872 

value of the lands allegedly taken, without payment of prejudgment interest); post-judgment interest on this sum has been accruing since 1979. Additional funds are derived from the related proceedings (Docket Nos. 326–A–1 and 326A–3). No distribution of 

these funds has yet occurred. As of June 11, 2003, Docket No. 326–

K held $142,472,644, and Docket Nos. 326–A–1 and 326–A–3 (collectively) held $1,386,718. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

S. 618 was introduced on March 13, 2003, by Senator Reid, for 

himself and for Senator Ensign, and was referred to the Committee 

on Indian Affairs. 

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION AND TABULATION OF VOTE

The Committee on Indian Affairs, in an open business meeting 

on July 16, 2003, by voice vote approved S. 618, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, and ordered the bill, as amended, to be reported to the Senate. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS

Section 1. Short title 

This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act’’. 

Section 2. Distribution of Docket 326–K funds 

Section 2 provides for the distribution of the funds appropriated 

in satisfaction of the judgment award granted to the Western Shoshone Indians in docket No. 326–K before the Indian Claims Commission, including interest earned. The Secretary of the Interior 

(Secretary) is directed to establish a Western Shoshone Judgment 

Roll consisting of all Western Shoshones who have at least 1⁄4 degree of Western Shoshone blood, are citizens of the United States, 

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and are living on the date of enactment of this legislation; provided 

however, that any individual found by the Secretary to be eligible 

to receive a per capita award from any other judgment fund based 

on an aboriginal land claim awarded by the Indian Claims Commission, the United States Claims Court, or the United States 

Court of Federal Claims, funds for which are appropriated before 

the date of the enactment of this legislation shall not be eligible for 

payment under this legislation. The Secretary is directed to publish 

rules and regulations in the Federal Register governing the establishment of the Western Shoshone Judgment Roll and to utilize 

any documents acceptable to the Secretary in establishing proof of 

eligibility. The Secretary’s determination on all applications for enrollment shall be final. The Secretary shall distribute 100 percent 

of the funds in Docket No. 326–K on a per capital basis, in equal 

portions among persons listed on the Roll. Payments shall be made 

directly to living competent adults who have reached the age of 19 

years on the date of the distribution, whereas payments shall be 

distributed to the heirs and legatees of deceased eligible individuals 

in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary. Payments to legally incompetent individuals shall be administered pursuant to regulations and procedures established by the Secretary 

pursuant to section 3(b)(3) of Public Law 93–134 (25 U.S.C. Sec. 

1403(b)(3)). The shares of minors and individuals under the age of 

19 years on the distribution date shall be held by the Secretary in 

supervised individual Indian money accounts, to be disbursed over 

a period of 4 years in payments equaling 25 percent of the principal, plus interest earned on that portion of the per capita share; 

the first such payment to be disbursed to legally competent individuals upon reaching the age of 18 and subsequent payments to be 

disbursed within 90 days of the individual’s following three birthdays. Per capita shares shall not be subject to Federal or State income tax and shall not be considered to be income or resources or 

be used as a basis for denying financial assistance or other benefits 

under the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 301 et seq.) or any 

other Federal or Federally assisted program. Per capita shares unpaid after 6 years, and the interest thereon, together with any 

other residual principal and interest funds remaining in Docket No. 

326–K after completion of its distribution shall be added to the 

principal of the Western Shoshone Educational Trust Fund established pursuant to Section 3, except that the 6-year period shall not 

begin as to the per capita share of a minor until the minor reaches 

the age of majority. 

Section 3. Distribution of Dockets 326–A–1 and 326–A–3 

Section 3 provides that funds awarded in Docket Nos. 326–A–1 

and 326–A–3, together with accrued interest thereon and certain 

unclaimed funds from Docket No. 326–K, are to be placed in a trust 

fund entitled the ‘‘Western Shoshone Educational Trust Fund’’ 

(Educational Trust Fund), the assets of which are to be invested 

pursuant to 25 U.S.C. 162a. The interest from the Educational 

Trust Fund is to be used to provide educational assistance grants 

for individual Western Shoshone members (i.e., eligible individuals 

who are listed on the Western Shoshone Judgment Roll and their 

lineal descendants) as directed by an Administrative Committee 

(Committee) consisting of 1 representative each of the Western 

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Shoshone Te-Moak Tribe, Duckwater Shoshone Tribe, Yomba Shoshone Tribe, Ely Shoshone Tribe, Western Shoshone Committee of 

the Duck Valley Reservation, the Fallon Band of Western Shoshone, and the ‘‘at large community.’’ The members of the Committee shall be appointed for 4-year terms. The Secretary shall consult with the Committee on the management and investment of the 

assets of the Educational Trust Fund, and the Committee is authorized to disburse the income in accordance with the terms of 

this legislation. The Committee shall develop written rules and 

procedures to govern its actions, subject to approval by the Secretary, and may pay its operating expenses as provided in the legislation. The Committee shall employ a certified public accountant 

to prepare an annual financial statement and shall distribute that 

financial statement, together with a list of individuals receiving 

grants or assistance, to organizations represented on the Committee and, upon request, to individual Western Shoshone members. 

Section 4. Definitions 

Section 4 provides definitions for the terms ‘‘Administrative Committee’’ or ‘‘Committee,’’ ‘‘Secretary,’’ ‘‘Trust Fund,’’ and ‘‘Western 

Shoshone Members.’’ 

Section 5. Regulations 

Section 5 authorizes the Secretary to promulgate regulations necessary to carry out this legislation. 

COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office on S. 618 

is as set forth below.

U.S. CONGRESS, 

CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, 

Washington, DC, August 19, 2003. 

Hon. BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, 

Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs, 

U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 618, the Western Shoshone 

Claims Distribution Act. 

If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Lanette J. Walker. 

Sincerely, 

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN, Director. 

Enclosure. 

S. 618—Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act 

S. 618 would establish procedures for the distribution of about $143 million in judgment awards held in trust funds on behalf of 

the members of the Western Shoshone tribes. Under current law, 

the funds cannot be spent or distributed by the tribes until the 

Congress approves a plan to allocate the funds. The tribes were awarded over $26 million in 1979 as compensation for the federal government’s taking of tribal land in California 

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and Nevada and the removal of minerals from that land. S. 618 

would provide for payments to eligible members of the Western 

Shoshone tribes of the $26 million plus interest earned on that 

amount—a total of about $143 million. 

S. 618 also would allow for the distribution of interest earnings 

on about $1.4 million that was awarded by the Court of Federal 

Claims to the Western Shoshone for the federal government’s improper accounting of tribal funds. Under the bill, the interest on 

that trust fund would be used to make educational grants or to provide other education assistance to Western Shoshone members and 

to pay for the administrative expenses of the disbursement committee. 

Those trust funds are held and managed in a fiduciary capacity 

by the federal government on behalf of Indian tribes and are treated in the budget as nonfederal entities. As a result, outlays were 

recorded on the budget when the judgments were awarded to the 

tribes and paid into those funds, and there is no budgetary impact 

when the money is distributed to the individual members of the 

tribes. Therefore, CBO estimates that enacting S. 618 would have 

no effect on the federal budget. 

S. 618 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates 

as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments. 

The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Lanette J. Walker. 

This estimate was approved by Peter H. Fontaine, Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

The Committee received written testimony from the Bureau of 

Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior, for the hearing held on 

an earlier version of the bill on August 2, 2002. The written testimony from the Administration is as follows:

STATEMENT OF NEAL A. MCCALEB, ASSISTANT SECRETARY

FOR INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Good morning, Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee. Thank you for the opportunity to present the views 

of the Department of the Interior on S. 958, a bill entitled 

‘‘The Western Shoshone Claims Distribution Act.’’ 

The distribution of the Western Shoshone judgment 

funds is a long-standing issue that needs to be settled. The 

judgment funds stem from two claims that were filed by 

the Te-Moak Bans of Western Shoshone in the Indian 

Claims Commission in 1951. One is an aboriginal land 

claim that was concluded in 1979 in Docket 326–K for 

$26.1 million. The other is an accounting claim. Several 

issues in the accounting claim were handled separately 

and resulted in two awards. The first award in the accounting claim was for approximately $823,000, and Congress appropriated funds to pay the claim in 1992. The 

second award was for $29,000, and funds were appropriated in 1995 to pay the claim. The accounting claims 

were in Dockets 326–A–1 and 326–A–3. 

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Since 1980, numerous attempts have been made on 

reaching agreement on the disposition of the Western Shoshone judgment funds. The most recent attempt began in 

March 1998, the Western Shoshone Steering Committee 

(WSSC), which is composed of individuals that are tribal 

members at various reservations in Nevada. With the approval of the Te-Moak Tribal Council, the WSSC has 

worked over the past four years investigating if the Western Shoshone people were in favor of a judgment fund distribution. 

Since 1980, when the BIA held its first Hearing of 

Record on the distribution of the land claims judgment 

funds, a large segment of the Western Shoshone people 

have indicated that they are in favor of the judgment fund 

distribution. In the meantime, it’s important to note that 

the tribunal councils of the four successor Western Shoshone tribes (Te-Moak, Ely, Duckwater and Yomba) have 

mostly opposed the distribution of the judgment funds because they wanted the Western Shoshone aboriginal lands 

returned. Although the tribal governments were unanimous in their opposition in the early 1990’s, since 1997, 

three of the four tribal councils have modified their position to support the distribution of the judgment funds.

The Te-Moak Tribal Council enacted Resolution No. 97–

TM–10 on March 6, 1997, adopting a plan for the distribution of these funds and requested the Department to support it. That resolution was rescinded by the next tribal 

council in the summer of 2000, but the current tribal council rescinded that action in January of this year and reinstated the 1997 resolution. The Duckwater Shoshone Tribal Council enacted Resolution No. 09–D–12 on March 18, 

1998, supporting the Western Shoshone claims distribution 

proposal. On March 10, 1999, they enacted Resolution No. 

99–D–07 reaffirming the earlier resolution supporting the 

Western Shoshone Claims distribution proposal. The Ely 

Tribal Council enacted Resolution No. 2001–EST–44 on 

October 9, 2001, supporting S. 958 and H.R. 2851. We 

have been advised that the Yomba Tribal Council continues to oppose the distribution. Several other tribes with 

enrolled tribal members that would be eligible to share in 

the judgment fund distribution under S. 958 have also enacted resolutions supporting the distribution. Those tribes 

are Duck Valley, Fallon and Fort McDermitt. The Shoshone-Paiute Tribal Business Council of Duck Valley withdrew its support of S. 958 by Resolution No. 2002–SPR–

012, dated November 13, 2001. However, the Western Shoshones of Duck Valley continue to support the bill. 

We support the enactment of S. 958 because we believe 

that it reflects the wishes of the vast majority of the western Shoshone people. We are also pleased that three of the 

four successor tribes have expressed their support of the 

distribution, as well as two other tribes with a significant 

number of tribal members of Western Shoshone descent. 

Section 2 of S. 958 proposes to distribute the Western 

Shoshone land claims funds that were awarded in Docket 

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326–K, one hundred percent (100%) per capita to approximately 6,500 individuals who have at least one-quarter (1/

4) degree of Western Shoshone Blood. The current balance 

of this fund, including interest, is $137,286,774. This section appears to be in accord with the wishes of the Western Shoshone people. 

Section 3 proposes to use the principal portion of the 

Western Shoshone accounting claims funds awarded in 

Dockets 326–A–1 and 326–A–3 for a non-expendable Trust 

Fund. The interest and investment income will be available for educational grants and other forms of educational 

assistance to individual Western Shoshone members that 

are enrolled under Section 2 of this Act, and to their lineal 

descendants. The principal fund totals $754,136. The interest fund totals $591,845. This section appears to be in accord with the wishes of the Western Shoshone people. 

We understand that many of the beneficiaries of this 

treaty continue to believe in their rights under the Treaty 

of Ruby Valley and this subsection acts as a savings clause 

for whatever rights remain in effect. We are concerned 

that some tribes or individuals may believe that Article 5 

of the Treaty (land provisions) remains in effect. To be 

safe, the clause should read, ‘‘Receipt of a share of the 

funds under this subsection shall not alter any treaty 

rights, or the final decisions of the Federal Courts regarding those rights, pursuant to the ‘1863 Treaty of Ruby Valley,’ inclusive * * *.’’ 

This concludes my prepared statement. We are submitting a report to be included into the record that gives a detailed history of the Western Shoshone claims. I will be 

happy to answer any questions the Committee may have.

REGULATORY IMPACT STATEMENT

Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate requires that each report accompanying a bill evaluate the regulatory paperwork impact that would be incurred in carrying out 

the bill. The Committee believes that the regulatory impact of S. 

618 will be minimal. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing 

Rules of the Senate, the Committee finds that the enactment of S. 

618 will not result in any changes in existing law.

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