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[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 5619 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>

118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 5619

  To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to the 
 Quapaw Nation and certain members of the Quapaw Nation in accordance 
 with the recommendation of the United States Court of Federal Claims, 
                        and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

            December 19 (legislative day, December 16), 2024

  Mr. Mullin (for himself and Mr. Lankford) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

 
  To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to the 
 Quapaw Nation and certain members of the Quapaw Nation in accordance 
 with the recommendation of the United States Court of Federal Claims, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of 
2024''.

SEC. 2. QUAPAW TRIBAL SETTLEMENT.

    (a) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Claimant.--The term ``Claimant'' means each of--
                    (A) the Quapaw Nation and the parties identified in 
                paragraphs 1 through 10 of the complaint in Bear, et 
                al. v. United States, No. 13-51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25, 
                2013); and
                    (B) the individual members of the Quapaw Nation 
                identified in Exhibit A to the amended complaint in 
                Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13-51X (Fed. Cl. 
                Mar. 25, 2013) filed on February 14, 2014.
            (2) Report.--The term ``Report'' means the report of the 
        Review Panel of the United States Court of Federal Claims in 
        Congressional Reference Case No. 13-51X, Bear, et al. v. United 
        States (Jan. 9, 2020), submitted to the House of 
        Representatives on January 31, 2020.
            (3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior (or a designee).
    (b) Establishment.--There is established a Special Deposit Account 
in the Department of the Interior Bureau of Trust Funds Administration, 
to be known as the ``Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account''.
    (c) Administration.--The Secretary of Interior by and through the 
Bureau of Trust Funds Administration shall administer all funds 
appropriated to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account.
    (d) Authorization of Payment.--In accordance with the Report, the 
Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to pay to the 
Claimants $137,500,000 out of any funds in the Treasury of the United 
States not otherwise appropriated. The Secretary of the Treasury shall 
transfer the single payment to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account 
established in subsection (b).
    (e) Payment in Accordance With Report.--The payment under 
subsection (d) shall be made in accordance with the Report.
    (f) Distribution.--After the settlement proceeds are transferred to 
the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account specified under subsection 
(b), the settlement proceeds shall be available for use, allocation, 
and distribution in accordance with the Claimants' distribution plan. 
The Claimants shall establish a distribution plan in accordance with 
subsection (d) and the procedures set forth in subsection (g).
    (g) Distribution of Funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust 
Account.--
            (1) Mediation.--
                    (A) No more than forty-five (45) days following 
                enactment of the Act, the Claimants shall submit the 
                issues of the allocation and distribution of the 
                settlement proceeds to a mutually agreed upon third-
                party mediator.
                    (B) In the event the Claimants do not submit to a 
                mutually agreed upon third-party mediation within 
                forty-five (45) days pursuant to the preceding 
                subparagraph, then any Claimant may initiate 
                Secretarial Allocation procedures under paragraph (2) 
                below.
                    (C) Any mediation shall be confidential and non-
                binding on the Claimants without the written consent of 
                the Claimants, provided that nothing in this paragraph 
                shall be interpreted to bar the Quapaw Nation Business 
                Committee from consulting with the Quapaw Nation Indian 
                Council during mediation.
                    (D) No statements made or information exchanged 
                during mediation shall be admissible in any future 
                legal or dispute resolution proceedings without the 
                written consent of the Claimants.
                    (E) The Claimants shall mutually agree to conduct 
                mediation at a specified location. Each Claimant shall 
                pay its own costs, plus an equal share of the costs of 
                the mediator and the mediation facilities.
                    (F) Following successful completion of any 
                mediation under this section, the Claimants may submit 
                a mutually agreed upon distribution plan to the 
                Secretary.
                    (G) Upon submission of a mutually agreed upon 
                distribution plan to the Secretary, the Secretary shall 
                distribute the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement 
                Trust Account to the Claimants in accordance with their 
                mutually agreed upon distribution plan.
                    (H) In the event the Claimants do not reach a 
                mutually agreed upon distribution plan following 
                mediation, then any Claimant, through written 
                notification, may submit the matter to the Secretary 
                who shall determine a final distribution plan 
                allocating the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement 
                Trust Account in accordance with the Report based on 
                the procedures in paragraph (2).
            (2) Secretarial allocation.--
                    (A) Following an unsuccessful mediation pursuant to 
                the procedures in paragraph (1), any Claimant may 
                petition the Secretary to determine final allocations 
                of settlement proceeds in accordance with subsection 
                (d).
                    (B) The Secretary shall commence the Secretarial 
                Allocation process in accordance with this paragraph 
                (2) if the Claimants do not reach a mutually agreed 
                upon allocation plan within 18 months following 
                enactment of the Act.
                    (C) Upon the receipt of such a petition by a 
                Claimant, the Secretary or the Secretary's designee 
                shall order an allocation of the settlement proceeds 
                pursuant to the following steps:
                            (i) Within thirty (30) days following the 
                        Secretary's receipt of a petition to allocation 
                        settlement proceeds after failed mediation, the 
                        Secretary or the Secretary's designee shall 
                        issue a scheduling order to establish a 
                        schedule for a hearing and the issuance of a 
                        final decision by the Secretary of a final 
                        distribution plan.
                            (ii) The Secretary's decision determining a 
                        final distribution plan in accordance with 
                        subsection (d) shall be made following a 
                        hearing to be presided over by the Secretary or 
                        the Secretary's designee. The hearing shall 
                        occur no less than sixty (60) days following 
                        the issuance of the scheduling order.
                            (iii) At least fifteen (15) days prior to 
                        the hearing, each Claimant shall submit to the 
                        other Claimants and to the Secretary a copy of 
                        all exhibits on which such Claimant intends to 
                        rely at the hearing, a pre-hearing brief, and a 
                        proposed final decision by the Secretary. The 
                        proposed final decision shall include a 
                        proposed distribution plan to be submitted to 
                        the Secretary and shall be limited to proposed 
                        rulings and distributions for each Claimant.
                            (iv) Within fourteen (14) days after the 
                        close of the hearing, each Claimant may submit 
                        a post-hearing brief to the Secretary.
                            (v) Following the hearing and post-hearing 
                        brief, the Secretary shall issue a final 
                        decision determining a final distribution plan 
                        in accordance with subsection (d) within sixty 
                        (60) calendar days. The Claimants may mutually 
                        agree upon a binding distribution plan at any 
                        time before the Secretary's decision is issued.
                            (vi) Within twenty (20) calendar days after 
                        transmittal of the Secretary's final decision 
                        to the Claimants, the Claimants may submit to 
                        the Secretary any information necessary for the 
                        implementation of the final distribution plan.
                            (vii) Within sixty (60) days of the 
                        Secretary's final decision determining a final 
                        distribution plan, the Secretary shall 
                        distribute the funds in the Quapaw Bear 
                        Settlement Trust Account to the Claimants 
                        pursuant to the terms of the final distribution 
                        plan.
                            (viii) Any deadlines established in this 
                        section may be extended by unanimous mutual 
                        agreement of the Claimants.
            (3) Federal mediation & conciliation service.--In 
        discharging any duties under this Act, the Secretary is 
        authorized to utilize the Federal Mediation Conciliation 
        Service to provide technical support and dispute resolution 
        resources, provided, however, that the Secretary or the 
        Secretary's designee is responsible for approving and 
        implementing any mutually agreed-upon or binding distribution 
        plan reached pursuant to this Act.
                                 <all>
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