I 

118TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8937 

To establish subaccounts in the Indian Water Rights Settlement Completion 

Fund to satisfy the obligations of the United States with respect to 

certain Indian water rights settlements, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 8, 2024 

Mr. GRIJALVA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish subaccounts in the Indian Water Rights Settlement Completion Fund to satisfy the obligations of the 

United States with respect to certain Indian water rights 

settlements, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. INDIAN WATER RIGHTS SETTLEMENT COMPLE4 TION FUND SUBACCOUNTS. 

5 (a) AMENDMENT.—Section 70101 of the Infrastruc6 ture Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117–58; 25 

7 U.S.C. 149) is amended by inserting after subsection (d) 

8 the following new subsections: 


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1 ‘‘(e) OPERATIONS, MAINTENANCE, AND REPAIR SUB2 ACCOUNT.— 

3 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

4 within the Fund a subaccount to be known as the 

5 Operations, Maintenance, and Repair Subaccount 

6 (referred to in this subsection as the ‘OMR Sub7 account’). 

8 ‘‘(2) DEPOSITS.— 

9 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than De10 cember 31 of the year on which this subsection 

11 is enacted, and on each October 1 thereafter 

12 through October 1, 2033, out of any funds in 

13 the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the 

14 Secretary of the Treasury shall deposit in the 

15 OMR Subaccount $34,000,000 for the uses set 

16 forth in paragraph (3). 

17 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts deposited 

18 in the OMR Subaccount under this paragraph 

19 shall be available to the Secretary of the Inte20 rior, without further appropriation or fiscal 

21 year limitation, for the uses described in para22 graph (3). 

23 ‘‘(3) USES.—Amounts deposited in the OMR 

24 Subaccount under paragraph (2) shall be used by 

25 the Secretary of the Interior for transfers to funds 


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1 or accounts authorized to receive appropriations to 

2 satisfy obligations of the United States under the 

3 following provisions: 

4 ‘‘(A) The water delivery and operation, 

5 maintenance, repair, and related provisions of 

6 Public Law 98–530, relating to the water rights 

7 of the Ak-Chin Indian Community. 

8 ‘‘(B) The water delivery and operations, 

9 maintenance, repair and related provisions of 

10 the Colorado Ute Indian Water Rights Settle11 ment Act of 1988 (Public Law 100–585), relat12 ing to the Animas-La Plata Project, as defined 

13 in section 3(2) of such Act. 

14 ‘‘(C) The provisions of section 10603(g) of 

15 the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 

16 2009 (Public Law 111–11), relating to the 

17 Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project. 

18 ‘‘(D) The water acquisition provisions of 

19 the Snake River Water Rights Act of 2004 

20 (title X of division J of Public Law 108–447), 

21 relating to Snake River flow augmentation 

22 under section 5(a) of such Act. 

23 ‘‘(f) NEW AND CONTINUING SETTLEMENTS SUB24 ACCOUNT.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established 

2 within the Fund a subaccount to be known as the 

3 New and Continuing Settlements Subaccount (re4 ferred to in this subsection as the ‘NCS Sub5 account’). 

6 ‘‘(2) DEPOSITS.— 

7 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than De8 cember 31 of the year on which this subsection 

9 is enacted, and on each October 1 thereafter 

10 through October 1, 2033, out of any funds in 

11 the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the 

12 Secretary of the Treasury shall deposit in the 

13 NCS Subaccount $250,000,000 for the uses set 

14 forth in paragraph (3). 

15 ‘‘(B) AVAILABILITY.—In addition to 

16 amounts otherwise available, amounts deposited 

17 in the NCS Subaccount under this paragraph 

18 shall be available to the Secretary of the Inte19 rior, without further appropriation or fiscal 

20 year limitation, for the uses described in para21 graph (3). 

22 ‘‘(3) USES.—Subject to paragraph (4), amounts 

23 deposited in the NCS Subaccount under paragraph 

24 (2) shall be used by the Secretary of the Interior for 

25 transfers to funds or accounts authorized to receive 


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1 appropriations, or to satisfy other obligations of the 

2 United States identified by the Secretary of the In3 terior, under any Indian water settlement approved 

4 and authorized by an Act of Congress. 

5 ‘‘(4) SCOPE OF TRANSFERS.— 

6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Transfers authorized 

7 under paragraph (3) shall be made in such 

8 amounts as are determined by the Secretary of 

9 the Interior to be appropriate to satisfy the ob10 ligations of the United States, including appro11 priate indexing, pursuant to the applicable In12 dian water settlement. 

13 ‘‘(B) SEQUENCE AND TIMING.—The Sec14 retary of the Interior shall have the discretion 

15 to determine the sequence and timing of trans16 fers from the NCS Subaccount under para17 graph (3) in order to substantially complete the 

18 eligible Indian water settlements as expedi19 tiously as practicable.’’. 

20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 312(e)(5) 

21 of the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quan22 tification Act of 2010 (title III of Public Law 111–291) 

23 is amended— 

24 (1) by striking ‘‘made available from—’’ and in25 serting ‘‘made available from the Reclamation Water 


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1 Settlements Fund established by section 10501(a) of 

2 the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 

3 (43 U.S.C. 407(a)).’’; and 

4 (2) by striking subparagraphs (A) and (B). 

Æ 


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