II 

Calendar No. 482 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1272 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 19, 2012 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

AUGUST 1, 2012 

Reported by Mr. AKAKA, without amendment 

AN ACT 

To provide for the use and distribution of the funds awarded 

to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, et al., by the United 

States Court of Federal Claims in Docket Numbers 19 

and 188, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Minnesota Chippewa 

5 Tribe Judgment Fund Distribution Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) On January 22, 1948, the Minnesota Chip2 pewa Tribe, representing all Chippewa bands in Min3 nesota except the Red Lake Band, filed a claim be4 fore the Indian Claims Commission in Docket No. 

5 19 for an accounting of all funds received and ex6 pended pursuant to the Act of January 14, 1889, 25 

7 Stat. 642, and amendatory acts (hereinafter referred 

8 to as the Nelson Act). 

9 (2) On August 2, 1951, the Minnesota Chip10 pewa Tribe, representing all Chippewa bands in Min11 nesota except the Red Lake Band, filed a number of 

12 claims before the Indian Claims Commission in 

13 Docket No. 188 for an accounting of the Govern14 ment’s obligation to each of the member bands of 

15 the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe under various stat16 utes and treaties that are not covered by the Nelson 

17 Act of January 14, 1889. 

18 (3) On May 17, 1999, a Joint Motion for Find19 ings in Aid of Settlement of the claims in Docket 

20 No. 19 and 188 was filed before the Court. 

21 (4) The terms of the settlement were approved 

22 by the Court and the final judgment was entered on 

23 May 26, 1999. 

24 (5) On June 22, 1999, $20,000,000 was trans25 ferred to the Department of the Interior and deposVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:47 Aug 02, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1272.RS H1272

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1 ited into a trust fund account established for the 

2 beneficiaries of the funds awarded in Docket No. 19 

3 and 188. 

4 (6) Pursuant to the Indian Tribal Judgment 

5 Funds Use or Distribution Act (25 U.S.C. 1401 et 

6 seq.), Congress must act to authorize the use or dis7 tribution of the judgment funds. 

8 (7) On October 1, 2009, the Minnesota Chip9 pewa Tribal Executive Committee passed Resolution 

10 146–09, approving a plan to distribute the judgment 

11 funds and requesting that the United States Con12 gress act to distribute the judgment funds in the 

13 manner described by the plan. 

14 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

15 For the purpose of this Act: 

16 (1) AVAILABLE FUNDS.—The term ‘‘available 

17 funds’’ means the funds awarded to the Minnesota 

18 Chippewa Tribe and interest earned and received on 

19 those funds, less the funds used for payments au20 thorized under section 4. 

21 (2) BANDS.—The term ‘‘Bands’’ means the 

22 Bois Forte Band, Fond du Lac Band, Grand Por23 tage Band, Leech Lake Band, Mille Lacs Band, and 

24 White Earth Band. 


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1 (3) JUDGMENT FUNDS.—The term ‘‘judgment 

2 funds’’ means the funds awarded on May 26, 1999, 

3 to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe by the Court of 

4 Federal Claims in Docket No. 19 and 188. 

5 (4) MINNESOTA CHIPPEWA TRIBE.—The term 

6 ‘‘Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’’ means the Minnesota 

7 Chippewa Tribe, Minnesota, composed of the Bois 

8 Forte Band, Fond du Lac Band, Grand Portage 

9 Band, Leech Lake Band, Mille Lacs Band, and 

10 White Earth Band. It does not include Red Lake 

11 Band of Chippewa Indians, Minnesota. 

12 (5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

13 the Secretary of the Interior. 

14 SEC. 4. LOAN REIMBURSEMENTS TO MINNESOTA CHIP15 PEWA TRIBE. 

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized to re17 imburse the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe the amount of 

18 funds, plus interest earned to the date of reimbursement, 

19 that the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe contributed for pay20 ment of attorneys’ fees and litigation expenses associated 

21 with the litigation of Docket No. 19 and 188 before the 

22 U.S. Court of Federal Claims and the distribution of judg23 ment funds. 

24 (b) CLAIMS.—The Minnesota Chippewa Tribe’s claim 

25 for reimbursement of funds expended shall be— 


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1 (1) presented to the Secretary not later than 90 

2 days after the date of enactment of this Act; 

3 (2) certified by the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe 

4 as being unreimbursed to the Minnesota Chippewa 

5 Tribe from other funding sources; 

6 (3) paid with interest calculated at the rate of 

7 6.0 percent per annum, simple interest, from the 

8 date the funds were expended to the date the funds 

9 are reimbursed to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe; 

10 and 

11 (4) paid from the judgment funds prior to the 

12 division of the funds under section 5. 

13 SEC. 5. DIVISION OF JUDGMENT FUNDS. 

14 (a) MEMBERSHIP ROLLS.—Not later than 90 days 

15 after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Minnesota 

16 Chippewa Tribe shall submit to the Secretary updated 

17 membership rolls for each Band, which shall include all 

18 enrolled members the date of the enactment of this Act. 

19 (b) DIVISIONS.—After all funds have been reim20 bursed under section 4, and the membership rolls have 

21 been updated under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 

22 (1) set aside for each Band a portion of the 

23 available judgment funds equivalent to $300 for 

24 each member enrolled within each Band; and 


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1 (2) after the funds are set aside in accordance 

2 with paragraph (1), divide 100 percent of the re3 maining funds into equal shares for each Band. 

4 (c) SEPARATE ACCOUNTS.—The Secretary shall— 

5 (1) deposit all funds described in subsection 

6 (b)(1) into a ‘‘Per Capita’’ account for each Band; 

7 and 

8 (2) deposit all funds described in subsection 

9 (b)(2) into an ‘‘Equal Shares’’ account for each 

10 Band. 

11 (d) WITHDRAWAL OF FUNDS.—After the Secretary 

12 deposits the available funds into the accounts described 

13 in subsection (c), a Band may withdraw all or part of the 

14 monies in its account. 

15 (e) DISBURSEMENT OF PER CAPITA PAYMENTS.—All 

16 funds described in subsection (b)(1) shall be used by each 

17 Band only for the purposes of distributing one $300 pay18 ment to each individual member of the Band. Each Band 

19 may— 

20 (1) distribute the $300 payment to the parents 

21 or legal guardians on behalf of each dependent Band 

22 member instead of distributing such $300 payment 

23 to the dependent Band member; or 

24 (2) deposit into a trust account the $300 pay25 ment to each dependent Band member for the benVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:47 Aug 02, 2012 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1272.RS H1272

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1 efit of such dependent Band member, to be distrib2 uted under the terms of such trust. 

3 (f) DISTRIBUTION OF UNCLAIMED PAYMENTS.—One 

4 year after the funds described in subsection (b)(1) are 

5 made available to the Bands, all unclaimed payments de6 scribed in subsection (e) shall be returned to the Sec7 retary, who shall divide these funds into equal shares for 

8 each Band, and deposit the divided shares into the ac9 counts described in subsection (c)(2) for the use of each 

10 Band. 

11 (g) LIABILITY.—If a Band exercises the right to 

12 withdraw monies from its accounts, the Secretary shall not 

13 retain liability for the expenditure or investment of the 

14 monies after each withdrawal. 

15 SEC. 6. GENERAL PROVISIONS. 

16 (a) PREVIOUS OBLIGATIONS.—Funds disbursed 

17 under this Act shall not be liable for the payment of pre18 viously contracted obligations of any recipient as provided 

19 in Public Law 98–64 (25 U.S.C. 117b(a)). 

20 (b) INDIAN JUDGMENT FUNDS DISTRIBUTION

21 ACT.—All funds distributed under this Act are subject to 

22 the provisions in the Indian Judgment Funds Distribution 

23 Act (25 U.S.C. 1407). 

Passed the House of Representatives June 18, 2012. 

Attest: KAREN L. HAAS, 

Clerk. 


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Calendar No. 482 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 1272 

AN ACT 

To provide for the use and distribution of the funds 

poses. Docket Numbers 19 and 188, and for other purby the United States Court of Federal Claims in awarded to the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, et al., 

AUGUST 1, 2012 

Reported without amendment 


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