II

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2259

[Report No. 103–356]

To provide for the settlement of the claims of the Confederated Tribes

of the Colville Reservation concerning their contribution to the production

of hydropower by the Grand Coulee Dam, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 30 (legislative day, JUNE 7), 1994

Mrs. MURRAY (for herself, Mr. HATFIELD, Mr. GORTON, Mr. INOUYE, and

Mr. BRADLEY) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

JULY 26 (legislative day, JULY 20), 1994

Ordered, that when the Committee on Indian Affairs reports the bill, it then

be referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources for a period not to exceed 10 days

AUGUST 23 (legislative day, AUGUST 18), 1994

Reported by Mr. INOUYE, with amendments

[Omit the part struck through and insert the part printed in italic]

AUGUST 23 (legislative day, AUGUST 18), 1994

Referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources pursuant to the

order of July 26, 1994

A BILL

To provide for the settlement of the claims of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation concerning their

contribution to the production of hydropower by the

Grand Coulee Dam, and for other purposes.
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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 ‘‘Confederated Tribes

5 of the Colville Reservation Grand Coulee Dam Settlement

6 Act’’.

7 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

8 As used in this Act:

9 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis10 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Bonneville

11 Power Administration.

12 (2) BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION.—

13 The term ‘‘Bonneville Power Administration’’ means

14 the Bonneville Power Administration of the Depart15 ment of Energy or any successor agency, corpora16 tion, or entity that markets power produced at the

17 Dam.

18 (3) DAM.—The term ‘‘Dam’’ means the Grand

19 Coulee Dam—

20 (A) operated by the Bureau of Reclama21 tion of the Department of the Interior, and

22 (B) with respect to which power is mar23 keted by the Bonneville Power Administration

24 of the Department of Energy.
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1 (4) CONFEDERATED TRIBES V. UNITED

2 STATES.—The term ‘‘Confederated Tribes v. United

3 States’’ means the case pending before the United

4 States Court of Federal Claims arising from the

5 claim filed with the Indian Claims Commission with

6 the docket number 181–D that—

7 (A) was transferred to the United States

8 Court of Federal Claims pursuant to the Fed9 eral Courts Improvement Act of 1982 (96 Stat.

10 25) as Confederated Tribes v. United States

11 (20 Cl. Ct. 31);

12 (B) with respect to which an appeal was

13 filed in the United States Court of Appeals,

14 Federal Circuit (964 F.2d 1102) (Fed. Cir.

15 1992); and

16 (C) on the basis of the appeal, was re17 manded in part by the United States Court of

18 Appeals to the United States Court of Federal

19 Claims.

20 (5) MINOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means a child

21 who has not attained the age of 18.

22 (6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means

23 the Secretary of the Interior.

24 (7) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The term

25 ‘‘Settlement Agreement’’ means the Settlement
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1 Agreement entered into between the United States

2 and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reserva3 tion, signed by the United States on April 21, 1994,

4 and by the Tribe on April 16, 1994, to settle the

5 claims of the Tribe under Confederated Tribes v.

6 United States.

7 (8) TRIBE.—‘‘Tribe’’ means the Confederated

8 Tribes of the Colville Reservation, a federally recog9 nized Indian tribe.

10 SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

11 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following:

12 (1) An action by the Confederated Tribes of the

13 Colville Reservation against the United States is

14 pending before the United States Court of Federal

15 Claims.

16 (2) In such action, the Tribe seeks to recover

17 damages under section 2(5) of the Indian Claims

18 Commission Act (60 Stat. 1050 (formerly 25 U.S.C.

19 70a(5))) relating to fair and honorable dealings.

20 (3) Although the matter that is the subject of

21 such action is in dispute, the potential liability of the

22 United States is substantial.

23 (4) The claim filed by Tribe with respect to

24 such action alleges that—
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1 (A) after the construction of the Grand

2 Coulee Dam, the United States has used land

3 located in the Colville Reservation in connection

4 with the generation of electric power;

5 (B) the United States will continue to use

6 such land during such time as the Grand Cou7 lee Dam produces power; and

8 (C) the United States has promised to pay

9 the Tribe for the use referred to in subpara10 graph (A), but has failed to make such pay11 ment.

12 (5) After years of litigation, the United States

13 has negotiated a Settlement Agreement with the

14 Tribe that was signed by the appropriate officials of

15 the Department of Justice, the Bonneville Power

16 Administration, and the Department of the Interior.

17 (6) The Settlement Agreement is contingent on

18 the enactment of enabling legislation to approve and

19 ratify the Settlement Agreement.

20 (7) Upon the enactment of this Act, the Settle21 ment Agreement will—

22 (A) provide mutually agreeable compensa23 tion for the past use (as determined under such

24 Agreement) of land of the Colville Reservation
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1 in connection with the generation of electric

2 power at Grand Coulee Dam;

3 (B) establish a method to ensure that the

4 Tribe will be compensated for future use (as de5 termined under such Agreement) of land of the

6 Colville Reservation in the generation of electric

7 power at Grand Coulee Dam; and approved;

8 and

9 (C) settle the claims of the Tribe against

10 the United States brought under the Indian

11 Claims Commission Act.

12 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are as

13 follows:

14 (1) To approve and ratify the Settlement

15 Agreement entered into by the United States and

16 the Tribe.

17 (2) To direct the Bonneville Power Administra18 tion to carry out the obligations of the Bonneville

19 Power Administration under the Settlement Agree20 ment.

21 SEC. 4. APPROVAL, RATIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

22 OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Settlement Agreement is

24 hereby approved and ratified.
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1 (b) DUTIES OF THE BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINIS2 TRATION.—The Bonneville Power Administration shall—

3 (1) on an annual basis, make payments to the

4 Tribe in a manner consistent with the Settlement

5 Agreement; and

6 (2) carry out any other obligation of the Bonne7 ville Power Administration under the Settlement

8 Agreement.

9 (c) IMPLEMENTATION OF SETTLEMENT AGREE10 MENT.—

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—In a manner consistent with

12 the negotiated terms of the Settlement Agreement,

13 the United States shall join in the motion that the

14 Tribe has agreed to file in Confederated Tribes of

15 Colville Reservation v. United States, for the entry

16 of a compromise final judgment in the amount of

17 $53,000,000.00.

18 (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR PAYMENT.—The

19 United States shall pay the amount specified in

20 paragraph (1) from funds appropriated pursuant to

21 section 1304 of title 31, United States Code. The

22 amount paid as a judgment may not be not reim23 bursed by the Bonneville Power Administration.
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1 SEC. 5. DISTRIBUTION OF THE SETTLEMENT FUNDS.

2 (a) LUMP SUM PAYMENT.—The payment made

3 under section 4(c)(1) (including any interest that accrues

4 on the payment) shall be deposited by the Secretary of

5 the Treasury in a trust fund established for the Tribe pur6 suant to Public Law 93–134 (25 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) for

7 use by the tribal governing body of the Confederated

8 Tribes of the Colville Reservation, pursuant to a distribu9 tion plan developed by the Tribe and approved by the Sec10 retary of the Interior pursuant to section 3 of Public Law

11 93–134 (25 U.S.C. 1403), except that—

12 (1) under the distribution plan developed pursu13 ant to this subsection any payment to be made to a

14 minor shall be held by the United States in trust for

15 the minor until the later of—

16 (A) the date the minor attains the age of

17 18; or

18 (B) the date of graduation of the second19 ary school class with respect to which the minor

20 is scheduled to be a member; and

21 (2) the Secretary may, pursuant to regulations

22 prescribed by the Secretary relating to the adminis23 tration of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, authorize

24 the emergency use of trust funds for the benefit of

25 a minor.
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1 (b) ANNUAL PAYMENTS.—In addition to the lump

2 sum payment described in subsection (a), the appropriate

3 official of the Federal Government shall make annual pay4 ments directly to the Tribe in accordance with the Settle5 ment Agreement. The Tribe may use any amount received

6 as an annual payment under this subsection in the same

7 manner as the Tribe may use any other income received

8 by the Tribe from the lease or sale of natural resources.

9 SEC. 6. REPAYMENT CREDIT.

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with fiscal year 2000,

11 and ending at the end of the last fiscal year during which

12 the Tribe receives an annual payment pursuant to the Set13 tlement Agreement, the Administrator shall deduct from

14 the interest payable to the Secretary of the Treasury from

15 net proceeds (as defined in section 13(b) of the Federal

16 Columbia River Transmission System Act (16 U.S.C.

17 838(b)) an amount equal to 26 percent of the payment

18 made to the Tribe for the immediately preceding fiscal

19 year.

20 (b) CREDIT OF INTEREST.—

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Each deduction made under

22 this section shall—

23 (A) be credited to the amount of interest

24 payments that would otherwise be payable by

25 the Administrator to the Secretary of the
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1 Treasury during the fiscal year in which the de2 duction is made; and

3 (B) be allocated on a pro rata basis to all

4 interest payments on debt associated with the

5 generation function of the Federal Columbia

6 River Power System that are payable during

7 the fiscal year specified in subparagraph (A).

8 (2) SPECIAL ALLOCATION RULE.—If, for any

9 fiscal year a deduction calculated pursuant to para10 graph (1) subsection (a) would be greater than the

11 amount of interest due on debt associated with the

12 generation function described in paragraph (1)(B)

13 for such fiscal year, the amount by which the deduc14 tion exceeds the interest due on debt associated with

15 the generation function shall be allocated on a pro

16 rata basis as a credit for to the payment of any

17 other interest that is payable by the Administrator

18 by to the Secretary of the Treasury for such fiscal

19 year.

20 SEC. 7. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

21 (a) LIENS AND FORFEITURES.—Funds paid or de22 posited to the credit of the Tribe pursuant to the Settle23 ment Agreement or this Act, any interest or investment

24 income earned or received on such funds, any payment au25 thorized by the Tribe or the Secretary of the Interior to
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1 be made from such funds to members of the Tribe, and

2 any interest or investment income earned on any such pay3 ment earned or received and deposited in a trust pursuant

4 to this section for a member of the Tribe, may not be sub5 ject to any levy, execution, forfeiture, garnishment, lien,

6 encumbrance, seizure, or taxation by the Federal Govern7 ment or a State or political subdivision of a State.

8 (b) ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL AND FEDERALLY

9 FUNDED PROGRAMS.—None of the funds described in

10 subsection (a) may be treated as income or resources or

11 otherwise used as the basis for denying or reducing the

12 financial assistance or other benefits to which the Tribe,

13 a member of the Tribe, or a household of the Tribe would

14 otherwise be entitled under the Social Security Act (42

15 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) or any program of the Federal Govern16 ment or program that receives assistance from the Federal

17 Government.

18 (c) TRUST RESPONSIBILITY.—This Act and the Set19 tlement Agreement may not be construed to affect the

20 trust responsibility of the United States to the Tribe or

21 to any of the members of the Tribe.