IIA

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2259

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

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.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Confederated Tribes

3 of the Colville Reservation Grand Coulee Dam Settlement

4 Act’’.

5 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

6 As used in this Act:

7 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis8 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Bonneville

9 Power Administration.

10 (2) BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION.—

11 The term ‘‘Bonneville Power Administration’’ means

12 the Bonneville Power Administration of the Depart13 ment of Energy or any successor agency, corpora14 tion, or entity that markets power produced at the

15 Dam.

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

17 Coulee Dam—

18 (A) operated by the Bureau of Reclama19 tion of the Department of the Interior, and

20 (B) with respect to which power is mar21 keted by the Bonneville Power Administration

22 of the Department of Energy.

23 (4) CONFEDERATED TRIBES V. UNITED

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

25 States’’ means the case pending before the United

26 States Court of Claims arising from the claim filed
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1 with the Indian Claims Commission with the docket

2 number 181–D that—

3 (A) was transferred to the United States

4 Court of Claims pursuant to the Federal Courts

5 Improvement Act of 1982 (96 Stat. 25) as Con6 federated Tribes v. United States (20 Cl. Ct.

7 31);

8 (B) with respect to which an appeal was

9 filed in the United States Court of Appeals,

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

11 1992); and

12 (C) on the basis of the appeal, was re13 manded in part by the United States Court of

14 Appeals to the United States Court of Claims.

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

16 who has not attained the age of 18.

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

18 the Secretary of the Interior.

19 (7) SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.—The term

20 ‘‘Settlement Agreement’’ means the Settlement

21 Agreement entered into between the United States

22 and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reserva23 tion, signed by the United States on April 21, 1994,

24 and by the Tribe on April 16, 1994, to settle the
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1 claims of the Tribe under Confederated Tribes v.

2 United States.

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

4 Tribes of the Colville Reservation, a federally recog5 nized Indian tribe.

6 SEC. 3. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

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

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

9 Colville Reservation against the United States is

10 pending before the United States Court of Federal

11 Claims.

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

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

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

15 70a(5)) relating to fair and honorable dealings.

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

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

18 United States is substantial.

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

20 such action alleges that—

21 (A) after the construction of the Grand

22 Coulee Dam, the United States has used land

23 located in the Colville Reservation in connection

24 with the generation of electric power;
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1 (B) the United States will continue to use

2 such land during such time as the Grand Cou3 lee Dam produces power; and

4 (C) the United States has promised to pay

5 the Tribe for the use referred to in subpara6 graph (A), but has failed to make such pay7 ment.

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

9 has negotiated a Settlement Agreement with the

10 Tribe that was signed by the appropriate officials of

11 the Department of Justice, the Bonneville Power

12 Administration, and the Department of the Interior.

13 (6) The Settlement Agreement is contingent on

14 the enactment of enabling legislation to approve and

15 ratify the Settlement Agreement.

16 (7) Upon the enactment of this Act, the Settle17 ment Agreement will—

18 (A) provide mutually agreeable compensa19 tion for the past use (as determined under such

20 Agreement) of land of the Colville Reservation

21 in connection with the generation of electric

22 power at Grand Coulee Dam;

23 (B) establish a method to ensure that the

24 Tribe will be compensated for future use (as de25 termined under such Agreement) of land of the
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1 Colville Reservation in the generation of electric

2 power at Grand Coulee Dam; and approved;

3 and

4 (C) settle the claims of the Tribe against

5 the United States brought under the Indian

6 Claims Commission Act.

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

8 follows:

9 (1) To approve and ratify the Settlement

10 Agreement entered into by the United States and

11 the Tribe.

12 (2) To direct the Bonneville Power Administra13 tion to carry out the obligations of the Bonneville

14 Power Administration under the Settlement Agree15 ment.

16 SEC. 4. APPROVAL, RATIFICATION AND IMPLEMENTATION

17 OF SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT.

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

19 hereby approved and ratified.

20 (b) DUTIES OF THE BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINIS21 TRATION.—The Bonneville Power Administration shall—

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

23 Tribe in a manner consistent with the Settlement

24 Agreement; and
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1 (2) carry out any other obligation of the Bonne2 ville Power Administration under the Settlement

3 Agreement.

4 (c) IMPLEMENTATION OF SETTLEMENT AGREE5 MENT.—

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

7 the negotiated terms of the Settlement Agreement,

8 the United States shall join in the motion that the

9 Tribe has agreed to file in Confederated Tribes of

10 Colville Reservation v. United States, for the entry

11 of a compromise final judgment in the amount of

12 $53,000,000.00.

13 (2) REQUIREMENTS FOR PAYMENT.—The

14 United States shall pay the amount specified in

15 paragraph (1) from funds appropriated pursuant to

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

17 amount paid as a judgment may not be not reim18 bursed by the Bonneville Power Administration.

19 SEC. 5. DISTRIBUTION OF THE SETTLEMENT FUNDS.

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

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

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

23 the Treasury in a trust fund established for the Tribe pur24 suant to Public Law 93–134 (25 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) for

25 use by the tribal governing body of the Confederated
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1 Tribes of the Colville Reservation, pursuant to a distribu2 tion plan developed by the Tribe and approved by the Sec3 retary of the Interior pursuant to section 3 of Public Law

4 93–134 (25 U.S.C. 1403), except that—

5 (1) under the distribution plan developed pursu6 ant to this subsection any payment to be made to a

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

8 the minor until the later of—

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

10 18; or

11 (B) the date of graduation of the second12 ary school class with respect to which the minor

13 is scheduled to be a member; and

14 (2) the Secretary may, pursuant to regulations

15 prescribed by the Secretary relating to the adminis16 tration of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, authorize

17 the emergency use of trust funds for the benefit of

18 a minor.

19 (b) ANNUAL PAYMENTS.—In addition to the lump

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

21 official of the Federal Government shall make annual pay22 ments directly to the Tribe in accordance with the Settle23 ment Agreement. The Tribe may use any amount received

24 as an annual payment under this subsection in the same
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1 manner as the Tribe may use any other income received

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

3 SEC. 6. REPAYMENT CREDIT.

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

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

6 the Tribe receives an annual payment pursuant to the Set7 tlement Agreement, the Administrator shall deduct from

8 the interest payable to the Secretary of the Treasury from

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

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

11 838(b)) an amount equal to 26 percent of the payment

12 made to the Tribe for the immediately preceding fiscal

13 year.

14 (b) CREDIT OF INTEREST.—

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

16 this section shall—

17 (A) be credited to the amount of interest

18 payments that would otherwise be payable by

19 the Administrator to the Secretary of the

20 Treasury during the fiscal year in which the de21 duction is made; and

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

23 interest payments on debt associated with the

24 generation function of the Federal Columbia
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1 River Power System that are payable during

2 the fiscal year specified in subparagraph (A).

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

4 fiscal year a deduction calculated pursuant to para5 graph (1) would be greater than the amount of in6 terest due on debt associated with the generation

7 function described in paragraph (1)(B) for such fis8 cal year, the amount by which the deduction exceeds

9 the interest due on debt associated with the genera10 tion function shall be allocated on a pro rata basis

11 as a credit for the payment of any other interest

12 that is payable by the Administrator by the Sec13 retary for such fiscal year.

14 SEC. 7. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.

15 (a) LIENS AND FORFEITURES.—Funds paid or de16 posited to the credit of the Tribe pursuant to the Settle17 ment Agreement or this Act, any interest or investment

18 income earned or received on such funds, any payment au19 thorized by the Tribe or the Secretary of the Interior to

20 be made from such funds to members of the Tribe, and

21 any interest or investment income earned on any such pay22 ment earned or received and deposited in a trust pursuant

23 to this section for a member of the Tribe, may not be sub24 ject to any levy, execution, forfeiture, garnishment, lien,
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1 encumbrance, seizure, or taxation by the Federal Govern2 ment or a State or political subdivision of a State.

3 (b) ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL AND FEDERALLY

4 FUNDED PROGRAMS.—None of the funds described in

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

6 otherwise used as the basis for denying or reducing the

7 financial assistance or other benefits to which the Tribe,

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

9 otherwise be entitled under the Social Security Act (42

10 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) or any program of the Federal Govern11 ment or program that receives assistance from the Federal

12 Government.

13 (c) TRUST RESPONSIBILITY.—This Act and the Set14 tlement Agreement may not be construed to affect the

15 trust responsibility of the United States to the Tribe or

16 to any of the members of the Tribe.

Æ