SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Cherokee, Choctaw,
and Chickasaw Nations Claims Settlement Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) It is the policy of the United States to pro-
mote tribal self-determination and economic self-suf-
ficiency and to encourage the resolution of disputes
over historical claims through mutually agreed-to
settlements between Indian Nations and the United
States.
(2) There are pending before the United States
Court of Federal Claims certain lawsuits against the
United States brought by the Cherokee, Choctaw,
and Chickasaw Nations seeking monetary damages
for the alleged use and mismanagement of tribal re-
sources along the Arkansas River in eastern Okla-
homa.
(3) The Cherokee Nation, a federally recognized
Indian tribe with its present tribal headquarters
south of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, having adopted its
most recent constitution on June 26, 1976, and hav-
ing entered into various treaties with the United
States, including but not limited to the Treaty at
Hopewell, executed on November 28, 1785 (7 Stat.
18), and the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed
on July 19, 1866 (14 Stat. 799), has maintained a
continuous government-to-government relationship
with the United States since the earliest years of the
Union.
(4) The Choctaw Nation, a federally recognized
Indian tribe with its present tribal headquarters in
Durant, Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent
constitution on July 9, 1983, and having entered
into various treaties with the United States of Amer-
ica, including but not limited to the Treaty at Hope-
well, executed on January 3, 1786 (7 Stat. 21), and
the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on April
28, 1866 (7 Stat. 21), has maintained a continuous
government-to-government relationship with the
United States since the earliest years of the Union.
(5) The Chickasaw Nation, a federally recog-
nized Indian tribe with its present tribal head-
quarters in Ada, Oklahoma, having adopted its most
recent constitution on August 27, 1983, and having
entered into various treaties with the United States
of America, including but not limited to the Treaty
at Hopewell, executed on January 10, 1786 (7 Stat.
24), and the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed
on April 28, 1866 (7 Stat. 21), has maintained a
continuous government-to-government relationship
with the United States since the earliest years of the
Union.
(6) In the first half of the 19th century, the
Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations were
forcibly removed from their homelands in the south-
eastern United States to lands west of the Mis-
sissippi in the Indian Territory that were ceded to
them by the United States. From the ‘‘Three Forks’’
area near present day Muskogee, Oklahoma, down-
stream to the point of confluence with the Canadian
River, the Arkansas River flowed entirely within the
territory of the Cherokee Nation. From that point of
confluence downstream to the Arkansas territorial
line, the Arkansas River formed the boundary be-
tween the Cherokee Nation on the left side of the
thread of the river and the Choctaw and Chickasaw
Nations on the right.
(7) Pursuant to the Act of April 30, 1906 (34
Stat. 137), tribal property not allotted to individuals
or otherwise disposed of, including the bed and
banks of the Arkansas River, passed to the United
States in trust for the use and benefit of the respec-
tive Indian Nations in accordance with their respec-
tive interests therein.
(8) For more than 60 years after Oklahoma
statehood, the Bureau of Indian Affairs believed
that Oklahoma owned the Riverbed from the Arkan-
sas State line to Three Forks, and therefore took no
action to protect the Indian Nations’ Riverbed re-
sources such as oil, gas, and Drybed Lands suitable
for grazing and agriculture.
(9) Third parties with property near the Arkan-
sas River began to occupy the 3 Indian Nations’
Drybed Lands—lands that were under water at the
time of statehood but that are now dry due to
changes in the course of the river.
(10) In 1966, the 3 Indian Nations sued the
State of Oklahoma to recover their lands. In 1970,
the Supreme Court of the United States decided in
the case of Choctaw Nation vs. Oklahoma (396 U.S.
620), that the Indian Nations retained title to their
respective portions of the Riverbed along the navi-
gable reach of the river.
(11) In 1987, the Supreme Court of the United
States in the case of United States vs. Cherokee Na-
tion (480 U.S. 700) decided that the riverbed lands
did not gain an exemption from the Federal Govern-
ment’s navigational servitude and that the Cherokee
Nation had no right to compensation for damage to
its interest by exercise of the Government’s ser-
vitude.
(12) In 1989, the Indian Nations filed lawsuits
against the United States in the United States
Court of Federal Claims (Case Nos. 218–89L and
630–89L), seeking damages for the United States’
use and mismanagement of tribal trust resources
along the Arkansas River. Those actions are still
pending.
(13) In 1997, the United States filed quiet title
litigation against individuals occupying some of the
Indian Nations’ Drybed Lands. That action, filed in
the United States District Court for the Eastern
District of Oklahoma, was dismissed without preju-
dice on technical grounds.
(14) Much of the Indian Nations’ Drybed
Lands have been occupied by a large number of ad-
jacent landowners in Oklahoma. Without Federal
legislation, further litigation against thousands of
such landowners would be likely and any final reso-
lution of disputes would take many years and entail
great expense to the United States, the Indian Na-
tions, and the individuals and entities occupying the
Drybed Lands and would seriously impair long-term
economic planning and development for all parties.
(15) The Councils of the Cherokee and Choctaw
Nations and the Legislature of the Chickasaw Na-
tion have each enacted tribal resolutions which
would, contingent upon the passage of this Act and
the satisfaction of its terms and in exchange for the
moneys appropriated hereunder—
(A) settle and forever release their respec-
tive claims against the United States asserted
by them in United States Court of Federal
Claims Case Nos. 218–89L and 630–89L; and
(B) forever disclaim any and all right,
title, and interest in and to the Disclaimed
Drybed Lands, as set forth in those enactments
of the respective councils of the Indian Nations.
(16) The resolutions adopted by the respective
Councils of the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw
Nations each provide that, contingent upon the pas-
sage of the settlement legislation and satisfaction of
its terms, each Indian Nation agrees to dismiss, re-
lease, and forever discharge its claims asserted
against the United States in the United State Court
of Federal Claims, Case Nos. 218–89L and 630–
89L, and to forever disclaim any right, title, or in-
terest of the Indian Nation in the Disclaimed
Drybed Lands, in exchange for the funds appro-
priated and allocated to the Indian Nation under the
provisions of the settlement legislation, which funds
the Indian Nation agrees to accept in full satisfac-
tion and settlement of all claims against the United
States for the damages sought in the aforementioned
claims asserted in the United States Court of Fed-
eral Claims, and as full and fair compensation for
disclaiming its right, title, and interest in the Dis-
claimed Drybed Lands.
(17) In those resolutions, each Indian Nation
expressly reserved all of its beneficial interest and
title to all other Riverbed lands, including minerals,
as determined by the Supreme Court in Choctaw
Nation v. Oklahoma, 397 U.S. 620 (1970), and fur-
ther reserved any and all right, title, or interest that
each Nation may have in an to the water flowing in
the Arkansas River and its tributaries.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are to resolve all claims that
have been or could have been brought by the Cherokee,
Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations against the United
States, and to confirm that the 3 Indian Nations are for-
ever disclaiming any right, title, or interest in the Dis-
claimed Drybed Lands, which are contiguous to the chan-
nel of the Arkansas River as of the date of the enactment
of this Act in certain townships in eastern Oklahoma.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act, the following definitions
apply:
(1) DISCLAIMED
DRYBED
LANDS.—The term
‘‘Disclaimed Drybed Lands’’ means all Drybed
Lands along the Arkansas River that are located in
Township 10 North in Range 24 East, Townships 9
and 10 North in Range 25 East, Township 10
North in Range 26 East, and Townships 10 and 11
North in Range 27 East, in the State Oklahoma.
(2) DRYBED
LANDS.—The term ‘‘Drybed
Lands’’ means those lands which, on the date of en-
actment of this Act, lie above and contiguous to the
mean high water mark of the Arkansas River in the
State of Oklahoma. The term ‘‘Drybed Lands’’ is in-
tended to have the same meaning as the term ‘‘Up-
land Claim Area’’ as used by the Bureau of Land
Management Cadastral Survey Geographic Team in
its preliminary survey of the Arkansas River. The
term ‘‘Drybed Lands’’ includes any lands so identi-
fied in the ‘‘Holway study.’’
(3) INDIAN
NATION; INDIAN
NATIONS.—The
term ‘‘Indian Nation’’ means the Cherokee Nation,
Choctaw Nation, or Chickasaw Nation, and the term
‘‘Indian Nations’’ means all 3 tribes collectively.
(4) RIVERBED.—The term ‘‘Riverbed’’ means
the Drybed Lands and the Wetbed Lands and in-
cludes all minerals therein.
(5) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
(6) WETBED
LANDS.—The term ‘‘Wetbed
Lands’’ means those Riverbed lands which lie below
the mean high water mark of the Arkansas River in
the State of Oklahoma as of the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, exclusive of the Drybed Lands.
The term Wetbed Land is intended to have the same
meaning as the term ‘‘Present Channel Claim
Areas’’ as utilized by the Bureau of Land Manage-
ment Cadastral Survey Geographic Team in its pre-
liminary survey of the Arkansas River.
SEC. 5. SETTLEMENT AND CLAIMS; APPROPRIATIONS; AL-
LOCATION OF FUNDS.
(a) EXTINGUISHMENT
OF CLAIMS.—Pursuant to
their respective tribal resolutions, and in exchange for the
benefits conferred under this Act, the Indian Nations
shall, on the date of enactment of this Act, enter into a
consent decree with the United States that waives, re-
leases, and dismisses all the claims they have asserted or
could have asserted in their cases numbered 218–89L and
630–89L pending in the United States Court of Federal
Claims against the United States, including but not lim-
ited to claims arising out of any and all of the Indian Na-
tions’ interests in the Disclaimed Drybed Lands and aris-
ing out of construction, maintenance and operation of the
McClellan-Kerr Navigation Way. The Indian Nations and
the United States shall lodge the consent decree with the
Court of Federal Claims within 30 days of the enactment
of this Act, and shall move for entry of the consent decree
at such time as all appropriations by Congress pursuant
to the authority of this Act have been made and deposited
into the appropriate tribal trust fund account of the In-
dian Nations as described in section 6. Upon entry of the
consent decree, all the Indian Nations’ claims and all their
past, present, and future right, title, and interest to the
Disclaimed Drybed Lands, shall be deemed extinguished.
No claims may be asserted in the future against the
United States pursuant to sections 1491, 1346(a)(2), or
1505 of title 28, United States Code, for actions taken
or failed to have been taken by the United States for
events occurring prior to the date of the extinguishment
of claims with respect to the Riverbed.
(b) RELEASE
OF TRIBAL CLAIMS
TO CERTAIN
DRYBED LANDS.—
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Upon the deposit of all
funds authorized for appropriation under subsection
(c) for an Indian Nation into the appropriate trust
fund account described in section 6—
(A) all claims now existing or which may
arise in the future with respect to the Dis-
claimed Drybed lands and all right, title, and
interest that the Indian Nations and the United
States as trustee on behalf of the Indian Nation
may have to the Disclaimed Drybed Lands,
shall be deemed extinguished;
(B) any interest of the Indian Nations or
the United States as trustee on their behalf in
the Disclaimed Drybed Lands shall further be
extinguished pursuant to the Trade and Inter-
course Act of 1790, Act of July 22, 1790 (ch.
33, 1 Stat. 137), and all subsequent amend-
ments thereto (as codified at 25 U.S.C. 177);
(C) to the extent parties other than the In-
dian Nations have transferred interests in the
Disclaimed Drybed Lands in violation of the
Trade and Intercourse Act, Congress does here-
by approve and ratify such transfers of inter-
ests in the Disclaimed Drybed Lands to the ex-
tent that such transfers otherwise are valid
under law; and
(D) the Secretary is authorized to execute
an appropriate document citing this Act, suit-
able for filing with the county clerks, or such
other county official as appropriate, of those
counties wherein the foregoing described lands
are located, disclaiming any tribal or Federal
interest on behalf of the Indian Nations in such
Disclaimed Drybed Lands. The Secretary is au-
thorized to file with the counties a plat or map
of the disclaimed lands should the Secretary de-
termine that such filing will clarify the extent
of lands disclaimed. Such a plat or map may be
filed regardless of whether the map or plat has
been previously approved for filing, whether or
not the map or plat has been filed, and regard-
less of whether the map or plat constitutes a
final determination by the Secretary of the ex-
tent of the Indian Nations’ original claim to the
Disclaimed Drybed Lands. The disclaimer filed
by the United States shall constitute a dis-
claimer of the Disclaimed Drybed Lands for
purposes of the Trade and Intercourse Act (25
U.S.C. 177).
(2) 
SPECIAL
PROVISIONS.—Notwithstanding
any provision of this Act—
(A) the Indian Nations do not relinquish
any right, title, or interest in any lands which
constitute the Wetbed Lands subject to the
navigational servitude exercised by the United
States on the Wetbed Lands. By virtue of the
exercise of the navigational servitude, the
United States shall not be liable to the Indian
Nations for any loss they may have related to
the minerals in the Wetbed Lands;
(B) no provision of this Act shall be con-
strued to extinguish or convey any water rights
of the Indian Nations in the Arkansas River or
any other stream or the beneficial interests or
title of any of the Indian Nations in and to
lands held in trust by the United States on the
date of enactment of this Act which lie above or
below the mean high water mark of the Arkan-
sas River, except for the Disclaimed Drybed
Lands; and
(C) the Indian Nations do not relinquish
any right, title, or interest in any lands or min-
erals of certain unallotted tracts which are iden-
tified in the official records of the Eastern
Oklahoma Regional Office, Bureau of Indian
Affairs. The disclaimer to be filed by the Sec-
retary of the Interior under section 5(b)(1) of
this Act shall reflect the legal description of the
unallotted tracts retained by the Nations.
(3) SETOFF.—In the event the Court of Fed-
eral Claims does not enter the consent decree as set
forth in subsection (a), the United States shall be
entitled to setoff against any claims of the Indian
Nations as set forth in subsection (a), any funds
transferred to the Indian Nations pursuant to sec-
tion 6, and any interest accrued thereon up to the
date of setoff.
(4) QUIET
TITLE
ACTIONS.—Notwithstanding
any other provision of law, neither the United States
nor any department of the United States nor the In-
dian Nations shall be made parties to any quiet title
lawsuit or other lawsuit to determine ownership of
or an interest in the Disclaimed Drybed Lands initi-
ated by any private person or private entity after
execution of the disclaimer set out in section 5(b)(1).
The United States will have no obligation to under-
take any future quiet title actions or actions for the
recovery of lands or funds relating to any Drybed
Lands retained by the Indian Nation or Indian Na-
tions under this Act, including any lands which are
Wetbed Lands on the date of enactment of this Act,
but which subsequently lie above the mean high
water mark of the Arkansas River and the failure or
declination to initiate any quiet title action or to
manage any such Drybed Lands shall not constitute
a breach of trust by the United States or be com-
pensable to the Indian Nation or Indian Nations in
any manner.
(5) LAND TO BE CONVEYED IN FEE.—To the
extent that the United States determines that it is
able to effectively maintain the McClellan-Kerr Navi-
gation Way without retaining title to lands above the
high water mark of the Arkansas River as of the
date of enactment of this Act, said lands, after being
declared surplus, shall be conveyed in fee to the In-
dian Nation within whose boundary the land is lo-
cated. The United States shall not be obligated to
accept such property in trust.
(c) AUTHORIZATION FOR SETTLEMENT APPROPRIA-
TIONS.—There is authorized to be appropriated an aggre-
gate sum of $40,000,000 as follows:
(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2004.
(2) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2005.
(3) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006.
(4) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2007.
(d) ALLOCATION AND DEPOSIT OF FUNDS.—After
payment pursuant to section 7, the remaining funds au-
thorized for appropriation under subsection (c) shall be
allocated among the Indian Nations as follows:
(1) 50 percent to be deposited into the trust
fund account established under section 6 for the
Cherokee Nation.
(2) 37.5 percent to be deposited into the trust
fund account established under section 6 for the
Choctaw Nation.
(3) 12.5 percent to be deposited into the trust
fund account established under section 6 for the
Chickasaw Nation.
SEC. 6. TRIBAL TRUST FUNDS.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT, PURPOSE, AND MANAGEMENT
OF TRUST FUNDS.—
(1) ESTABLISHMENT.—There are hereby estab-
lished in the United States Treasury 3 separate trib-
al trust fund accounts for the benefit of each of the
Indian Nations, respectively, for the purpose of re-
ceiving all appropriations made pursuant to section
5(c), and allocated pursuant to section 5(d).
(2) AVAILABILITY OF AMOUNTS IN TRUST FUND
ACCOUNTS.—Amounts in the tribal trust fund ac-
counts established by this section shall be available
to the Secretary for management and investment on
behalf of the Indian Nations and distribution to the
Indian Nations in accordance with this Act. Funds
made available from the tribal trust funds under this
section shall be available without fiscal year limita-
tion.
(b) MANAGEMENT OF FUNDS.—
(1) LAND ACQUISITION.—
(A) TRUST LAND STATUS PURSUANT TO
REGULATIONS.—The funds appropriated and
allocated to the Indian Nations pursuant to sec-
tions 5(c) and (d), and deposited into trust
fund accounts pursuant to section 6(a), to-
gether with any interest earned thereon, may be
used for the acquisition of land by the 3 Indian
Nations. The Secretary may accept such lands
into trust for the beneficiary Indian Nation
pursuant to the authority provided in section
465 of title 25, United States Code, and in ac-
cordance with the Secretary’s trust land acqui-
sition regulations at part 151 of title 25, Code
of Federal Regulations, in effect at the time of
the acquisition, except for those acquisitions
covered by paragraph (1)(B).
(B) REQUIRED
TRUST
LAND
STATUS.—
Any such trust land acquisitions on behalf of
the Cherokee Nation shall be mandatory if the
land proposed to be acquired is located within
Township 12 North, Range 21 East, in
Sequoyah County, Township 11 North, Range
18 East, in McIntosh County, Townships 11
and 12 North, Range 19 East, or Township 12
North, Range 20 East, in Muskogee County,
Oklahoma, and not within the limits of any in-
corporated municipality as of January 1, 2002,
if—
(i) the land proposed to be acquired
meets the Department of the Interior’s
minimum environmental standards and re-
quirements for real estate acquisitions set
forth in 602 DM 2.6, or any similar suc-
cessor standards or requirements for real
estate acquisitions in effect on the date of
acquisition; and
(ii) the title to such land meets appli-
cable Federal title standards in effect on
the date of the acquisition.
(C) OTHER
EXPENDITURE
OF
FUNDS.—
The Indian Nations may elect to expend all or
a portion of the funds deposited into its trust
account for any other purposes authorized
under paragraph (2).
(2) INVESTMENT
OF
TRUST
FUNDS; NO
PER
CAPITA PAYMENT.—
(A) NO
PER
CAPITA
PAYMENTS.—No
money received by the Indian Nations here-
under may be used for any per capita payment.
(B) INVESTMENT BY SECRETARY.—Except
as provided in this section and section 7, the
principal of such funds deposited into the ac-
counts established hereunder and any interest
earned thereon shall be invested by the Sec-
retary in accordance with current laws and reg-
ulations for the investing of tribal trust funds.
(C) USE OF PRINCIPAL FUNDS.—The prin-
cipal amounts of said funds and any amounts
earned thereon shall be made available to the
Indian Nation for which the account was estab-
lished for expenditure for purposes which may
include construction or repair of health care fa-
cilities, law enforcement, cultural or other edu-
cational activities, economic development, social
services, and land acquisition. Land acquisition
using such funds shall be subject to the provi-
sions of subsections (b) and (d).
(3) DISBURSEMENT OF FUNDS.—The Secretary
shall disburse the funds from a trust account estab-
lished under this section pursuant to a budget
adopted by the Council or Legislature of the Indian
Nation setting forth the amount and an intended
use of such funds.
(4) ADDITIONAL
RESTRICTION
ON
USE
OF
FUNDS.—None of the funds made available under
this Act may be allocated or otherwise assigned to
authorized purposes of the Arkansas River Multipur-
pose Project as authorized by the River and Harbor
Act of 1946, as amended by the Flood Control Act
of 1948 and the Flood Control Act of 1950.
SEC. 7. ATTORNEY FEES.
(a) PAYMENT.—At the time the funds are paid to the
Indian Nations, from funds authorized to be appropriated
pursuant to section 5(c), the Secretary shall pay to the
Indian Nations’ attorneys those fees provided for in the
individual tribal attorney fee contracts as approved by the
respective Indian Nations.
(b) LIMITATIONS.—Notwithstanding subsection (a),
the total fees payable to attorneys under such contracts
with an Indian Nation shall not exceed 10 percent of that
Indian Nation’s allocation of funds appropriated under
section 5(c).
Passed the House of Representatives October 1,
2002.
Attest:
Clerk.