Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation Equitable Compensation Act

Bill: 113-s-1448
Sponsor: Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA]
Introduced: 2013-08-01 in the Senate
Policy area: Native Americans
Subjects: Alternative and renewable resources
Dams and canals
Electric power generation and transmission
Federal-Indian relations
Government trust funds
Indian claims
Indian lands and resources rights
Indian social and development programs
Washington State

Summary:
action_date: 2013-08-01
text: 
Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation Equitable Compensation Act - Establishes the Spokane Tribe of Indians Recovery Trust Fund (Fund). 
 
Requires payments from the Fund to the Spokane Business Council in compensation for the use of tribal lands for the generation of hydropower from the Grand Coulee Dam.
 
Requires the Council to prepare a plan for the use of those payments to promote: (1) economic development; (2) infrastructure development; (3) educational, health, recreational, and social welfare objectives of the Tribe and its members; or (4) any combination of those activities.
 
Directs the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration to make specified settlement payments to the Tribe. 
 
Allows payments made to the Council or Tribe to be used or invested by the Council in the same manner and for the same purposes as other Spokane Tribal governmental funds.
 
Provides that the deposit of amounts in the Fund extinguishes all monetary claims that the Tribe may have against the United States to a fair share of the annual hydropower revenues generated by the Grand Coulee Dam project for the past and continued use of the Tribe's land to produce hydropower at Grand Coulee Dam.

action_date: 2014-06-26
text: 
Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation Equitable Compensation Act - (Section 5) Establishes the Spokane Tribe of Indians Recovery Trust Fund. Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit $53 million into the Fund.
 
Requires payments from the Fund to the Spokane Business Council in compensation for the use of tribal lands for the generation of hydropower from the Grand Coulee Dam. (The Spokane Business Council is the Spokane Tribe's governing body.)
 
Requires the Council to prepare a plan for the use of those payments to promote: (1) economic development; (2) infrastructure development; (3) educational, health, recreational, and social welfare objectives of the Tribe and its members; or (4) any combination of those activities. 
 
(Sec. 6) Directs the Bonneville Power Administration to make annual payments under the Colville Settlement Agreement to the Spokane Tribe. 
 
Requires the Administration to: (1) make commensurate cost reductions in expenditures on an annual basis to recover each payment to the Tribe, and (2) include any such cost reduction in its annual budget. 
 
(Sec. 7) Specifies the tax treatment of payments made to the Council or Tribe and the interest and income generated by those payments. 
 
(Sec. 9) Provides that the deposit of amounts in the Fund extinguishes all monetary claims that the Tribe may have against the United States to a fair share of the annual hydropower revenues generated by the Grand Coulee Dam project for the past and continued use of the Tribe's land to produce hydropower at Grand Coulee Dam. 
 
(Sec. 10) Declares that nothing in this Act establishes any precedent or is binding on the Southwestern Power Administration, Western Area Power Administration, or Southeastern Power Administration.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-06-26
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 448.
action_date: 2014-06-26
text: Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Tester with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 113-202.
action_date: 2014-06-26
text: Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Tester with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 113-202.
action_date: 2014-01-29
text: Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
action_date: 2013-09-10
text: Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 113-143.
action_date: 2013-08-01
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
action_date: 2013-08-01
text: Introduced in Senate