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Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation Grand Coulee Dam Equitable Compensation Settlement Act (Introduced in House)

HR 1753 IH

108th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 1753

To provide for equitable compensation of the Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation in settlement of claims of the Tribe concerning the contribution of the Tribe to the production of hydropower by the Grand Coulee Dam, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 10, 2003

Mr. NETHERCUTT (for himself and Mr. DICKS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Resources

A BILL

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation Grand Coulee Dam Equitable Compensation Settlement Act'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Congress finds the following:

(1) From 1927 to 1931, at the direction of Congress, the Corps of Engineers investigated the Columbia River and its tributaries to determine sites at which power could be produced at low cost.

(2) The Corps of Engineers--

(A) identified a number of sites, including the site at which the Grand Coulee Dam is located; and

(B) recommended that power development at those sites be performed by local governmental authorities or private utilities under the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.).

(3) Under section 10(e) of that Act (16 U.S.C. 803(e)), a licensee is required to compensate an Indian tribe for the use of land under the jurisdiction of the Indian tribe.

(4) In August 1933, the Columbia Basin Commission, an agency of the State of Washington, received a preliminary permit from the Federal Power Commission for water power development at the Grand Coulee site.

(5) In the mid-1930's, the Federal Government, which is not subject to the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.)--

(A) federalized the Grand Coulee Dam project; and

(B) began construction of the Grand Coulee Dam.

(6) At the time at which the Grand Coulee Dam project was federalized, the Federal Government recognized that the Spokane Tribe and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation had compensable interests in the Grand Coulee Dam project, including compensation for--

(A) the development of hydropower;

(B) the extinguishment of a salmon fishery on which the Spokane Tribe was almost completely financially dependent; and

(7) In the Act of June 29, 1940, Congress--

(A) in the first section (16 U.S.C. 835d) granted to the United States--

(i) all rights of Indian tribes in land of the Spokane Tribe and Colville Indian Reservations that were required for the Grand Coulee Dam project; and

(ii) various rights-of-way over other land under the jurisdiction of Indian tribes that were required in connection with the project; and

(B) in section 2 (16 U.S.C. 835e) provided that compensation for the land and rights-of-way was to be determined by the Secretary of the Interior in such amounts as the Secretary determined to be just and equitable.

(8) In furtherance of that Act, the Secretary of the Interior paid--

(A) to the Spokane Tribe, $4,700; and

(B) to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, $63,000.

(9) In 1994, following 43 years of litigation before the Indian Claims Commission, the United States Court of Federal Claims, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, Congress ratified an agreement between the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and the United States that provided for damages and annual payments of $15,250,000 in perpetuity, adjusted annually, based on revenues from the sale of electric power from the Grand Coulee Dam project and transmission of that power by the Bonneville Power Administration.

(10) In legal opinions issued by the Office of the Solicitor of the Department of the Interior, a Task Force Study conducted from 1976 to 1980 ordered by the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate, and hearings before Congress at the time at which the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Grand Coulee Dam Settlement Act (Public Law 103-436; 108 Stat. 4577) was enacted, it has repeatedly been recognized that--

(A) the Spokane Tribe suffered damages similar to those suffered by, and had a case legally comparable to that of, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation; but

(B) the 5-year statute of limitations under the Act of August 13, 1946 (25 U.S.C. 70 et seq.) precluded the Spokane Tribe from bringing a civil action for damages under that Act.

(11) The inability of the Spokane Tribe to bring a civil action before the Indian Claims Commission can be attributed to a combination of factors, including--

(A) the failure of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to carry out its advisory responsibilities in accordance with that Act; and

(B) an attempt by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to impose improper requirements on claims attorneys retained by Indian tribes, which caused delays in retention of counsel and full investigation of the potential claims of the Spokane Tribe.

(12) As a consequence of construction of the Grand Coulee Dam project, the Spokane Tribe--

(A) has suffered the loss of--

(i) the salmon fishery on which the Spokane Tribe was dependent;

(ii) identified hydropower sites that the Spokane Tribe could have developed; and

(iii) hydropower revenues that the Spokane Tribe would have received under the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.) had the project not been federalized; and

(B) continues to lose hydropower revenues that the Federal Government recognized were owed to the Spokane Tribe at the time at which the project was constructed.

(13) More than 39 percent of the land owned by Indian tribes or members of Indian tribes that was used for the Grand Coulee Dam project was land of the Spokane Tribe.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF PURPOSE.

The purpose of this Act is to provide fair and equitable compensation to the Spokane Tribe, using the same proportional basis as was used in providing compensation to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, for the losses suffered as a result of the construction and operation of the Grand Coulee Dam project.

SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) ADMINISTRATOR- The term `Administrator' means the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration.

(2) CONFEDERATED TRIBES ACT- The term `Confederated Tribes Act' means the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Grand Coulee Dam Settlement Act (Public Law 103-436; 108 Stat. 4577).

(3) FUND ACCOUNT- The term `Fund Account' means the Spokane Tribe of Indians Settlement Fund Account established under section 5(a).

(4) SPOKANE TRIBE- The term `Spokane Tribe' means the Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation, Washington.

SEC. 5. SETTLEMENT FUND ACCOUNT.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF ACCOUNT- There is established in the Treasury an interest bearing account to be known as the `Spokane Tribe of Indians Settlement Fund Account'.

(b) DEPOSIT OF AMOUNTS-

(1) INITIAL DEPOSIT- On the date on which funds are made available to carry out this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall deposit in the Fund Account, as payment and satisfaction of the claim of the Spokane Tribe for use of land of the Spokane Tribe for generation of hydropower for the period beginning on June 29, 1940, and ending on November 2, 1994, an amount that is equal to 39.4 percent of the amount paid to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation under section 5(a) of the Confederated Tribes Act, adjusted to reflect the change, during the period beginning on the date on which the payment described in subparagraph (A) was made to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation and ending on the date of enactment of this Act, in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers published by the Department of Labor.

(2) SUBSEQUENT DEPOSITS- On September 30 of the first fiscal year that begins after the date of enactment of this Act, and on September 30 of each of the 5 fiscal years thereafter, the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration shall deposit in the Fund Account an amount that is equal to 7.88 percent of the amount authorized to be paid to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation under section 5(b) of the Confederated Tribes Act through the end of the fiscal year during which this Act is enacted, adjusted to reflect the change, during the period beginning on the date on which the payment to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation was first made and ending on the date of enactment of this Act, in the Consumer Price Index for all urban consumers published by the Department of Labor.

(c) ANNUAL PAYMENTS- On September 1 of the first fiscal year after the date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Administrator (or the head of any successor agency) shall pay to the Spokane Tribe an amount that is equal to 39.4 percent of the annual payment authorized to be paid to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation under section 5(b) of the Confederated Tribes Act for the fiscal year.

SEC. 6. USE AND TREATMENT OF SETTLEMENT FUNDS.

(a) TRANSFER OF FUNDS TO SPOKANE TRIBE-

(1) INITIAL TRANSFER- Not later than 60 days after the date on which the Secretary of the Treasury receives from the Spokane Business Council written notice of the adoption by the Spokane Business Council of a resolution requesting that the Secretary of the Treasury execute the transfer of settlement funds described in section 5(a), the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer all or a portion of the settlement funds, as appropriate, to the Spokane Business Council.

(2) SUBSEQUENT TRANSFERS- If not all funds described in section 5(a) are transferred to the Spokane Business Council under an initial transfer request described in paragraph (1), the Spokane Business Council may make subsequent requests for, and the Secretary of the Treasury may execute subsequent transfers of, those funds.

(b) USE OF INITIAL PAYMENT FUNDS- Of the settlement funds described in subsections (a) and (b) of section 5--

(1) 25 percent shall be--

(A) reserved by the Spokane Business Council; and

(B) used for discretionary purposes of general benefit to all members of the Spokane Tribe; and

(2) 75 percent shall be used by the Spokane Business Council to carry out--

(A) a resource development program;

(B) a credit program;

(D) a reserve, investment, and economic development program.

(c) USE OF ANNUAL PAYMENT FUNDS- Annual payments made to the Spokane Tribe under section 5(c) may be used or invested by the Spokane Tribe in the same manner and for the same purposes as other tribal governmental funds.

(d) APPROVAL BY SECRETARY- Notwithstanding any other provision of law--

(1) the approval of the Secretary of the Treasury or the Secretary of the Interior for any payment, distribution, or use of the principal, interest, or income generated by any settlement funds transferred or paid to the Spokane Tribe under this Act shall not be required; and

(2) the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of the Interior shall have no trust responsibility for the investment, supervision, administration, or expenditure of those funds after the date on which the funds are transferred to or paid to the Spokane Tribe.

(e) TREATMENT OF FUNDS FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES- The payments and distributions of any portion of the principal, interest, and income generated by the settlement funds described in section 5 shall be treated in the same manner as payments or distributions under section 6 of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan Distribution of Judgment Funds Act (Public Law 99-346; 100 Stat. 677).

(f) TRIBAL AUDIT- After the date on which the settlement funds described in section 5 are transferred or paid to the Spokane Tribe, the funds--

(1) shall be considered to be Spokane Tribe governmental funds; and

(2) shall be subject to an annual tribal governmental audit.

SEC. 7. REPAYMENT CREDIT.

(a) IN GENERAL- For the first fiscal year that begins after the date of enactment of this Act, and for each subsequent fiscal year in which annual payments are made under this Act, the Administrator shall deduct from the interest payable to the Secretary of the Treasury from net proceeds (as defined in section 13 of the Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act (16 U.S.C. 838k)), a percentage of the payment made to the Spokane Tribe for the preceding fiscal year.

(b) CALCULATION- The percentage deducted under subsection (a) shall be calculated and adjusted to ensure that the Bonneville Power Administration receives a deduction comparable to that which the Bonneville Power Administration receives for payments made to the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation under to the Confederated Tribes Act.

(1) DEDUCTIONS-

(A) IN GENERAL- Except as provided in subparagraph (B), each deduction made under this section shall be--

(i) credited to the interest payments otherwise payable by the Administrator to the Secretary of the Treasury during the fiscal year in which the deduction is made; and

(ii) allocated pro rata to all interest payments on debt associated with the generation function of the Federal Columbia River Power System that are due during that fiscal year.

(B) EXCEPTION- If, for any fiscal year, the amount of a deduction described in subparagraph (A) is greater than the amount of interest due on debt associated with the generation function for the fiscal year, the amount of the deduction that exceeds the interest due on debt associated with the generation function shall be allocated pro rata to all other interest payments due during that fiscal year.

(2) OTHER PROGRAMS- To the extent that a deduction described in paragraph (1) exceeds the amount of interest described in that paragraph, the deduction shall be applied as a credit against any other payments that the Administrator makes to the Secretary of the Treasury.

SEC. 8. SATISFACTION OF CLAIMS.

Payment by the Administrator under section 5 constitutes full satisfaction of the claim of Spokane Tribe to a fair share of the annual hydropower revenues generated by the Grand Coulee Dam project from June 29, 1940, through the fiscal year preceding the fiscal year in which this Act is enacted.

SEC. 9. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary to carry out this Act.

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