[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1332 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1332

To establish certain policies and responsibilities with respect to the 
 administration of the Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 28, 1995

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To establish certain policies and responsibilities with respect to the 
 administration of the Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund, and for other 
                               purposes.

    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 ``Rongelap Recovery and Community 
Self-Reliance Act''.

SEC. 2. POLICY REGARDING ASSISTANCE FOR RESETTLEMENT OF PEOPLE OF 
              RONGELAP.

    The purposes of this Act are to improve the legal and policy 
framework for fulfillment of the objectives of section 103(i) of Public 
Law 99-239 (99 Stat. 1783) and to prescribe the manner in which the 
Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund established pursuant to Public Law 
102-154 (105 Stat. 1009) shall be administered in order to achieve the 
goal of early and safe resettlement of the people of Rongelap. The 
measures set forth in this Act are appropriate and necessary in light 
of the results of scientific studies on the habitability of Rongelap 
conducted pursuant to section 103(i) of Public Law 99-239 and are 
intended to enable the people of Rongelap to exercise greater self-
determination and local self-government, and to take control of their 
own destiny and become more self-reliant, through a resettlement 
program consistent with the wishes of the Rongelapese people 
themselves. United States assistance to the people of Rongelap for 
purposes of resettlement shall be as directed by Congress and will be 
completed upon determination by Congress that the United States has 
provided the total of its contribution to the rehabilitation of 
Rongelap Island and resettlement of the Rongelap people pursuant to 
section 103(i) of Public Law 99-239 and applicable provisions of Public 
Law 102-154. All such assistance shall be subject to the financial 
accountability provisions of this Act and shall be provided within the 
framework of the government-to-government relationship between the 
Republic of the Marshall Islands and the United States as defined by 
the Compact of Free Association Act of 1985.

SEC. 3. RESPONSIBILITIES RELATING TO RONGELAP RESETTLEMENT TRUST FUND.

    (a) Secretary of the Interior.--
            (1) Transfer of funds to trustee of rongelap resettlement 
        trust fund.--Consistent with the Rongelap Resettlement Trust 
        Fund agreement between the Department of the Interior, the 
        Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Rongelap Atoll Local 
        Government, dated May 13, 1992, funds appropriated in any 
        fiscal year for the purpose of increasing the corpus of the 
        Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund shall be transferred by the 
        Secretary of the Interior to the trustee thereof, and the 
        Department of the Interior shall be administratively 
        responsible for effecting all such transfers of funds 
        appropriated for this purpose as required by law.
            (2) Limitation of department of the interior activities to 
        those provided by trust fund agreement.--The activities of the 
        Department of the Interior with respect to management of the 
        Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund shall be limited to those 
        provided for in the trust fund agreement referred to in 
        paragraph (1), as it may from time to time be amended.
    (b) Trustee.--
            (1) Duties, obligations and legal responsibilities.--The 
        duties, obligations and legal responsibilities of the trustee 
        with respect to the Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund shall be 
        as set forth in the trust fund agreement referred to in 
        subsection (a)(1), to which the United States, the Republic of 
        the Marshall Islands and the Rongelap Atoll Local Government 
        are parties with legal rights and powers to enforce the terms 
        of the trust as set forth therein, and in applicable law.
            (2) Distribution of funds.--All funds contributed to the 
        Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund referred to in subsection (a) 
        of this section shall be distributed by the trustee and used as 
        determined by the Rongelap Atoll Local Government consistent 
        with applicable provisions of this Act, Public Law 102-154, and 
        the resettlement plan submitted to the United States Congress 
        on March 15, 1995, in accordance with Report 103-551 of the 
        House of Representatives, and referred to in Rongelap Atoll 
        Local Government Council Resolution No. 95-20.
    (c) Audits.--
            (1) In general.--In addition, management or use of trust 
        assets shall be subject to the authority of the Comptroller 
        General of the United States to conduct financial audits of all 
        trust transactions and activities, in the same manner as 
        provided in section 110(c) of Public Law 99-239. The Inspector 
        General of the Department of the Interior also shall be 
        authorized to audit the use of Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund 
        assets.
            (2) Notice regarding use of funds outside scope of trust.--
        If at any time it is determined by the cognizant audit 
        authority that funds distributed by the trustee to the Rongelap 
        Atoll Local Government have been used for purposes outside the 
        statutory scope of the trust, such audit authority shall, at a 
        time and in a manner which is lawful and does not interfere 
        with any ongoing investigative process, law enforcement 
        activity or other activities or operations required under 
        applicable regulations and procedures, notify the chairman of 
        the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources of the United 
        States Senate, the chairman of the Committee on Resources of 
        the United States House of Representatives, the Republic of the 
        Marshall Islands, the Rongelap Atoll Local Government, and the 
        trustee, of such determination so that the trustee and the 
        parties to the trust agreement may exercise their legal rights 
        and powers, including recovery of such funds.
    (d) Retention of United States Authority Over Trust Fund.--The 
United States Congress shall retain its authority over the trust fund 
as set forth in the trust agreement referred to in subsection (a)(1) 
and applicable statutes, including Public Law 102-154.

SEC. 4. TRUSTEE AND OTHER FUND PERSONNEL.

    (a) Trustee Qualifications.--The trustee of the Rongelap 
Resettlement Trust Fund shall be a qualified United States financial 
institution with considerable experience in the administration of 
similar trusts and which serves as the trustee manager or custodian of 
over $1,000,000,000 in assets. If the trustee on the date of enactment 
of this Act does not meet the qualification criteria, a new trustee 
which does satisfy these requirements shall in due course be appointed 
subject to the procedures set forth in the trust fund agreement 
referred to in section 3(a).
    (b) Investment Fund Managers and Advisers and Consultants.--
Investment fund managers and advisers or consultants designated by the 
Rongelap Atoll Local Government in accordance with the trust agreement 
to provide services in connection with management of the Rongelap 
Resettlement Trust Fund must be registered with the Securities and 
Exchange Commission and be in compliance with applicable provisions of 
the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 (15 U.S.C. 80b-1 et seq.)

SEC. 5. RESETTLEMENT EXPENDITURES AND ACTIVITIES.

    (a) Activities.--The Rongelap Atoll Local Government shall have the 
discretion, to the extent determined by the Rongelap Atoll Local 
Government Council acting within its lawful authority, to include in 
the resettlement program activities described in the Memorandum of 
Understanding of February 21, 1992, between the Department of the 
Interior, Department of Energy, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, 
and the Rongelap Atoll Local Government.
    (b) Use of Annual Income.--
            (1) In general.--With respect to each fiscal year following 
        the establishment of the Rongelap Resettlement Trust Fund 
        pursuant to Public Law 102-154, the authority of the Rongelap 
        Atoll Local Government and the trustee, within the statutory 
        scope and purpose of the trust, shall include distribution of 
        up to 50 percent of the annual income (interest and earnings) 
        of the trust fund, but in no year more than $500,000, increased 
        in accordance with paragraph (2), to provide local government 
        support and programs for the benefit of the people of Rongelap, 
        including funding for food, shelter, medicine, infant care, 
        sanitation, personal hygiene and other basic human needs 
        arising from dislocation and adjustment during resettlement, as 
        well as local government administrative and operations costs 
        and expenses arising directly from or which are directly 
        connected to the resettlement process.
    (2) Adjustment.--The amount referred to in paragraph (1) shall be 
increased annually by the same proportion as the percentage increase in 
the United States Consumer Price Index For All Urban Consumers 
(published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Department of Labor) for 
the most recent year preceding the date on which the increase, if any, 
is calculated.
    (c) Availability of Assistance for Resettlement in the Marshall 
Islands Other Than on Rongelap.--
            (1) Goal of resettlement on rongelap.--The Congress 
        supports the goal of enabling the entire Rongelap community to 
        achieve resettlement in accordance with Resolution Number 95-20 
        adopted by the Rongelap Atoll Local Government Council on March 
        9, 1995, consistent with the findings of scientific studies 
        conducted pursuant to section 103(i) of Public Law 99-239 which 
        indicate that agreed upon radiation exposure limits can be met 
        at Rongelap Island if certain risk mitigation measures are 
        taken.
            (2) Resettlement assistance.--(A) To ensure that members of 
        the Rongelap community who do not choose to return to Rongelap 
        in light of these scientific findings are able to end their 
        dislocation and settle somewhere in the Marshall Islands, 
        assistance for construction of family housing and other 
        resettlement assistance may be provided to members of the 
        Rongelap community who elect to settle at a location in the 
        Marshall Islands other than Rongelap Atoll on the same basis as 
        assistance provided for those who elect to return to Rongelap, 
        subject to the authority and discretion of the Rongelap Atoll 
        Local Government to determine the schedule, terms, 
        specifications and scope of such assistance in the context of 
        the overall community resettlement program at Rongelap Atoll, 
        which shall remain the primary objective for management and use 
        of trust fund assets.
            (B) Assistance provided pursuant to subparagraph (A) to 
        those who elect to resettle at a place other than Rongelap 
        shall not include measures to be employed or benefits to be 
        provided for those resettling at Rongelap Atoll for the purpose 
        of mitigating risks posed by radiological conditions at 
        Rongelap.
            (C) Any Rongelapese person receiving assistance for 
        resettlement at a location other than Rongelap Atoll pursuant 
        to subparagraph (A) shall be ineligible for such assistance for 
        the purposes of resettling again later at Rongelap Atoll. The 
        preceding sentence shall cease to apply once all members of the 
        Rongelap community, as defined and recognized by the Nuclear 
        Claims Tribunal established pursuant to section 177 of the 
        Compact of Free Association (as contained in Public Law 99-
        239), have received resettlement assistance at Rongelap or 
        assistance on the same basis, except as provided in 
        subparagraph (B), at another location of their choosing.
            (3) Scope of trust.--The assistance activities authorized 
        in this section shall be deemed to be within the scope of the 
        trust notwithstanding any provision of Public Law 102-154 to 
        the contrary.
    (d) Food Importation.--The trustee of the Rongelap Resettlement 
Trust Fund shall make no distribution from the corpus of the Trust 
which as a matter of prudent financial management in the judgment of 
the trustee would be inconsistent with the objective of ensuring that 
funds will be available for as long as the trust fund agreement 
referred to in section 3(a)(1) is in effect for the purpose of 
providing imported food and locally produced food which meets relevant 
health and safety standards in amounts sufficient to meet the 
nutritional needs of the Rongelap community residing at Rongelap Atoll.

SEC. 6. TRANSFER OF UNEXPENDED AND UNOBLIGATED FUNDS.

    All funds appropriated pursuant to the authorization contained in 
section 103(i) of Public Law 99-239 for scientific radiological studies 
to determine the habitability of Rongelap Island in the Republic of the 
Marshall Islands, or which have been obligated for use by the 
``Rongelap Resettlement Project'' to support such studies, which as of 
the date of enactment of this Act have not been expended shall be 
transferred to the Rongelap Atoll Local Government and expended only 
pursuant to a budget approved by the Rongelap Local Government Council 
and for activities consistent with the purposes for which such funds 
were appropriated, including scientific research and island 
rehabilitation measures connected to resettlement of Rongelap.
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