[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2299 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







105th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2299

  To provide for the enforcement of certain contracts made by Indian 
                                tribes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 14, 1998

  Mr. Gorton introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for the enforcement of certain contracts made by Indian 
                                tribes.

    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 ``American Indian Contract Enforcement 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS; PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the only remaining governmental entities that maintain 
        and assert the full scope of immunity from lawsuits in the 
        United States are Indian tribal governments;
            (2) in a recent decision, Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma v. 
        Manufacturing Technologies, Inc., 523 U.S. ____ (1998), the 
        Supreme Court recognized several reasons why tribal immunity 
        should not be perpetuated, and stated that--
                    (A) in the independent and mobile society of the 
                United States, tribal immunity extends beyond what 
                protection is needed to safeguard self governance;
                    (B) when Indian tribes take part in the commerce of 
                the United States, the problem described in 
                subparagraph (A) is evident; and
                    (C) tribal immunity can harm persons--
                            (i) who are unaware that they are dealing 
                        with an Indian tribe;
                            (ii) do not know of tribal immunity; or
                            (iii) have no choice with respect to tribal 
                        immunity, as in the case of a tort victim;
            (3) Indian tribes continue to pursue and expand economic 
        development through ventures with businesses that are not 
        tribal businesses and other entities and individuals that are 
        not part of an Indian tribe on and off lands subject to the 
        jurisdiction of Indian tribes (including property held in trust 
        for Indian tribes);
            (4) Indian tribes depend on the businesses, entities, and 
        individuals referred to in paragraph (3) to provide members of 
        Indian tribes with goods and services and the contracts for the 
        procurement of those goods and services should be enforceable;
            (5) tribal immunity impedes the enforcement of a contract 
        in any case in which an Indian tribe or tribal organization 
        fails to uphold contractual obligations and asserts tribal 
        immunity; and
            (6) the assertion of tribal immunity serves as a deterrent 
        to economic development on lands subject to the jurisdiction of 
        an Indian tribe.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian tribe'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 4(e) of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(e)).
            (2) Tribal immunity.--The term ``tribal immunity'' means 
        the immunity of an Indian tribe from--
                    (A) jurisdiction of the courts; and
                    (B) judicial review of an action of that Indian 
                tribe and other remedies.
            (3) Tribal organization.--The term ``tribal organization'' 
        has the meaning given that term in section 4(l) of the Indian 
        Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 
        450b(l)).

SEC. 4. CLAIMS FOR CONTRACTS.

    Section 1362 of title 28, United States Code, is amended--
            (1) by inserting ``(a)'' before ``The district courts'';
            (2) by inserting ``(referred to in this section as an 
        `Indian tribe')'' after ``Interior''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b)(1) The district courts shall have jurisdiction of any civil 
action or claim against an Indian tribe (including a tribal 
organization, as that term is defined in section 4(l) of the Indian 
Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b(l))) 
for liquidated or unliquidated damages for cases not sounding in tort 
that involve any contract made by the governing body of the Indian 
tribe or on behalf of an Indian tribe.
    ``(2) To the extent necessary to enforce this subsection, the 
tribal immunity (as that term is defined in section 3 of the American 
Indian Contract Enforcement Act) of the Indian tribe involved is 
waived.''.

SEC. 5. APPLICABILITY.

    The amendments made by section 4 apply to a case commenced to 
enforce a contract referred to in section 1362(b) of title 28, United 
States Code, as added by section 4, on or after the date of enactment 
of this Act.
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