[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3534 Reported in House (RH)]






                                                 Union Calendar No. 381
107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3534

                          [Report No. 107-632]

   To provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Cherokee, 
  Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations to the Arkansas Riverbed in Oklahoma.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 19, 2001

   Mr. Carson of Oklahoma (for himself, Mr. Watkins of Oklahoma, Mr. 
   Kildee, and Mr. Largent) introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Resources

                           September 4, 2002

            Additional sponsors: Mr. Filner and Mr. Sullivan

                           September 4, 2002

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed
 [Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed 
                               in italic]
    [For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on 
                           December 19, 2001]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Cherokee, 
  Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations to the Arkansas Riverbed in Oklahoma.

    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 ``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 promote tribal 
        self-determination and economic self-sufficiency 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 resources along the Arkansas River in eastern Oklahoma.
            (3) The Cherokee Nation, a federally recognized Indian 
        tribe with its present tribal headquarters near Tahlequah, 
        Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent constitution on June 
        26, 1976, and having 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 America, including but not limited to the Treaty at 
        Hopewell, 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 recognized Indian 
        tribe with its present tribal headquarters 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 southeastern United States to lands west of 
        the Mississippi in the Indian Territory which that were ceded 
        to them by the United States. From the ``Three Forks'' area 
        near present day Muskogee, Oklahoma, downstream 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 between 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), 
        title to the bed and banks of the Arkansas River passed to the 
        United States in trust for the respective Indian Nations in 
        accordance with their respective interests therein.
            (8) For more than 60 years after Oklahoma statehood, the 
        Bureau of Indian Affairs incorrectly assumed that Oklahoma 
        owned the Riverbed from the Arkansas State line to Three Forks, 
        and therefore took no action to protect the Indian Nations' 
        Riverbed resources such as oil, gas, sand, and gravel and 
        Drybed Lands suitable for grazing and agriculture.
            (9) The United States Government constructed powerheads and 
        other improvements in the channel of the Arkansas River on 
        tribal lands, using sand and gravel belonging to the three 
        Indian Nations. Due to the Bureau's inaction, individuals with 
        property near the Arkansas River began to occupy the three 
        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 three 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 (1970)), that the Indian Nations 
        retained title to their respective portions of the Riverbed 
        along the navigable reach of the river.
            (11) 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.
            (12) 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 prejudice on technical grounds.
            (13) From time to time over the years following the Indian 
        Nations' Court of Federal Claims litigation, the Indian 
        Nations, the Department of Justice, the Bureau of Indian 
        Affairs, and the Indian Nations have engaged in settlement 
        negotiations.
            (14) Nearly 7,750 acres of the Indian Nations' Drybed Lands 
        have been occupied by a large number of adjacent landowners in 
        Oklahoma. Without Federal legislation, further litigation 
        against thousands of such landowners would be likely and any 
        final resolution of pending disputes through a process of 
        litigation would take many years and entail great expense to 
        the United States, the Indian Nations, 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, Choctaw, and Chickasaw 
        Nations have each enacted tribal legislation which would, 
        contingent upon the passage of this Act and in exchange for the 
        monies appropriated hereunder--
                    (A) settle and forever release their respective 
                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 passage of the settlement legislation, each 
        Indian Nation agrees to dismiss, release, and forever discharge 
        its claims asserted against the United States in the United 
        States Court of Federal Claims, Case No. 218-89L, and to 
        disclaim any right, title, or interest of the Indian Nation in 
        the Disclaimed Drybed Lands, in exchange for the funds 
        appropriated and allocated to the Indian Nation under the 
        provisions of the settlement legislation, which funds the 
        Indian Nation agrees to accept in full satisfaction and 
        settlement of all claims against the United States for its use 
        of and damage to the bed of the Arkansas River arising out of 
        the construction of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation Way and for 
        the damages sought in the aforementioned claims asserted in the 
        United States Court of Federal Claims, and as full and fair 
        compensation for disclaiming its right, title, and interest in 
        the Disclaimed 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 further reserved any and all right, title, or 
        interest that each Nation may have in and to the water flowing 
        in the Arkansas River and its tributaries.

SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

    The purposes of this Act are as follows:
            (1) To approve, ratify, and confirm an agreed-to resolution 
        of claims brought by the Cherokee, Choctaw, and Chickasaw 
        Nations against the United States, and the agreed-to 
        disclaimers of the three Indian Nations to any right, title, or 
        interest in approximately 7,750 acres of Drybed Lands 
        contiguous to the channel of the Arkansas River as of the date 
        of the enactment of this Act in certain townships in eastern 
        Oklahoma.
            (2) To reserve the three Indian Nations' beneficial 
        interest in the Riverbed except for the Disclaimed Drybed 
        Lands.
            (3) To authorize and direct the Secretary to implement the 
        terms of such settlement.
            (4) To authorize the actions and appropriations necessary 
        to implement the provisions of this Act.
            (5) To maintain the trust relationship between the United 
        States and each of the three Indian Nations.

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 of Oklahoma.
            (2) Drybed lands.--The term ``Drybed Lands'' means those 
        Riverbed lands of the Indian Nations which lie above and 
        contiguous to the high water mark of the Arkansas River in the 
        State of Oklahoma as of the date of the enactment of this Act 
        but which  have become part of the Riverbed by operation of 
accretion and avulsion.
            (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 
        three tribes collectively.
            (4) Riverbed.--The term ``Riverbed'' means the Drybed Lands 
        and the Wetbed Lands and includes 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 high water mark of the 
        Arkansas River in the State of Oklahoma as of the date of the 
        enactment of this Act, exclusive of the Drybed Lands.

SEC. 5. SETTLEMENT AND CLAIMS; APPROPRIATIONS; ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.

    (a) Extinguishment of Claims.--Upon payment of the funds 
appropriated under this section, all claims for use of and damage to 
the Riverbed arising out of the construction and maintenance of the 
McClellan-Kerr Navigation Way and the claims asserted by the Cherokee, 
Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations in the United States Court of Federal 
Claims against the United States shall be deemed extinguished.
    (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, 
        all claims and all right, title, and interest that the Indian 
        Nations may have to the Disclaimed Drybed Lands, shall be 
        deemed extinguished. The Secretary shall execute an appropriate 
        document citing this Act, suitable for filing with the county 
        clerks, or such other county official as appropriate, of those 
        counties wherein the foregoing described lands are located, 
        disclaiming tribal interests in such Disclaimed Drybed Lands.
            (2) Exception.--Notwithstanding any provision of this Act, 
        the Indian Nations do not relinquish any right, title, or 
        interest in any lands or minerals to which the United States 
        claims title which are contiguous to the Riverbed, and no 
        provision of this Act shall be construed 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 trust lands lying above 
        or below the high water mark of the Arkansas River as of the 
        date of the enactment of this Act, except for the Disclaimed 
        Drybed Lands.
            (3) Land to be taken into trust.--To the extent that the 
        United States determines that it is able to effectively 
        maintain the McClellan-Kerr Navigation Way without retaining 
        title to lands above the high water mark of the Arkansas River 
        as of the date of the enactment of this Act, said lands, after 
        being declared surplus, shall be taken into trust for the 
        Indian Nation within whose boundary the land is located. All 
        Wetbed Lands, including minerals, from the Arkansas State line 
        upstream to the historic point of navigability near the 
        confluence of the Arkansas, Verdigris, and Grand Rivers, and 
        all Drybed Lands located outside the foregoing described 
        Townships, shall continue to be held by the United States in 
        trust for the beneficiary Indian Nation and shall be protected 
        in accordance with applicable law governing tribal trust lands.
    (c) Authorization for Settlement Appropriations.--
            (1) Settlement of claims.--There is authorized to be 
        appropriated the aggregate sum of $41,293,245. After payment 
        pursuant to section 7, the remaining funds appropriated under 
        this subsection shall be paid and allocated among the three 
        Indian Nations in accordance with subsection (d) and deposited 
        into the trust fund accounts established pursuant to section 6. 
        Such payment shall be in full satisfaction and settlement of 
        the Indian Nations' claims for the use of and damage to the 
        Arkansas Riverbed arising out of the construction and 
        maintenance of the McClellan-Kerr Navigation Way and asserted 
        against the United States in the United States Court of Federal 
        Claims, Case Nos. 218-89L and 630-89L, and in full satisfaction 
        of, and as compensation for, the three Indian Nations' 
        respective right, title, and interest in and to the Disclaimed 
        Drybed Lands.
            (2) Rentals.--In addition to funds authorized to be 
        appropriated in paragraph (1), there is authorized for 
        appropriation and allocated in accordance with subsection (d) 
        $8,000,000, representing the present value of the fair market 
        rentals for the location and future operation in perpetuity of 
        the two hydropower generation and related facilities at the 
        Webbers Falls Lock and Dam and the Kerr Lock and Dam on the 
        Arkansas River.
    (d) Allocation and Deposit of Funds.--After payment pursuant to 
section 7, the remaining funds authorized 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) Trust Fund Accounts and Uses of Trust Funds.--All funds 
appropriated and paid pursuant to section 5 shall be deposited into 
three separate tribal trust fund accounts to be established by the 
Secretary for the benefit of each of the three Indian Nations. All 
funds deposited into said accounts, and any income earned thereon, 
shall be expended only in accordance with the provisions of this 
section. No funds deposited into the trust fund accounts established in 
section 6 shall be made available to the beneficiary Indian Nation 
until that Nation files the appropriate stipulation of dismissal with 
prejudice of all claims asserted in Case Nos. 218-89L or 630-89L, filed 
in the United States Court of Federal Claims.
    (b) Land Acquisition.--
            (1) Trust land status pursuant to regulations.--The funds 
        appropriated and allocated to the Indian Nations pursuant to 
        section 5(c) and deposited into trust fund accounts pursuant to 
        section 6(a), together with any interest earned thereon, and 
        allocated pursuant to section 5(d) may be used for the 
        acquisition of land by the three Indian Nations for transfer to 
        the United States in trust for the beneficiary Indian Nation in 
        accordance with the Secretary's trust land acquisition 
        regulations at part 151 of title 25, Code of Federal 
        Regulations, as in effect on January 1, 2001.
            (2) 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 
        incorporated municipality as of January 1, 2002, if--
                    (A) the land proposed to be acquired meets the 
                Department of the Interior's minimum environmental 
                standards and requirements for real estate acquisitions 
                set forth in 602 DM 2.6, as in effect on January 1, 
                2001; and
                    (B) the title to such land must meet applicable 
                Federal title standards as in effect on said date.
            (3) 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 
        subsection (c).
    (c) Investment of Trust Funds; No Per Capita Payment.--
            (1) No per capita payments.--No money received by the 
        Indian Nations hereunder may be used for any per capita 
        payment.
            (2) Investment by secretary.--Except as provided in this 
        section and section 7, the principal of such funds deposited 
        into the accounts established hereunder and any interest earned 
        thereon shall be invested by the Secretary in accordance with 
        current laws and regulations for the investing of tribal trust 
        funds.
            (3) Use of principal funds.--The principal amounts of said 
        funds and any amounts earned thereon shall be made available to 
        the Indian Nation for which the account was established for 
        expenditure for purposes which may include construction or 
        repair of health care facilities, law enforcement, cultural or 
        other education activities, economic development, social 
        services, and land acquisition. Land acquisition using such 
        funds shall be subject to the provisions of subsections (b) and 
        (d).
    (d) Disbursement of Funds.--The Secretary shall disburse the funds 
from a trust account established under this section pursuant to a 
budget adopted by the Council of the Indian Nation setting forth the 
amount and an intended use of such funds.

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).




                                                 Union Calendar No. 381

107th CONGRESS

  2d Session

                               H. R. 3534

                          [Report No. 107-632]

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL

   To provide for the settlement of certain land claims of Cherokee, 
  Choctaw, and Chickasaw Nations to the Arkansas Riverbed in Oklahoma.

_______________________________________________________________________

                           September 4, 2002

  Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the Whole 
       House on the State of the Union, and ordered to be printed