[House Report 106-267]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



106th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 1st Session                                                    106-267

======================================================================



 
             BIKINI RESETTLEMENT AND RELOCATION ACT OF 1999

                                _______
                                

 July 27, 1999.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the 
              State of the Union and ordered to be printed

                                _______


  Mr. Young of Alaska, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                        [To accompany H.R. 2368]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill 
(H.R. 2368) to assist in the resettlement and relocation of the 
people of Bikini Atoll by amending the terms of the trust fund 
established during the United States administration of the 
Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, having considered the 
same, report favorably thereon without amendment and recommend 
that the bill do pass.

                          purpose of the bill

    The purpose of H.R. 2368, the ``Bikini Resettlement and 
Relocation Act of 1999'', is to assist in the resettlement and 
relocation of the people of Bikini Atoll by amending the terms 
of the trust fund established during the United States 
administration of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands.

                  background and need for legislation

    The odyssey of the people of Bikini remains as an example 
of the protracted complexity of resettlement of the island 
communities dislocated during the United States' nuclear 
testing program in the Marshall Islands. The United States 
moved the islanders off Bikini Atoll in 1946, and 23 atomic and 
hydrogen bomb tests were conducted there between 1946 and 1958. 
Following President Lyndon Johnson's announcement in 1968 that 
the atoll was once again safe for human habitation, the 
Bikinians began to move back. They were removed again in 1979 
when radiation levels at the atoll were found to be well in 
excess of acceptable federal standards. They are still waiting 
to return to their homeland 53 years after they were first 
removed. Of the 167 Bikinians who were removed in 1946, 9 are 
still alive.
    Although the exact cost of a radiological cleanup and 
resettlement of Bikini Atoll with various remediation options 
has yet to be established, it is estimated that the cleanup and 
resettlement process will take approximately ten years. As a 
result, it is likely that most of the remaining Bikini elders 
will not be able to return to their home islands, but will live 
out their years on Kili Island, some 400 miles south of Bikini, 
which has been their ``temporary'' home for more than half a 
century.
    In order to recognize the hardships suffered by the people 
of Bikini, H.R. 2368 provides for a one-time 3 percent 
distribution from the Resettlement Trust Fund for the people of 
Bikini. The trust fund was first established by Congress in 
1982 pursuant to Public Law 97-257, which appropriated $20 
million for the fund. Congress subsequently appropriated an 
additional $90 million in 1988 pursuant to Public Law 100-446. 
The Bikini people have ensured the fiscal integrity of this 
trust fund by selecting reputable trustees and money managers 
and providing full transparency to the community and the U.S. 
Interior Department with monthly financial statements and 
annual audits. Independent federal oversight of the fund has 
consistently found the trust to be properly managed.
    As sound investment decisions have earned the trust almost 
14 percent annually since 1982, a 3 percent distribution will 
not require an appropriation of funds by Congress, nor will it 
diminish the total original corpus of the trust of $110 
million. The market value of the trust today is approximately 
$126 million, so a 3 percent distribution, or approximately 
$3,780,000, will reduce the market value to $122.2 million, 
which remains well above the total original corpus.
    The Bikini people, consistent with their culture and 
traditions, will make this distribution to the heads of 
household, with the understanding that the Bikini elders will 
be the primary beneficiaries, and such distribution shall be 
deducted from any further additional ex gratia appropriations 
made by Congress into the Resettlement Trust Fund. This 
authorization is consistent with past Congressional efforts to 
assist the people of Bikini. Without any additional costs to 
U.S. taxpayers, this bill will aid in the resettlement and 
relocation of the remaining Bikini elders.

                            committee action

    H.R. 2368 was introduced on June 29, 1999, by Congressmen 
Don Young (R-AK) and George Miller (D-CA). The bill was 
referred to the Committee on Resources. On May 10 and 11, 1999, 
the Committee held a briefing and a hearing and considered the 
March 12, 1999, Kili/Bikini/Ejit Resolution No. 2 by the Local 
Government Council and heard requests by the representatives of 
the Council and Republic of the Marshall Islands to authorize a 
one-time distribution from the Resettlement Trust Fund for the 
People of Bikini. The Administration testified in support of 
this concept now embodied in H.R. 2368.
    On July 21, 1999, the Full Resources Committee met to 
consider the bill. No amendments were offered and the bill was 
ordered favorably reported to the House of Representatives by 
voice vote.

            committee oversight findings and recommendations

    Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the 
Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations 
are reflected in the body of this report.

                   constitutional authority statement

    Article IV, section 3 of the Constitution of the United 
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.

                    compliance with house rule xiii

    1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of rule XIII of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and 
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be 
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B) 
of that rule provides that this requirement does not apply when 
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted 
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the 
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the 
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
    2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2) 
of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and 
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this 
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending 
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in 
revenues or tax expenditures.
    3. Government Reform Oversight Findings. Under clause 
3(c)(4) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee has received no report of 
oversight findings and recommendations from the Committee on 
Government Reform on this bill.
    4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause 
3(c)(3) of rule XIII of the Rules of the House of 
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act 
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate 
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget 
Office:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                     Washington, DC, July 23, 1999.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
House of Representatives, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for H.R. 2368, the Bikini 
Resettlement and Relocation Act of 1999.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is John R. 
Righter.
            Sincerely,
                                          Barry B. Anderson
                                    (For Dan L. Crippen, Director).
    Enclosure.

H.R. 2368--Bikini Resettlement and Relocation Act of 1999

    H.R. 2368 would amend the terms of the Resettlement Trust 
Fund for the People of Bikini to authorize a one-time 
distribution to the people of Bikini. The amount of the 
distribution would be limited to the greater of 3 percent of 
the fund's market value or the amount that exceeds the fund's 
principal. The federal government established the trust fund in 
1982 to assist in relocating and resettling the people of the 
Bikini Atoll, who were moved off of their islands by the United 
States to facilitate the government's testing of nuclear 
weapons during the 1940s and 1950s.
    Although the federal government has imposed restrictions on 
how monies appropriated into the Resettlement Trust Fund (which 
have already been counted as outlays) can be used, the funds 
belong to the people of Bikini and thus are nonfederal. 
Consequently, enacting the bill would have no impact on the 
federal budget. Because the bill would not affect direct 
spending or receipts, pay-as-you-go procedures would not apply. 
H.R. 2368 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and 
would have no significant impact on the budgets of state, 
local, or tribal governments.
    The CBO staff contact is John R. Righter. This estimate was 
approved by Paul N. Van de Water, Assistant Director for Budget 
Analysis.

                    compliance with public law 104-4

    This bill contains no unfunded mandates.

                preemption of state, local or tribal law

    This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local, or 
tribal law.

                        changes in existing law

    If enacted, this bill would make no changes in existing 
law.

                                  
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