[Senate Report 118-211]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 489
118th Congress } { Report
SENATE
2d Session } { 118-211
======================================================================
A BILL TO PROVIDE FOR THE EQUITABLE SETTLEMENT OF CERTAIN INDIAN LAND
DISPUTES REGARDING LAND IN ILLINOIS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES
_______
September 9, 2024.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Schatz, from the Committee on Indian Affairs,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 2796]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the
bill (S. 2796), to provide for the equitable settlement of
certain Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois, and
for other purposes, having considered the same, reports
favorably thereon without amendment, and recommends that the
bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 2796 is to authorize the United States
Court of Federal Claims to consider treaty-based land claims of
the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and to extinguish any future claims
to those lands by the Tribe and its members.
BACKGROUND AND NEED
The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is a federally-recognized
Indian Tribe whose ancestral homelands are located in present-
day Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio.\1\ In 1805, the Miami Tribe,
and several of its component bands, signed the Treaty of
Grouseland with the United States. The Treaty relinquished
title to the Tribe's lands in southeastern Illinois and
reserved lands for the Tribe in the Wabash River watershed in
east-central Illinois.\2\ Under terms of the Treaty, the United
States agreed that it would not take any part of the reserved
lands without consent of the Miami Tribe or the other Tribal
signatories.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\In 1846, the United States forcibly removed the Miami Tribe to
present-day Kansas; it was removed again by force in 1867 to present-
day Oklahoma, where the Tribe's seat of government is currently
located.
\2\7 Stat. 91 (1805). See Letter to Senator Brian Schatz, Chairman,
U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, from Douglas G. Lankford,
Chief, Miami Tribe of Oklahoma (January 16, 2024) (on file with the
Committee).
\3\7 Stat. 91, Art. IV.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through a series of additional treaties executed between
1805 and 1840, the Tribe ceded all but 2.6 million acres of the
lands that it reserved under the Treaty of Grouseland.\4\
Beginning in 1821 and continuing throughout the 19th century,
the United States sold parcels of the reserved lands without
consent of, or compensation to, the Tribe. In 2000, the Tribe
filed a treaty-based takings claim against the United States,
alleging that the United States did not transfer the reserved
lands with clear title, resulting in clouded title for current
landowners.\5\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\See, Treaty of September 30, 1809 (7 Stat. 13); Treaty of
September 30, 1809 (7 Stat. 115); Treaty of October 6, 1818 (7 Stat.
189); Treaty of October 26, 1826 (7 Stat. 300); Treaty of February 11,
1828 (7 Stat. 309); October 23, 1834 (7 Stat. 458, 463); Treaty of
November 6, 1838 (7 Stat. 569); and Treaty of November 28, 1840 (7
Stat. 582).
\5\Litigation is ongoing and unresolved. Miami Tribe of Oklahoma v.
Walden, et al., Case No. 4:00-cv-041420JPG (S.D. Il.) (filed on June 2,
2000).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY OF S. 2796 AS ORDERED REPORTED
S. 2796 grants the United States Court of Federal Claims
jurisdiction to decide a takings claim by the Miami Tribe of
Oklahoma arising under its 1805 Treaty of Grouseland with the
United States; provides one-year for the Tribe to file its
claim with the Court; and extinguishes any and all future
claims by the Tribe, its members, descendants, or predecessors
in interest to lands in Illinois.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS OF S. 2796 AS ORDERED REPORTED
Section 1. Settlement of claims
Section 1(a)(1) authorizes the United States Court of
Federal Claims to hear, determine, and render judgement on a
land claim of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma under its 1805 Treaty
with the United States.
Section 1(a)(2) clarifies the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma has
one year, after the date of enactment of the Act, to file a
claim with the United States Court of Federal Claims based on
its 1805 Treaty.
Section 1(b) clarifies that except for a claim made under
Section 1(a)(1), any and all future claims by the Tribe, its
members, descendants, or predecessors in interest to lands in
Illinois are extinguished.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
Senator Mullin (R-OK) introduced S. 2796 on September 13,
2023. On the same day, the Senate referred the bill to the
Committee on Indian Affairs. On February 8, 2024, the Committee
held a legislative hearing to receive testimony on the bill. On
May 1, 2024, the Committee met at a duly convened business
meeting and ordered S. 2796 reported favorably, without
amendment, by voice vote.
On September 29, 2023, Representative Cole (R-OK)
introduced an identical bill, H.R. 5831, in the House of
Representatives. On the same day, the bill was referred to the
House Committee on Natural Resources. To date, the House has
taken no further action on H.R. 5831.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
S. 2796 would grant jurisdiction to the U.S. Court of
Federal Claims for the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma's land claim
against the United States arising from the Treaty of
Grouseland. The bill would require the court to render
judgement without regard to the statute of limitations or any
other delay-based defense. The bill also would extinguish all
other claims, including any future claims, of the tribe to land
in Illinois.
Groups that file civil suits in the U.S. Court of Federal
Claims pay filing and administrative fees, which are recorded
as revenues. Those fees can be spent without further
appropriation to cover the administrative costs of the
judiciary. On that basis, CBO estimates that enacting S. 2796
would increase both revenues and direct spending by an
insignificant amount over the 2024-2034 period.
CBO also expects that both the court and the Department of
the Interior would incur additional administrative costs to
implement S. 2796. Based on the costs of similar activities,
CBO estimates that those costs would be insignificant; any
related spending would be subject to the availability of
appropriated funds.
S. 2796 contains an intergovernmental mandate as defined in
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) because it would
extinguish the tribe's claims to land in Illinois. Eliminating
an existing right of action is a mandate because the right to
seek redress and recover damages beyond what is provided in the
bill would be lost. CBO estimates that the cost of the mandate
would not exceed the annual threshold established in UMRA ($100
million in 2024, adjusted annually for inflation).
S. 2796 contains no private-sector mandates as defined in
UMRA.
The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Julia Aman
(for federal costs) and Rachel Austin (for mandates). The
estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director
of Budget Analysis.
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director, Congressional Budget Office.
REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT
Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the
Senate requires each report accompanying a bill to evaluate the
regulatory and paperwork impact that would be incurred in
carrying out the bill. The Committee believes that S. 2796 will
have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork requirements.
EXECUTIVE TESTIMONY
Written statement of Kathryn Isom-Clause, Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Policy and Economic Development for Indian
Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior, before the U.S.
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, February 8, 2024, follows
below:
Good morning, Chairman Schatz, Vice Chairman
Murkowski, and members of the Committee. My name is
Kathryn Isom-Clause and I am the Deputy Assistant
Secretary for Policy and Economic Development for
Indian Affairs at the Department of the Interior
(Department). Thank you for the opportunity to present
testimony on . . . S. 2796, A bill to provide for the
equitable settlement of certain Indian land disputes
regarding land in Illinois, and for other purposes . .
. S. 2796 would confer jurisdiction to the United
States Court of Federal Claims to hear, determine, and
render judgment regarding the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma's
land claims under the Treaty of Grouseland (7 Stat.
91), signed August 21, 1805, and would remove legal or
equitable defenses based on the passage of time,
including the statute of limitations. The jurisdiction
conferred to the United States Court of Federal Claims
expires unless a claim is filed under paragraph (1) of
S. 2796 by the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma within one year
of enactment of this legislation. The bill extinguishes
all other claims to title of the Miami Tribe of
Oklahoma, or any member, descendant, or predecessor in
interest to the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma to land in the
State of Illinois.
The Department needs to better understand the claims
by the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma and the impacts of this
legislation on those claims and any remedy sought by
the Tribe. The Department therefore takes no position
on the legislation at this time.
The Committee notes that while the Department did not take
a position on S. 2796 at the February 8, 2024 hearing, the
Department subsequently informed the Committee that it supports
the legislation after review of the Tribe's claims, the impacts
of S. 2796 on those claims, and any remedy sought by the
Tribe.\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\Letter to the Honorable Brian Schatz, Chairman, U.S. Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs, from Bryan Newland, Assistant Secretary--
Indian Affairs, U.S. Department of the Interior (Apr. 22, 2024) (in the
hearing record and on file with the Committee).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
The Committee has received no communications from the
Executive Branch regarding S. 2796.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
On February 9, 2023, the Committee unanimously approved a
motion to waive subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing
Rules of the Senate. In the opinion of the Committee, it is
necessary to dispense with subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate to expedite the business of the
Senate.