To provide for the payment of amounts owed to Indian tribes and individual Indian money account holders.

July 31 (legislative day, JULY 21), 2003

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

To provide for the payment of amounts owed to Indian tribes and individual Indian money account holders.

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 `Indian Trust Payment Equity Act of 2003'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES-

(a) FINDINGS- Congress finds that--

(1) the United States has entered into treaties with Indian tribes under which the United States made various commitments to Indian tribes and Indian people;

(2) the United States functions, by treaty and statute, as a trustee for Indian tribes and individual Indians;

(3) the United States has a fiduciary obligation to Indian tribes and Indian people and, in accordance with that obligation, must use the highest standard of care to protect the assets of Indian tribes and individual Indians;

(4) the United States has failed Indian tribes and individual Indians and abridged its treaty obligations related to the handling of trust fund management and historical accounting;

(5) mismanagement of Indian trust assets by the United States is a longstanding problem that spans many administrations;

(6) the complexity and longevity of that mismanagement neither mitigates the injustice visited on the 300,000 Native Americans whose accounts have been shortchanged nor absolves the United States of its responsibility to correct the situation in a timely manner;

(7) a civil action, Cobell v. Norton, Civ. No. 96-1285 (RCL), was filed in 1996 in an attempt to obtain a court order to compel the United States to account for the trust funds managed by the United States on behalf of individual Indians;

(8) as of the date of enactment of this Act, the overall individual Indian money fund--

(A) contains approximately $3,000,000,000; and

(B) distributes more than $500,000,000 each year to individual Indian money account holders;

(9) those funds are generated from Indian trust land royalties resulting from leases of that land to oil, agricultural, timber, and mining interests;

(10) not only do the parties to the Cobell action disagree on the amount of money owed to individual Indian money account holders, there is disagreement between the United States and the Cobell plaintiffs on the number of individual Indian beneficiaries residing in the United States;

(11) the United States estimates that, as of the date of enactment of this Act, there are approximately 300,000 individual Indian trust beneficiaries residing in the United States;

(12) the United States has never issued a public approximation of the amount of money owed to individual Indian money account holders;

(13) in 2001, the Secretary of the Interior established the Office of Historical Trust Accounting to determine the means by which a full accounting of individual Indian money accounts could be accomplished;

(14) the Office of Historical Trust Accounting has estimated that the process of conducting the accounting--

(A) could last a decade or longer;

(B) could cost at least $2,400,000,000; and

(C) might not produce a usable result;

(15) the Cobell civil action was filed only on behalf of individual Indians, and not Indian tribes; and

(16) the Secretary of the Interior has stated that completion of a comprehensive accounting of funds owed to individual Indian money account holders will not be completed for at least 5 years after the date of enactment of this Act.

(b) PURPOSES- The purposes of this Act are--

(1) to acknowledge that the United States owes a considerable amount of funds to Indian tribes and individual Indian money account holders;

(2) to recognize that the acute human needs of Indians require that the debt be paid to Indians and Indian tribes as promptly as possible;

(3) to respect the sovereignty of Indian tribes; and

(4) to provide for payments of amounts that Indians and Indian tribes are owed by the United States.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

In this Act:

(1) ACCOUNTING- The term `accounting' means the comprehensive accounting of funds owed to individual Indian money account holders required to be completed by the Secretary as a result of the holding of the court in Cobell v. Norton, Civ. No. 96-1285 (RCL).

(2) FUND- The term `Fund' means the Indian Trust Payment Equity Fund established by section 5(a).

(3) INDIAN- The term `Indian' means an individual who is a member of an Indian tribe (as determined by the Indian tribe).

(4) INDIAN TRIBE- The term `Indian tribe' has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the

Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).

(5) SECRETARY- The term `Secretary' means the Secretary of the Interior.

SEC. 4. INDIAN TRUST PAYMENT EQUITY.

(a) PAYMENTS- For each of fiscal years 2004 through 2008, subject to section 5(d), the Secretary shall use $2,000,000,000 of the amounts in the Fund to provide to Indian tribes payments of amounts owed by the United States to individual Indian money account holders as a result of mismanagement of the individual Indian money fund.

(b) CONTRACTS FOR AUDITING- The Secretary--

(1) may enter into a contract with an Indian tribe under section 102 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450f), or amend such a contract, to provide funds to the Indian tribe from the Fund to assist the Indian tribe in performing audits of individual Indian money accounts in accordance with generally accepted accounting standards consistent with chapter 75 of title 31, United States Code (commonly known as the `Single Audit Act of 1984'); and

(2) if the account holder accepts the results of an audit, may use amounts in the Fund as partial payment until a full accounting is satisfied.

(c) NO EFFECT ON ACCOUNTING OR JUDICIAL DECISIONS- Nothing in this section--

(1) negates or otherwise affects the requirement of the Department of the Interior to complete the accounting; or

(2) constitutes a settlement regarding any individual Indian money account or any civil action to compel an accounting and payment of amounts owed to individual Indian money account holders.

SEC. 5. INDIAN TRUST PAYMENT EQUITY FUND.

(a) ESTABLISHMENT- There is established in the Treasury of the United States the Indian Trust Payment Equity Fund to be used in carrying out this Act, consisting of such amounts as are appropriated to the Fund under subsection (b).

(b) APPROPRIATIONS TO FUND- There are appropriated to the Fund--

(1) such amounts as are made available under subsections (a) and (b) of section 6;

(2) such amounts are deposited in the Fund under section 5(d)(2); and

(3) any interest earned on investment of amounts in the Fund under subsection (d).

(c) EXPENDITURES FROM FUND-

(1) IN GENERAL- Subject to paragraph (2), upon request by the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer from the Fund to the Secretary of the Interior such amounts as the Secretary of the Interior determines are necessary to provide payments under section 4(a).

(2) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES- An amount not exceeding 1 percent of the amounts in the Fund shall be available for each fiscal year to pay the administrative expenses necessary to carry out this Act.

(d) INVESTMENT OF AMOUNTS-

(1) INVESTMENTS-

(A) IN GENERAL- The Secretary of the Treasury shall invest such portion of the Fund as is not, in the judgment of the Secretary of the Treasury, required to meet current withdrawals.

(B) OBLIGATIONS- Investments may be made only in interest-bearing obligations of the United States.

(2) ACQUISITION OF OBLIGATIONS- For the purpose of investments under paragraph (1), obligations may be acquired--

(A) on original issue at the issue price; or

(B) by purchase of outstanding obligations at the market price.

(3) SALE OF OBLIGATIONS- Any obligation acquired by the Fund may be sold by the Secretary of the Treasury at the market price.

(4) CREDITS TO FUND- The interest on, and the proceeds from the sale or redemption of, any obligations held in the Fund shall be credited to and form a part of the Fund.

(e) TRANSFERS OF AMOUNTS-

(1) IN GENERAL- The amounts required to be transferred to the Fund under this section shall be transferred at least monthly from the general fund of the Treasury to the Fund on the basis of estimates made by the Secretary of the Treasury.

(2) ADJUSTMENTS- Proper adjustment shall be made in amounts subsequently transferred to the extent prior estimates were in excess of or less than the amounts required to be transferred.

SEC. 6. FUNDING.

(a) IN GENERAL- Out of any funds in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the Secretary of the Treasury shall transfer to the Secretary, for deposit in the Fund--

(1) not later than 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act, $2,000,000,000; and

(2) on October 1, 2004, and each October 1 thereafter through October 1, 2007, $2,000,000,000.

(b) RECEIPT AND ACCEPTANCE- The Secretary shall be entitled to receive, shall accept, and shall deposit in the Fund and use to carry out this Act the funds transferred under subsection (a), without further appropriation.

(c) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS- Funds transferred under subsection (a) shall remain available until expended.

SEC. 7. REPORT.

Not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report that includes--

(1) an accounting of all payments made under section 4(a); and

(2) a description of the status of, and an estimated date of completion for, the accounting.

END