Indian Water Rights Settlement Extension Act

Indian Water Rights Settlement Extension Act

This bill ratifies and modifies various agreements related to tribal water rights and contains other related provisions.

The bill ratifies an agreement relating to the settlement of the Aamodt litigation, which resolved claims concerning Pueblo water resources. The bill also reauthorizes through FY2028 activities to construct a regional water system as part of that settlement. Specifically, the bill ratifies an agreement between the United States, New Mexico, the city of Santa Fe, and the Pueblos of Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, and Tesuque relating to the litigation. (This agreement is in addition to previously ratified agreements settling the litigation.)

The bill also ratifies and modifies the Navajo Utah Water Rights Settlement Agreement negotiated between the Navajo Nation, the United States, and Utah. That agreement gives the Navajo Nation the right to use water from sources located within Utah and adjacent to or encompassed within the boundaries of the Navajo Reservation, resulting in depletions not to exceed a specified amount annually.

The Department of the Interior shall establish and manage the Navajo Utah Settlement Trust Fund, with amounts available for withdrawal by the Navajo Nation for Navajo water development projects.

The bill specifies waivers and releases that must be executed in order for the Navajo settlement to be binding and effective.

The bill also authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense to enter arrangements for the sharing of medical facilities and services with urban Indian organizations.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 886 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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116th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 886

  To amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to make the 
             Reclamation Water Settlements Fund permanent.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 27, 2019

Mr. Udall (for himself, Mr. Heinrich, and Ms. Cortez Masto) introduced 
the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 
                    on Energy and Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to make the 
             Reclamation Water Settlements Fund permanent.

    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 Water Rights Settlement 
Extension Act''.

SEC. 2. RECLAMATION WATER SETTLEMENTS FUND.

    Section 10501 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (43 
U.S.C. 407) is amended--
            (1) in subsection (b)(1), by striking ``For each of fiscal 
        years 2020 through 2029'' and inserting ``For fiscal year 2020 
        and each fiscal year thereafter'';
            (2) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking ``for each of 
                fiscal years 2020 through 2034'' and inserting ``for 
                fiscal year 2020 and each fiscal year thereafter''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (3)(C), by striking ``for any 
                authorized use'' and all that follows through the 
                period at the end and inserting ``for any use 
                authorized under paragraph (2).''; and
            (3) by striking subsection (f).
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