GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY WHEREAS, the funds appropriated in satisfaction of awards granted to the Gila River Indian Community in Dockets 236-A, B and E before the Indian Claims Commission and the Court of Claims, less attorney fees and litigation expenses, and including all interest and investment income accrued, shall be used and distributed as provided herein; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the funds shall be invested as stated in the attached Plan for the Use and Distribution of Funds. This resolution supersedes GRIC Resolution No. GR-147-77, adopted on December 7, 1977. CERTIFICATION Pursuant to authority contained in Article XV, Section 1, (a) (1), (9), (12), (14) and Section 4 of the amended Constitution and Bylaws of the Gila River Indian Community ratified by the Tribe, January 22, 1960, and approved by the Secretary of the Interior, March 17, 1960, the foregoing resolution was adopted this 1st day of AUGUST, 1979, at a REGULAR Council meeting held in DISTRICT SIX, LAVEEN, Arizona at which a quorum of 14 members were present by a vote of 14 FOR; O OPPOSE; O ABSTAIN; 3 ABSENT: O VACANCY. ATTEST: GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY Dementy I Velumsuz TRIBAL SECRETARY GOVERNOR WHEREAS, the Gila River Indian Community has been awarded certain judgements by the Indian Claims Commission for damages sustained as a result of the War Relocation Act of 1941; and WHEREAS, these funds are currently held in trust for the Gila River Indian Community and can not be disbursed for beneficial Community use until such time as a disbursement plan has been adopted and approved by the Gila River Indian Community Council, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Secretary of Interior. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the following plan for disbursement of judgement funds resulting from claims under the War Relocation Act is hereby adopted and approved. 1. Allowable attorneys fees and repayment to the United States 2. The Community Treasurer is directed to deposit the net 4. 5. At the end of each calendar quarter the Treasurer shall withdraw The Treasurer shall then distribute, on a quarterly basis, one- BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that while it is the interest of the Gila River Indian BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Governor or Lt. Governor and Secretary are hereby authorized to sign such documents as may be necessary to fulfill the intent of this resolution. CERTIFICATION Pursuant to Authority contained in Article XV, Sec. 1 (a) (9), (12), (14) and Sec. 4 of the Amended Constitution and Bylaws of the Gila River Indian Community ratified by the Tribe, January 22, 1960 and approved by the Secretary of the Interior March 17, 1960, the foregoing resolution was adopted this 7TH day of DECEMBER, 1977 at a REGULAR Council meeting held in DISTRICT THREE, SACATON, Arizona at which a quorum of 12 members were present by a vote of 12 FOR; O AGAINST; O ABSTAIN; 4 ABSENT; and I VACANCY. GILA RIVER INDIAN COMMUNITY ATTEST: bman banco TRIBAL COUNCIL SECRETARY GOVERNOR Pima Agency 020 18 1977 RECEIVED Senator MELCHER. Together with the bill itself with the technical amendments and then the financial statement, this will mean that the funds themselves will remain invested; and all that will be used will be the interest derived from the funds. I believe I am understanding the Bureau's position and the tribe's position correctly. Is that right? Mr. REESER. Yes, sir, but section 3 would authorize the tribe to utilize the principal of the funds under budgets subject to approval of the Secretary of the Interior. The tribe's resolution indicates that they would only do that under unusual circumstances. Senator MELCHER. They had nothing planned at that time for the utilization of the principal. Mr. REESER. That is right, sir. But it is authorized. Senator MELCHER. Is it more or less of an escape valve in the event of some unusual circumstances where they may need more than what would be derived from the interest? Mr. REESER. Yes, sir, otherwise, we would have to come back to the Congress for further legislation. Senator MELCHER. I believe all this is agreeable with the tribe, as evidenced by their telegram and their testimony at the public hearing held last October in Phoenix. Thank you very much, Ralph. There are no other witnesses that have asked to appear at this public hearing, and the Chair is not aware of any other witnesses that are present. The committee will be meeting shortly at 1:30 for consideration and markup of several bills on the committee schedule. [Prepared statement of Ralph Reeser follows:] PREPARED STATEMENT OF RALPH REESER, DIRECTOR, CONGRESSIONAL AND LEGISLATIVE AFFAIRS STAFF, BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Mr. Chairman and Members of the Committee, I am pleased to present the views of the Department of the Interior on S. 2508, which provides for the disposition of funds appropriated to satisfy certain judgments in favor of the Gila River Indian Community. We recommend the enactment of S. 2508 with the amendments suggested in our report on the bill. On September 30, 1976, the Indian Claims Commission granted an award of $1,575,465.90 in Dockets 236-A and 236-B to the Gila River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community as additional compensation for the leasing of Gila River Reservation land in Arizona in 1942. The lands involved, totaling over 17,123 acres, were leased by the War Relocation Authority for a relocation center for Japanese evacuees. Funds to satisfy the award were appropriated in 1977. On March 9, 1979, the U.S. Court of Claims in Docket 236-E granted the Gila River Community an award for which $4,996,000.29 was appropriated on April 23, 1979. The award represents the recovery of unauthorized operations and maintenance charges in connection with the delivery of water to the tribe's lands within the San Carlos Irrigation Project. The Gila River Indian Čommunity, comprised of confederated Pima and Maricopa Indians, is organized with a constitution and bylaws approved on March 17, 1960, under the provisions of the Indian Reorganization Act of June 18, 1934. Tribal membership is estimated at 13,000. On August 1, 1979, the Gila River tribal governing body adopted Resolution GS-100-79 for the use and distribution of the judgment funds. The resolution provides for the programming of the entirety of the funds, specifying that no portion is to be distributed in the form of per capita payments. The resolution was developed in anticipation of the submission by the Secretary of the Interior to the Congress of a plan for the use of the funds and was the subject of Hearings of Record held October 11 and 12, 1979. The tribe's proposal received wide support. However, a plan could not be submitted to the Congress before the expiration of the deadline mandated by the 1973 Indian Judgment Funds Act. Thus, legislation such as S. 2508 is necessary. The tribe's views remain unchanged and S. 2508 reflects the tribal proposal. We believe, however, that some clarification of the bill is necessary and we recommend that the amendments suggested below be adopted. Section 2(a) of S. 2508 would provide for the investment by the Secretary of the Interior of the principal of the sums in all three awards. Interest and investment income accrued thereon would be made available immediately upon approval by the Secretary of the resolution referred to above. Paragraph (1) of section 2(a) would provide for 50 percent of the interest and income from Dockets 236-A and 236-B to be used for operational costs for the tribe and paragraph (2) for 50 percent to be used for programming by the seven reservation communities on the basis of their respective populations. In order to clarify the source of the initial 50 percent for local community programming, we recommend that on line 19 of page 2 the phrase "resulting from dockets 236-A and 236-B" be inserted after the term "income". Section 2(b) would specify that all of the accrued interest and income from Docket 236-E be used as operational costs for the Gila River Community, and that thereafter interest on invested funds be advanced quarterly and used as provided in section 2. We believe that the second sentence of section 2(b) is ambiguous and we recommend that the sentence be amended to read as follows: "After the date of the enactment of this Act all interest and investment income accrued from dockets 236-A, 236-B, and 236-E shall be advanced quarterly and utilized as provided in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subsection (a) of this section." Our final amendment would clarify that the budget referred to in section 3 would be proposed by the governing body of the Gila River Community and not by the entire membership of the Community. On page 3, line 7, delete "Indian Community" and substitute "tribal governing body". This concludes my prepared statement and I will be pleased to respond to any question the Committee may have. Senator MELCHER. The hearing is adjourned. [Whereupon, at 1:10 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.] O |