[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 630 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 630
To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to the
Quapaw Nation and certain members of the Quapaw Nation in accordance
with the recommendation of the United States Court of Federal Claims,
and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 19, 2025
Mr. Mullin (for himself and Mr. Lankford) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian
Affairs
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to make payments to the
Quapaw Nation and certain members of the Quapaw Nation in accordance
with the recommendation of the United States Court of Federal Claims,
and for other purposes.
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 ``Quapaw Tribal Settlement Act of
2025''.
SEC. 2. QUAPAW TRIBAL SETTLEMENT.
(a) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Claimant.--The term ``Claimant'' means each of--
(A) the Quapaw Nation and the parties identified in
paragraphs 1 through 10 of the complaint in Bear, et
al. v. United States, No. 13-51X (Fed. Cl. Mar. 25,
2013); and
(B) the individual members of the Quapaw Nation
identified in Exhibit A to the amended complaint in
Bear, et al. v. United States, No. 13-51X (Fed. Cl.
Mar. 25, 2013) filed on February 14, 2014.
(2) Report.--The term ``Report'' means the report of the
Review Panel of the United States Court of Federal Claims in
Congressional Reference Case No. 13-51X, Bear, et al. v. United
States (Jan. 9, 2020), submitted to the House of
Representatives on January 31, 2020.
(3) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior (or a designee).
(b) Establishment.--There is established a Special Deposit Account
in the Department of the Interior Bureau of Trust Funds Administration,
to be known as the ``Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account''.
(c) Administration.--The Secretary of the Interior by and through
the Bureau of Trust Funds Administration shall administer all funds
appropriated to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account.
(d) Authorization of Payment.--In accordance with the Report, the
Secretary of the Interior is authorized and directed to pay to the
Claimants $137,500,000 out of any funds in the Treasury of the United
States not otherwise appropriated. The Secretary of the Treasury shall
transfer the single payment to the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account
established in subsection (b).
(e) Payment in Accordance With Report.--The payment under
subsection (d) shall be made in accordance with the Report.
(f) Distribution.--After the settlement proceeds are transferred to
the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust Account specified under subsection
(b), the settlement proceeds shall be available for use, allocation,
and distribution in accordance with the Claimants' distribution plan.
The Claimants shall establish a distribution plan in accordance with
subsection (d) and the procedures set forth in subsection (g).
(g) Distribution of Funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement Trust
Account.--
(1) Mediation.--
(A) No more than forty-five (45) days following
enactment of the Act, the Claimants shall submit the
issues of the allocation and distribution of the
settlement proceeds to a mutually agreed upon third-
party mediator.
(B) In the event the Claimants do not submit to a
mutually agreed upon third-party mediation within
forty-five (45) days pursuant to the preceding
subparagraph, then any Claimant may initiate
Secretarial Allocation procedures under paragraph (2)
below.
(C) Any mediation shall be confidential and non-
binding on the Claimants without the written consent of
the Claimants, provided that nothing in this paragraph
shall be interpreted to bar the Quapaw Nation Business
Committee from consulting with the Quapaw Nation Indian
Council during mediation.
(D) No statements made or information exchanged
during mediation shall be admissible in any future
legal or dispute resolution proceedings without the
written consent of the Claimants.
(E) The Claimants shall mutually agree to conduct
mediation at a specified location. Each Claimant shall
pay its own costs, plus an equal share of the costs of
the mediator and the mediation facilities.
(F) Following successful completion of any
mediation under this section, the Claimants may submit
a mutually agreed upon distribution plan to the
Secretary.
(G) Upon submission of a mutually agreed upon
distribution plan to the Secretary, the Secretary shall
distribute the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement
Trust Account to the Claimants in accordance with their
mutually agreed upon distribution plan.
(H) In the event the Claimants do not reach a
mutually agreed upon distribution plan following
mediation, then any Claimant, through written
notification, may submit the matter to the Secretary
who shall determine a final distribution plan
allocating the funds in the Quapaw Bear Settlement
Trust Account in accordance with the Report based on
the procedures in paragraph (2).
(2) Secretarial allocation.--
(A) Following an unsuccessful mediation pursuant to
the procedures in paragraph (1), any Claimant may
petition the Secretary to determine final allocations
of settlement proceeds in accordance with subsection
(d).
(B) The Secretary shall commence the Secretarial
Allocation process in accordance with this paragraph
(2) if the Claimants do not reach a mutually agreed
upon allocation plan within 18 months following
enactment of the Act.
(C) Upon the receipt of such a petition by a
Claimant, the Secretary or the Secretary's designee
shall order an allocation of the settlement proceeds
pursuant to the following steps:
(i) Within thirty (30) days following the
Secretary's receipt of a petition to allocation
settlement proceeds after failed mediation, the
Secretary or the Secretary's designee shall
issue a scheduling order to establish a
schedule for a hearing and the issuance of a
final decision by the Secretary of a final
distribution plan.
(ii) The Secretary's decision determining a
final distribution plan in accordance with
subsection (d) shall be made following a
hearing to be presided over by the Secretary or
the Secretary's designee. The hearing shall
occur no less than sixty (60) days following
the issuance of the scheduling order.
(iii) At least fifteen (15) days prior to
the hearing, each Claimant shall submit to the
other Claimants and to the Secretary a copy of
all exhibits on which such Claimant intends to
rely at the hearing, a pre-hearing brief, and a
proposed final decision by the Secretary. The
proposed final decision shall include a
proposed distribution plan to be submitted to
the Secretary and shall be limited to proposed
rulings and distributions for each Claimant.
(iv) Within fourteen (14) days after the
close of the hearing, each Claimant may submit
a post-hearing brief to the Secretary.
(v) Following the hearing and post-hearing
brief, the Secretary shall issue a final
decision determining a final distribution plan
in accordance with subsection (d) within sixty
(60) calendar days. The Claimants may mutually
agree upon a binding distribution plan at any
time before the Secretary's decision is issued.
(vi) Within twenty (20) calendar days after
transmittal of the Secretary's final decision
to the Claimants, the Claimants may submit to
the Secretary any information necessary for the
implementation of the final distribution plan.
(vii) Within sixty (60) days of the
Secretary's final decision determining a final
distribution plan, the Secretary shall
distribute the funds in the Quapaw Bear
Settlement Trust Account to the Claimants
pursuant to the terms of the final distribution
plan.
(viii) Any deadlines established in this
section may be extended by unanimous mutual
agreement of the Claimants.
(3) Federal mediation & conciliation service.--In
discharging any duties under this Act, the Secretary is
authorized to utilize the Federal Mediation Conciliation
Service to provide technical support and dispute resolution
resources, provided, however, that the Secretary or the
Secretary's designee is responsible for approving and
implementing any mutually agreed-upon or binding distribution
plan reached pursuant to this Act.
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