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1 1 (July 09, 2020)

handle is hein.crs/govdarl0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Updated July 9,2020 Proposed Extension of the Reclamation Water Settlements Fund Since 1978, the federal governmenthas entered into 36 water rights settlements with individual Indian tribes. These Indian water rights settlements are a means ofresolving ongoing disputes related to Indian water rights among tribes, federal and state governments, and other parties (e.g., water rights holders). Some settlements have been approved byCongress in authorizing legislation that also provides funding for projects that allow tribes to access and develop their water res ources. (For more information on these settlements in general, see CRS Report R44148, Indian Water Rights Settlements.) Historically, federal funding for Indian water rights settlements has been provided through discretionary appropriations. In recent years, however, Congress also has approved mandatory funding for some settlements. Congress created the Reclamation Water Settlements Fund (RWSF) in 2009 as a dedicated sourceof additional funding for existing and future Indian water rights settlements. The fund is administeredby theBureau of Reclamation (Reclamation, a water resources management agency within the Department of the Interior) and is authorized to receive $120 million per year in mandatory funding fromFY2020 through FY2029. Some Members of Congress have been interestedboth in the annual allocation and prioritization of projects within the RWSF and in proposals for its extension. However, none of the extensions proposed in the 115' and 116' Congresses have been enacted. Congress generally has authorized mandatory funding (i.e., direct funding, without further congressional action required) for Indian water rights settlements in one of three forms: 1. Mandatory funding for specific individual settlements. Examples include several individual settlements authorized and funded in P.L. 111-291. 2. Redirection of existing receipts. The primary example is the Arizona Water Rights SettlementAct (P.L. 108-451), which redirected certain receipts within the Lo wer Co lorado River Bas in Development Fund to Indian water rights settlements. 3. Mandatory funding through the RWSF. The RWSFis available to fund Indian water rights settlements with $120 million per year from FY2020 to FY2029. The remainderof this report focuses onthe RWSF. Title X of the Omnibus Public Land Management Actof 2009 (P.L. 111-11, 43 U.S.C. §407) authorized mandatory spending for certain Indian water rights settlements. It also authorized discretionary funding for a number of settlements. The legislation created a new Treasury fund- the RWSF-and scheduled funds to be deposited and available in the fund beginning in FY2020. The act directs the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit $120 million into the fund for each year fromFY2020 to FY2029 (i.e., outside of the 10-year s coring window), for a totalof$1.2 billion. The funds are directed fromthe revenues that otherwise would be deposited into the Reclamation Fund and are made available without any further appropriations. (For more information on the Reclamation Fund, see CRS In Focus IF10042, The Reclamation Fund.) In P.L. I I I - I1, Congress directed the Secretary of the Treasury to deposit $120 million per year, from FY2020 to FY2029, into the Reclamation Water Settlements Fund. The fund provides a dedicated source of funding to support certain Indian water rights settlements. In P.L. 111-11, Congress directed that the RWSF may be used to implement a water rights settlement agreement approved by Congress that resolves, in whole orin part, litigation involving the United States. Congress also stated that the fund may be used for other settlement agreements where the implementing legislation requires Reclamation to provide financial assistance for, or to plan, design, or construct, awaterproject. The act assigned tiers of priority that provided certain individual settlements-both enacted and not yet enacted-with priority access to these funds (Table 1). If any of the priority settlements was not authorized by December31, 2019, the amounts reserved for that settlement were to revert to the fund and become eligible for other authorized uses. Additionally, ifnot all funding is expended after the authorized priority settlements are fully funded, andbefore the expiration of the fund itself, those appropriations could be used for other authorized Indian water rights settlements. Although the last appropriations to the RW SF are currently scheduled to be made in FY2029, the fund itself would not sunset until the end of FY2034, at which time any unexpended balances would be transferred backto the General Fund of the Treasury. A A '2 k

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