(Idaho State) U.S. Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada), Jim Risch (R-Idaho) and Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) reintroduced the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act, which would allow the Tribes to finally collect over $5 million in interest they are owed for the 2009 water rights settlement.
“This much-needed fix takes the next step in upholding the federal government’s full interest terms of the 2009 settlement with the Duck Valley Reservation,” said Crapo. “The Senate unanimously advanced the measure in the last Congress and must do so again expeditiously. The House should follow suit so we can correct this error as soon as possible.”
“It is absurd that the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation have had to go nearly two decades without millions of dollars in interest they are owed,” said Cortez Masto. “My commonsense, bipartisan legislation fixes this years-old oversight and secures funding that these Tribes deserve.”
“The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation deserve the millions of dollars in interest they are owed,” said Rosen. “I’m proud to help introduce this bipartisan legislation to ensure they finally receive this payment after a nearly twenty-year delay.”
“The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes’ water rights settlement mistakenly excluded interest payments, unjustly cutting these communities short,” said Risch. “I’m proud to join my colleagues in introducing legislation to correct this error and provide the Tribes the proper interest they are owed.”
The bill passed the Senate unanimously in the last Congress, but did not advance in the U.S. House of Representatives.
