Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) re-introduced her bipartisan, bicameral bill to make vital amendments to the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation Water Rights Settlement Act. The legislation would allow the Tribes to collect over $5 million in interest that they are owed from their 2009 water rights settlement. The bill is cosponsored by Senators Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), James Risch (R-Idaho), and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and was introduced by Representative Mark Amodei (R-Nev.-02) in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Interest payments are commonplace in Indian water settlements but were inadvertently left out of this one. The Senator’s bill would correct this oversight and allow the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation to collect the full amount they are owed from the federal government.
“I’m working to ensure that the federal government delivers the over five million it owes the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “My legislation fixes a technical oversight that is keeping this funding from the community it belongs to, and I’ll continue to champion efforts to get Tribal nations across Nevada the resources they deserve.”
“It’s long past time that the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Indian Reservation receive the money they’re owed,” said Senator Rosen. “I’m proud to help introduce this bipartisan bill that would allow Duck Valley to collect this funding, and I’ll continue working to ensure that Tribes in Nevada have the resources they need.”
“This legislation provides a much-needed fix granting the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation their deserved settlement,” said Senator Crapo. “The federal government can resolve its debt and uphold the full interest terms of the settlement with the Duck Valley Reservation.”
“The Shoshone-Paiute Tribes’ water rights settlement excluded interest payments by mistake, resulting in these communities being unfairly cut short,” said Senator Risch. “This legislation corrects that error and provides the Tribes the proper interest they are owed.”
Senator Cortez Masto has been a strong advocate on behalf of Tribes in Nevada and across the country. Understanding the importance of preserving Native heritage, she has worked to protect and support Tribal languages. The Senator has continuously highlighted the ongoing crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women (MMIW), and she was instrumental in passing Not Invisible Act and Savanna’s Act into law. Most recently, she introduced the
Bridging Agency Data Gaps & Ensuring Safety (BADGES) for Native Communities Act to address federal inefficiencies that hurt Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement recruitment and retention, increase the effectiveness of federal missing persons resources, and give Tribes and states resources to combat the crisis of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls.
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