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91ST CONGRESS 1st Session

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SENATE

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REPORT No. 91-381

COMPENSATING THE INDIANS OF CALIFORNIA FOR THE VALUE OF LAND ERRONEOUSLY USED AS AN OFFSET IN A JUDGMENT AGAINST THE UNITED STATES OBTAINED BY SAID INDIANS

AUGUST 12, 1969.-Ordered to be printed

Mr. McGOVERN, from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H.R. 671]

The Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, to which was referred the bill (H.R. 671) to compensate the Indians of California for the value of land erroneously used as an offset in a judgment against the United States obtained by said Indians, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon without amendment and recommends that the bill do pass.

PURPOSE

The purpose of H.R. 671 is to correct an erroneous setoff of $83,275 against a judgment against the United States recovered by the Indians of California.

NEED

In 1944 the Indians of California obtained in the court of claims a judgment against the United States for $17,053,941. After the allowance of various setoffs amounting to $12,029,099, the net amount was $5,024,842. Most of the money has been distributed by a $150 per capita payment to each member on the roll, as directed by Congress. The balance, amounting to about $1.1 million, including accumulated interest, is in the process of being distributed along with a later judgment for $29.1 million recovered in the Indian Claims Commission in 1964. Congress directed both distributions to be made by the act of September 21, 1968 (62 Stat. 860).

It now develops that the setoffs against the 1944 judgment erroneously included 66,620 acres of land valued at $1.25 per acre, for a total of $83,275. This setoff was based on an Executive order in 1912 reserving the land for the Indians. The setoff was erroneous, however,

because the Indians never used the land and the Executive order had been revoked in 1932, prior to the judgment. This fact was not called to the attention of the Court of Claims.

The error should be corrected, and will be corrected by the enactment of this bill, by crediting to the balance still in the judgment account the amount of the erroneous setoff, $83,275, plus interest from the date of the judgment.

The enactment of the bill now will permit all of the funds which need to be distributed to the Indians of California to be distributed at one time.

Cost

The enactment of the bill will involve a Federal expenditure of $83,275, plus interest at 4 percent from December 4, 1944. The estimated total of principal and interest is approximately $200,000.

DEPARTMENTAL REPORT

The favorable report of the Department of the Interior is as follows: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington, D.C., June 19, 1969.

Hon. WAYNE N. ASPINALL,

Chairman, Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs,
House of Representatives, Washington, D.C.

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: This is in response to your request for the views of this Department on H.R. 671, a bill to compensate the Indians of California for the value of land erroneously used as an offset in a judgment against the United States obtained by said Indians.

We recommend the enactment of H.R. 671.

This bill would compensate the Indians of California for the valuation of land erroneously used as an offset against the judgment rendered in the case entitled The Indians of California v. United States (102 C. Cl. 837 (1944)), plus interest at 4 percent from the date the judgment was paid.

By Executive order of May 9, 1912, lands in Tps. 4 and 5 S., R. 31 E., and Tps. 4, 5, and 6 S., R. 32 E., Mount Diablo base and meridian, California, were "temporarily reserved from settlement, entry, sale, or other disposition, until their suitableness for allotment purposes to homeless Paiute or other Indians living on or adjacent thereto may be fully investigated."

Investigation revealed that these lands were unsuitable for allotment purposes because they were rough and rocky and could not be successfully cultivated without irrigation. The investigation also developed that the Indians had never lived upon or made use of these lands. The Executive order of May 9, 1912, was revoked by an Executive order of April 28, 1932. These lands were later included in Grazing District No. 1, set up by order of the Secretary of the Interior dated April 8,

1935.

In the interim, however, the suit entitled The Indians of California v. United States, supra, was instituted. In the defense of this suit,

S. Rept. 91-381

this Department furnished the Attorney General a listing of the lands in use by the various tribes and bands of Indians in California. The list totaled 611,226 acres, and mistakenly included the lands reserved in the May 9, 1912, Executive order, even though that order had already been revoked. The value of these lands, according to the act of May 18, 1928 (45 Stat. 602), was to be used as an offset against any judgment rendered in favor of the Indians. The public domain land was valued at the rate of $1.25 per acre.

The order of the court of claims dated December 4, 1944, does not itemize the lands used as an offset, but uses the aggregate total of 611,226 acres. Thus, the total acreage figure furnished by this Department, which erroneously included the 66,620 acres reserved by the 1912 Executive order, was the basis for the offset against plaintiff's recovery on account of land being used by the Indians of California.

We believe that action should now be taken to correct this error, and recommend that the Indians of California be credited with the $83,275, plus interest, which represents the value of the offset of 66,620 acres determined at $1.25 per acre.

The act of May 18, 1928, supra, provided that any judgment funds deposited in the Treasury to the credit of these Indians would draw interest at the rate of 4 percent. The funds representing the unexpended balances from that judgment have been drawing interest since December 4, 1944, the date of the order of the court, and amount to over $1.1 million. These funds will be distributed as provided in the act of September 21, 1968 (82 Stat. 860). This act authorizes the distribution of the undistributed balance of the moneys appropriated in satisfaction of the court of claims judgment and would include the funds to be credited if House Resolution 671 is enacted.

The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the presentation of this report from the standpoint of the administration's program.

Sincerely yours,

WALTER J. HICKEL,
Secretary of the Interior.

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

In compliance with subsection (4) of rule XXIX of the Standing Rules of the Senate, changes in existing law made by the bill (H.R. 671) as reported, are shown as follows (existing law proposed to be omitted is enclosed in black brackets; new matter is printed in italic; existing law in which no change is proposed is shown in roman).

ACT OF SEPTEMBER 21, 1968 (82 STAT. 860)

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SEC. 3. (a). The Secretary shall distribute to each person whose name appears on the roll prepared pursuant to section 1 of this Act regardless of group affiliation, an equal share of the undistributed balance of the moneys appropriated in satisfaction of the judgment of the Court of Claims in the case of The Indians of California against United States (102 Court of Claims 837; 59 Stat. 94), plus the interest earned thereon, including the reimbursed moneys and unexpended

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balances of the funds established by the Acts of July 1, 1946 (60 Stat. 348), August 4, 1955 (69 Stat. 460), and July 14, 1960 (74 Stat. 512), minus a proper share of the costs of roll preparation and such amounts as may be necessary to effect the distribution.

(b) The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and directed to credit to the judgment account referred to in subsection (a), for distribution as a part of such account, the sum of $83,275, plus interest at 4 per centum per annum from December 4, 1944, which sum represents the value of sixty-six thousand six hundred and twenty acres of land erroneously used as an offset against said judgment.

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S. Rept. 91-381

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