Campbell Introduces Bill to Resolve Indian Trust Suit
Washington, D.C. - Today Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-CO), joined
by key Democrat and Republican Senators, introduced legislation to help
resolve the 8-year old Cobell v. Norton. The case involves an accounting of
hundreds of thousands of individual Indian money (IIM) trust accounts managed
by the Bureau of Indian Affairs on behalf of Indian beneficiaries.
"I commend [name plaintiff] Eloise Cobell and the other plaintiffs who brought
the case in 1996 because it forced the Congress and the Interior Department
to address trust management issues," said Campbell, "but we have long passed
the point where litigation is helpful".
Campbell's bill creates two entities: one charged with determining account
balances from incomplete documentation, and one to provide due process to
IIM account holders who wish to contest their claims.
The first entity would be the "Indian Money Account Claim Satisfaction
(IMACS) Task Force", a 9-person body of experts in forensic accounting,
commercial trusts and other disciplines, which would use available data and
a variety of methodologies or models to determine the probable balances for
all IIM accounts.
The second new entity would be the "Indian Money Claims Tribunal" to be made
up of 5 arbitrators drawn from a list maintained by the Attorney General.
"It is clear to me that Congress must act for this case to be resolved in a
way that is fair to the Indian account holders and honorable for the United
States", said Campbell, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian
Affairs.
Under this legislation, after an IIM account balance is determined by the
IMACS Task Force, an account holder would have three options: he could
either accept that figure and receive payment to satisfy his claim, thereby
removing himself from the class action, or he could dispute the IMACS number
and submit to binding arbitration by the Tribunal, or he could remain a
member of the class action.
The IMACS legislation authorizes $20 million for each of the next four fiscal
years – a mere fraction of the billions required for the sort of complete
historical accounting ordered by the Court.
Campbell's proposal is intended to provide real relief to Indian account
holders in real time. "This bill will get money into the hands of Indians
and that is my goal in introducing this bill", remarked Campbell the lone
American Indian in the Senate.
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CONTACT: Paul Moorehead 202-224-2251
October 21, 2003