CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS.

SEC. 402. CONGRESSIONAL FINDINGS AND DECLARATIONS. (a) The Congress finds that— (1) it is the policy of the United States, in fulfillment of its trust responsibility to Indian tribes, to promote Indian self--determination and economic self-sufficiency, and to settle, wherever possible, the water rights claims of Indian tribes without lengthy and costly litigation; (2) meaningful Indian self-determination and economic self-sufficiency depend on development of viable Indian reservation economies; (3) quantification of rights to water and development of facilities needed to utilize tribal water supplies effectively is essential to the development of viable Indian reservation economies, particularly in arid western States; (4) on September 15, 1903, the United States Government established a reservation for the Fort McDowell Indian Community in Arizona north of the confluence of the Salt and Verde Rivers tributary to the Gila River; (5) the United States, as trustee for the Community, obtained water entitlements for the Community pursuant to the Kent Decree of 1910; however, continued uncertainty as to the full extent of the Community’s entitlement to water has severely limited the Community’s access to water and the financial resources necessary to develop its valuable agricultural lands and frustrated its efforts to reduce its dependence on Federal program funding and achieve meaningful self-determination and economic self-sufficiency; (6) proceedings to determine the full extent and nature of the Community’s water rights and damages thereto are currently pending before the United States District Court in Arizona, the United States Claims Court, the Superior Court of the State of Arizona in and for Maricopa County, as part of the General Adjudication of the Gila River System and Source, and before various Federal agencies under the Federal Tort Claims Act; (7) recognizing that final resolution of pending litigation will take many years and entail great expense to all parties, continue economically and socially damaging limits to the Community’s access to water, prolong uncertainty as to the availability 104 STAT. 4481of water supplies and seriously impair the long-term economic planning and development of all parties, the Community and neighboring non-Indian communities have sought to settle disputes over water and reduce the burdens of litigation; (8) after more than five years of negotiation, which included participation by representatives of the United States Government, the Community and neighboring non-Indian communities of the Salt River Valley, who are all party to the General Adjudication of the Gila River System and Source, the parties have entered into an agreement to resolve all water rights claims between and among themselves, to quantify the Community’s entitlement to water, and to provide for the orderly development of the Community’s lands; (9) pursuant to the agreement, the neighboring non-Indian communities will transfer rights to approximately twelve thousand acre-feet of surface water to the Community; provide for the means of firming existing water supplies of the Community, and make substantial additional contributions to carry out the agreement’s provisions; and (10) to advance the goals of Federal Indian policy and to fulfill the trust responsibility of the United States to the Community, it is appropriate that the United States participate in the implementation of the agreement and contribute funds for the rehabilitation and expansion of existing reservation irrigation facilities so as to enable the Community to utilize fully its water entitlements in developing a diverse, efficient reservation economy. (b) Therefore, the Congress declares that the purposes of this Act are: (1) to approve, ratify and confirm the agreement entered into by the Community and its neighboring non-Indian communities, (2) to authorize and direct the Secretary of the Interior to execute and perform such agreement, and (3) to authorize the actions and appropriations necessary for the United States to fulfill its legal and trust obligations to the Community as provided in the agreement and this Act.