Pub. L. 105-83, tit. I, sec. 118

Sec. 118. Any funds made available in this Act or any other Act for tribal priority allocations (hereafter in this section “TPA”) in excess of the funds expended for TPA in fiscal year 1997 (adjusted for fixed costs, internal transfers pursuant to other law, and proposed increases to formula-driven programs not included in tribes’ TPA base) shall only be available for distribution— (1) to each tribe to the extent necessary to provide that tribe the minimum level of funding recommended by the Joint-Tribal/BIA/DOI Task Force on Reorganization of the Bureau of Indian Affairs Report of 1994 (hereafter “the 1994 Report”) not to exceed $160,000 per tribe; and (2) to the extent funds remain, such funds will be allocated according to the recommendations of a task force comprised of 2 designated Federal officials and 2 tribal representatives from each BIA area. These representatives shall be selected by the Secretary after considering a list of names of tribal leaders nominated and elected by the tribes in each area. The list of nominees shall be provided to the Secretary by October 31, 1997. If the tribes in an area fail to submit a list of nominees to the Secretary by October 31, 1997, the Secretary shall select representatives after consulting with the BIA. In determining the allocation of remaining funds, the Task Force shall consider the recommendations and principles contained in the 1994 Report. If the Task Force cannot agree on a distribution by January 31, 1998, the Secretary shall distribute the remaining funds based on the recommendations of a majority of Task Force members no later than February 28, 1998. If a majority recommendation cannot be reached, the Secretary in exercising his discretion shall distribute the remaining funds considering the recommendations of the Task Force members.