FINDINGS.

SEC. 10801. FINDINGS. Congress finds that—(1) it is the policy of the United States, in accordance with the trust responsibility of the United States to Indian tribes, to promote Indian self-determination and economic self-sufficiency and to settle Indian water rights claims without lengthy and costly litigation, if practicable;123 STAT. 1406(2) quantifying rights to water and development of facilities needed to use tribal water supplies is essential to the development of viable Indian reservation economies and the establishment of a permanent reservation homeland;(3) uncertainty concerning the extent of the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes’ water rights has resulted in limited access to water and inadequate financial resources necessary to achieve self-determination and self-sufficiency;(4) in 2006, the Tribes, the State of Idaho, the affected individual water users, and the United States resolved all tribal claims to water rights in the Snake River Basin Adjudication through a consent decree entered by the District Court of the Fifth Judicial District of the State of Idaho, requiring no further Federal action to quantify the Tribes’ water rights in the State of Idaho;(5) as of the date of enactment of this Act, proceedings to determine the extent and nature of the water rights of the Tribes in the East Fork of the Owyhee River in Nevada are pending before the Nevada State Engineer;(6) final resolution of the Tribes’ water claims in the East Fork of the Owyhee River adjudication will—(A) take many years;(B) entail great expense;(C) continue to limit the access of the Tribes to water, with economic and social consequences;(D) prolong uncertainty relating to the availability of water supplies; and(E) seriously impair long-term economic planning and development for all parties to the litigation;(7) after many years of negotiation, the Tribes, the State, and the upstream water users have entered into a settlement agreement to resolve permanently all water rights of the Tribes in the State; and(8) the Tribes also seek to resolve certain water-related claims for damages against the United States.