S. 640 — Technical Corrections to the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, and Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act

This section authorizes an appropriation of $6,357,674.46 for deposit into the Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund as adjusted interest payments, in addition to amounts previously authorized under section 10702(f) of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009. (The Trust Fund supports water development projects for the Navajo Nation pursuant to a federal water rights settlement.) The section also makes conforming amendments to (1) include such deposits in interest calculations under section 10702(a)(1) and (2) except them from an existing exclusion in section 10701(e)(1)(A)(vii).

This section authorizes an appropriation of $7,794,297.52 for deposit into the Taos Pueblo Water Development Fund established under the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-291). (The fund supports water infrastructure development for the Taos Pueblo as part of a federal settlement of the tribe's water rights claims in New Mexico.)

This section (1) authorizes a $4,314,709.18 appropriation for deposit into the Aamodt Settlement Pueblos’ Fund—established under the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 to implement a water rights settlement for four northern New Mexico Pueblos (Nambe, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, and Tesuque)—to cover the Pueblos’ share of costs for operating, maintaining, and replacing the Pueblo Water Facilities and Regional Water System; and (2) directs the Secretary of the Treasury to waive payments due to the United States for interest earned prior to September 15, 2017, on amounts made available under section 617(c)(1)(A) of that act.

This section clarifies that nothing in the Act affects (1) the prior satisfaction of conditions precedent under section 509(f)(2) of the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-291) or the validity of the Secretarial finding published in the Federal Register on October 7, 2016, that those conditions were satisfied; or (2) the prior satisfaction of conditions precedent under section 623(a)(2) of that Act or the validity of the Secretarial finding published in the Federal Register on September 15, 2017, that those conditions were satisfied.

This section authorizes the appropriation of any investment earnings, including interest, credited to trust funds established under this Act, in addition to deposits authorized by the Act.