11.2.17.050 Findings

The Council hereby finds and declares that:

(a) The Pueblo de San Ildefonso is a party in the federal water adjudication case of State v. Aamodt.

(b) In 2010, the United States enacted the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act, as part of the Claims Resolution Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 11-291, Title VI, §§ 601-626, 124 Stat. 3064, 3134-56 (2010), which was signed into law by the President on December 8, 2010 ("Settlement Act" or "Act").

(c) The parties revised the Settlement Agreement (April 19, 2012) ("Revised Agreement") to reflect the terms of the Settlement Act, prepared Waivers consistent with the Act and completed the Cost Sharing and System Integration Agreement ("CSSIA") as required by the Act.

(d) The Council after due consideration approved the Revised Agreement, the Waivers and the CSSIA on behalf of the Pueblo in Resolution NO. SI-R12-035.

(e) The four Pueblos of Nambé, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso and Tesuque that are parties to the Aamodt case signed the Settlement Agreement conformed to the Act on March 14, 2013, together with the other four governments affected by the Act.

(f) Section 9.5 of the Settlement Agreement requires the four Pueblos and Santa Fe County ("County") to create the Pojoaque Basin Regional Water Authority ("Regional Water Authority") prior to Entry of the Final Decree in accordance with the provisions of the Settlement Agreement and the August 27, 2009 Cost-Sharing and System Integration Agreement (Cost-Sharing Agreement) signed by the United States, the State, the four Pueblos, the County, and the City.

(g) Since 2013, the four Pueblos negotiated with the County to develop terms for a JPA to establish a Regional Water Authority to operate the Pojoaque Basin Regional Water System which the United States is building as required by the Settlement Act.

(h) The Pueblo had previously approved a form of the JPA which was later revised as a result of on-going negotiations between the parties.

(i) The Pueblo de San Ildefonso, as one of the four NPTWRA Pueblos, negotiated in good faith certain terms with Santa Fe County representatives in April 2016, but the County later disagreed with the negotiated terms, and after several meetings with the four Pueblos, including several public meetings, proposed terms different than those previously negotiated with the NPTWRA Pueblos. Despite the Pueblos' opposition, Santa Fe County adopted its proposed terms at a meeting on December 13, 2016.

(j) On December 13, 2016, Santa Fe County by Resolution No. 2016-146 approved the form of the JPA.

(k) Article 19(H) of the proposed JPA requires the respective Pueblo and County governing bodies to adopt resolutions approving the JPA, "including the limited waiver of sovereign immunity provided therein."

(l) Action on the JPA by the individual Tribal Councils of the Pueblos of Nambé, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, and Tesuque on the JPA is needed in order to create the Regional Water Authority.

(m) The Council, having reviewed a form of the Joint Powers Agreement, and despite the concern about the changed terms by Santa Fe County, finds approval of the Joint Powers Agreement, which includes a limited waiver of the Pueblo's sovereign immunity, is in the best interest of this Pueblo and in the interest of moving the Aamodt Settlement forward.