Technical Corrections Bill Authorizes Over $18 Million in Adjusted Interest Payments for Three New Mexico Tribal Water Funds

If you’ve ever had to deal with a bank error or a payroll mistake, you know that sometimes the numbers just don’t line up, and someone has to go back and fix the math. That’s essentially what this bill does, but on a massive scale involving complex, decades-old water rights settlements in New Mexico. It’s a classic example of Congress needing to pass a technical correction to make sure the government fulfills its financial promises.

This legislation, officially titled the “Technical Corrections to the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act, Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act, and Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act,” authorizes the appropriation of over $18 million in specific, calculated amounts of ‘adjusted interest’ to three tribal water development trust funds. It's not new policy; it’s about making sure the old policy pays out correctly.

The Math Behind the Water Settlements

When major water rights settlements are reached with tribes—like the Navajo Nation, Taos Pueblo, and the Aamodt Settlement Pueblos—they often involve the establishment of trust funds to finance water infrastructure projects. Think pipelines, reservoirs, and delivery systems. The money in those funds is supposed to earn interest until it’s spent, but sometimes the original calculation of that interest is off, or the timing of deposits changes the final tally.

This bill steps in to fix those discrepancies by authorizing three specific appropriations for deposit into the funds, essentially topping them up to the correct amount:

• Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund: An additional $6,357,674.46 is authorized for deposit as adjusted interest (Sec. 2).
• Taos Pueblo Water Development Fund: $7,794,297.52 is authorized for deposit (Sec. 3).
• Aamodt Settlement Pueblos Fund: $4,314,709.18 is authorized (Sec. 4).

For the communities involved, these funds are the lifeblood of their future water security. This correction ensures the full, intended amount is available for critical infrastructure projects, which means more reliable water access for homes, farms, and businesses.

Clearing the Books and Waiving Fees

Beyond just writing a check for the adjusted interest, the bill also cleans up some administrative loose ends that could have caused headaches down the road. Specifically, for the Aamodt Settlement Pueblos, the bill addresses a potential repayment obligation.

Section 4 includes a provision that directs the Secretary of the Treasury to waive any payment obligation owed to the United States that resulted from interest earned on certain settlement funds before September 15, 2017. In plain English, the government is saying, “We’re not going to charge you interest on the interest you earned before that date.” This is a significant clarification that prevents the pueblos from having to pay back money that was likely earned through administrative delays or miscalculations in the initial setup.

Why Technical Corrections Matter

The final section of the bill (Sec. 5) is perhaps the most bureaucratic but the most important for legal certainty. It explicitly states that none of these financial adjustments change or invalidate the previous findings by the Secretary of the Interior that the preliminary conditions for the underlying water settlements were met.

Why is this necessary? Because these water rights settlements are massive, complex legal agreements. If the government were to correct the money part without confirming the legal foundation, it could open the door to years of legal challenges. This section acts as a legal firewall, confirming that the initial agreements are still valid, even though the check amounts needed an update. It’s the legislative equivalent of saying, “The contract is still good, we just needed to fix the invoice.”