PUBLIC LAW 108–34—JUNE 23, 2003
117 STAT. 795
SEC. 8. MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS.
(a) WAIVER OF SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY.—If any party to the Settlement Agreement or a Pumping Protection Agreement files a lawsuit only relating directly to the interpretation or enforcement of this Act, the Settlement Agreement, an agreement described in paragraph (1), (2), or (3) of section 4(c), or a Pumping Protection Agreement, naming the United States or the Tribe as a party, or if any other landowner or water user in the Little Colorado River basin in Arizona files a lawsuit only relating directly to the interpretation or enforcement of article 11, the rights of de minimis users in subparagraph 4.2.D or the rights of underground water users under article 5 of the Settlement Agreement, naming the United States or the Tribe as a party— (1) the United States, the Tribe, or both may be added as a party to any such litigation, and any claim by the United States or the Tribe to sovereign immunity from such suit is hereby waived, other than with respect to claims for monetary awards except as specifically provided for in the Settlement Agreement; and (2) the Tribe may waive its sovereign immunity from suit in the Superior Court of Apache County, Arizona for the limited purposes of enforcing the terms of the Intergovernmental Agreement, and any intergovernmental agreement required to be entered into by the Tribe under the terms of the Intergovernmental Agreement, other than with respect to claims for monetary awards except as specifically provided in the Intergovernmental Agreement. (b) TRIBAL USE OF WATER.— (1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to water rights made available under the Settlement Agreement and used on the Zuni Heaven Reservation— (A) such water rights shall be held in trust by the United States in perpetuity, and shall not be subject to forfeiture or abandonment; (B) State law shall not apply to water uses on the Reservation; (C) the State of Arizona may not regulate or tax such water rights or uses (except that the court with jurisdiction over the decree entered pursuant to the Settlement Agreement or the Norviel Decree Court may assess administrative fees for delivery of this water); (D) subject to paragraph 7.7 of the Settlement Agreement, the Zuni Tribe shall use water made available to the Zuni Tribe under the Settlement Agreement on the Zuni Heaven Reservation for any use it deems advisable; (E) water use by the Zuni Tribe or the United States on behalf of the Zuni Tribe for wildlife or instream flow use, or for irrigation to establish or maintain wetland on the Reservation, shall be considered to be consistent with the purposes of the Reservation; and (F)(i) not later than 3 years after the deadline described in section 9(b), the Zuni Tribe shall adopt a water code to be approved by the Secretary for regulation of water use on the lands identified in subsections (a) and (b) of section 5 that is reasonably equivalent to State water law (including statutes relating to dam safety and groundwater management); and
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