Bill would compensate tribe

Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., on Tuesday introduced a bill aimed at giving $130 million to about 6,000 members of the Western Shoshone Tribe to compensate them for lands taken during the settling of the West.

An Indian lands commission dating to the 1940s initially determined that Western Shoshone lands in Nevada had been taken through "gradual encroachment," Gibbons' office said. An original, uncollected award of $26 million in 1977 has grown to $130 million.

The legislation has been snared by controversy in past congressional sessions, in part because some tribe members have not wanted to accept the money for lost lands.

"The preference of the majority of Western Shoshone is for resolution of the long-standing claims issue," Gibbons said.

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