March 1 is the deadline to apply for a second round of payments from the $3.4 billion Cobell trust fund settlement.

The second payments covers the trust administration class. Move beneficiaries will receive $800 but others will receive more, based on the level of activity in their Individual Indian Money (IIM) account.

Determining who belongs to the class will take a few months. So payments aren't expected until fall at the earliest.

So far, more than $265 million has been paid to Indian beneficiaries from the first round of the settlement. The $1,000 check covered historical accounting.

"It seems to be more of a token amount, but I think it is important historically," John Lewis, the executive director of the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, told Cronkite News.

Beneficiaries in Arizona have received about $42.8 million so far. The second round could bring $109 million to the state.

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Millions at stake as deadline looms for tribal class-action settlement (Cronkite News 2/25)