Sponsors (2)
The bill strengthens tribal control and ownership of specific Albuquerque properties—supporting cultural, service, and development uses—while restricting gaming as a revenue option and leaving existing encumbrances and a rapid transfer timeline that could limit development and increase administrative costs.
The 19 Pueblos gain administrative control of the identified Albuquerque tracts as they are transferred into federal trust under Interior, improving tribal jurisdiction and access to federal Indian trust protections and programs for education, health, cultural, business, and economic uses.
The 19 Pueblos receive about 9.89 acres near downtown Albuquerque for use in education, health, cultural, business, and economic development, giving tribal communities tangible land to support services and local projects.
The Indian Pueblo Cultural Center obtains fee title to the buildings on Tract 1 (a 76,682 sq ft warehouse and improvements), giving the nonprofit and tribal community clear ownership and control over that facility for cultural and programmatic use.
The transferred tracts are explicitly barred from class II and III gaming, limiting a potentially lucrative economic development option and restricting future tribal revenue-generation strategies.
The tracts remain subject to existing private and municipal encumbrances and rights-of-way, which may materially constrain how the Pueblos can develop or use the land for projects.
The bill requires certain relocations and transfers to occur within a 90-day window, imposing administrative and logistical costs and tight deadlines on GSA, Interior, and local entities to complete the transfers.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Transfers ~9.89 acres of former Albuquerque Indian School federal land into trust for 19 New Mexico Pueblos and conveys buildings on one tract to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, preserving existing encumbrances and barring class II/III gaming.
Official title: To transfer certain Federal land into trust for certain Indian Pueblos in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes.
Introduced November 19, 2025 by Melanie Ann Stansbury · Last progress June 3, 2026
Transfers about 9.89 acres of former Albuquerque Indian School federal land to the Department of the Interior so the United States can have that land taken into trust for 19 New Mexico Pueblos, with recorded surveys and existing encumbrances preserved. It also requires conveyance of fee title to buildings on one tract to the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center and bars class II/III gaming on the taken-into-trust land.