Sponsors (2)
The bill secures clear title, federal trust protection, and tax-exempt revenue potential for the Crow Tribe—supporting tribal sovereignty and economic development—while transferring certain federal interests and narrowing administrative oversight, which reduces state/local tax receipts and raises concerns about public access, environmental oversight, and potential legal or administrative complications.
Crow Tribe: receives clear, legally recognized title and control of the Hope Family Tracts' mineral interests (conveyed to the Tribe and eligible to be held in trust by the U.S.), increasing tribal control and potential revenue from resource development while preserving those revenues through state and local tax exemptions.
State and federal land managers and private parties: gain clearer, fixed legal descriptions and ownership allocations for the specified tracts, reducing ambiguity in land and mineral administration and making negotiated development or revenue-sharing arrangements easier to implement.
Crow Tribe members: retain access to federal programs and benefits and are protected from losing federal benefits or recognition as a result of receiving funds or conveyances under the Act, supporting tribal sovereignty and continuity of services.
State and local governments: lose tax revenue because mineral interests conveyed to the Tribe are exempt from state and local taxation, potentially reducing funding for public services.
Federal agencies, miners, and third parties: the bill requires withdrawal of the tracts from certain public land and mining laws and directs the Secretary to accept a lease relinquishment notwithstanding other law, which reduces normal administrative review, can delay or block third‑party claims or uses, and creates a precedent for bypassing regulatory processes.
Local communities, adjacent landowners, and the environment: transferring federal surface and mineral interests to a private trust raises concerns about privatization of public lands, reduced long‑term public access, weakened environmental oversight, and potential boundary or rights disputes with neighbors.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Introduced January 24, 2025 by Steve Daines · Last progress January 24, 2025
Transfers specified federal and private mineral and surface interests in Montana among the United States, the Joe and Barbara Hope Mineral Trust (Hope Family Trust), and the Crow Tribe in a single, time-limited transaction. It requires the Secretary of the Interior to accept a lessee's relinquishment of an existing federal lease, conveys the Hope Family Trust's mineral interests to the Tribe (with an option for the United States to hold those minerals in trust for the Tribe), and conveys federal minerals and surface lands in the Bull Mountains tracts to the Hope Family Trust, subject to valid existing rights. The act also exempts the tribal-conveyed minerals from State taxation and prevents reduction or denial of federal services or benefits to the Tribe or its members because of receiving amounts or benefits under the act. The law defines the specific tracts and parties, places a 60-day deadline for completing the single transaction transfer after enactment, temporarily withdraws the affected tracts from public-land and mining laws pending conveyance, and requires the Tribe to notify the Secretary that it has agreed with the Hope Family Trust on a revenue-sharing formula before the federal-to-trust conveyance occurs.