Sponsors (4)
The bill secures formal tribal land inclusion and mandates near‑term flood protections for Miccosukee Osceola Camp—improving safety and tribal control—while creating implementation, environmental review, management, and modest fiscal risks that could limit or delay benefits if not well funded and executed.
Tribal residents of the Miccosukee Osceola Camp will receive flood protections within two years, reducing immediate flood risk to homes and structures.
The Osceola Camp parcel is formally incorporated into the Miccosukee Reserved Area, strengthening tribal land rights and management authority over that land.
A statutory tribal consultation requirement increases Tribal input and control over planning and implementation of the flood protections.
If specific funding sources or standards aren’t provided, the Tribe may still face delays or receive a limited scope of flood protections despite the statutory mandate.
The two‑year deadline for protections risks rushed planning or truncated environmental review, potentially causing environmental trade‑offs or oversights.
Designing and building the flood protections will impose costs on taxpayers to the extent federal funds are used.
Based on analysis of 3 sections of legislative text.
Adds Osceola Camp to the Miccosukee Reserved Area, requires filing the official map, and directs flood‑protection for structures within two years.
Official title: To amend the Miccosukee Reserved Area Act to authorize the expansion of the Miccosukee Reserved Area and to carry out activities to protect structures within the Osceola Camp from flooding, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 16, 2025 by Carlos A. Gimenez · Last progress January 8, 2026
Adds a parcel called Osceola Camp to the statutory Miccosukee Reserved Area within Everglades National Park, requires that the official map showing the parcel be kept on public file, and directs the Interior Department to protect structures in that parcel from flooding within two years. The bill changes the legal definition of the reserved area, creates public‑inspection and local filing requirements for the map, and mandates flood‑protection actions in consultation with the Tribe.