Sponsors (2)
The bill makes it easier and cheaper for tribes and States to receive and swap federal lands while preserving existing rights and adding safety checks, but it does so by sacrificing some federal revenue, allowing weaker environmental review and temporary access restrictions, and imposing financial and legal risks on States, ranchers, and communities.
Indigenous tribes: parcels can be taken into trust and added to reservations on conveyance, and the Act preserves tribal treaties, statutory rights, and trust status.
State governments: clearer valuation and exchange rules let States swap in‑reservation land grants for Federal parcels, resolving title disputes and consolidating ownership.
Ranchers, lessees, and local landholders: the Act preserves existing leases, rights‑of‑way, grazing authorizations (until they expire), and compensation rights for range improvements, providing continuity and stability.
Taxpayers and the federal budget: conveying Federal land without treating it as a sale or exchange can reduce federal receipts and bypass competitive disposal processes, foregoing potential revenue.
Tribes and local communities: environmental review is discretionary in some transfers, which could allow conveyances without full analysis of impacts on reservation lands and nearby environments.
State governments: capping equalization at 25% can force States to accept Federal parcels or limit fair compensation when value gaps exceed that cap.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Allows North Dakota to exchange state trust parcels inside reservations for federally owned public land of substantially equal value under set appraisal, environmental, and tribal-consultation rules.
Introduced March 14, 2025 by John Hoeven · Last progress March 14, 2025
Allows North Dakota to give up state trust land parcels that lie wholly or partly within Indian reservations in exchange for federally owned public land of substantially equal value. The law sets appraisal, valuation, environmental review, and tribal-consultation rules; preserves leases, existing rights, and treaty and trust protections; and requires hazardous-material checks before any conveyance.