Sponsors (3)
The bill settles long-running Pueblo water claims by delivering substantial federal funding, infrastructure support, and legal finality to pueblos, while requiring tribes to waive historical claims and embedding fiscal, legal, and administrative conditions that create costs and uncertainty for tribes, taxpayers, and other local stakeholders.
Pueblo communities (Acoma, Laguna, Jemez, Zia, and Acomita) will receive large, federally secured trust funds — together totaling over $1.3 billion in upfront and trust funding — to obtain and develop water rights and infrastructure.
Pueblo communities can access immediate infrastructure funding (up to $15 million each in some cases) and use trust funds for groundwater wells, water projects, watershed protection, and community economic development to meet domestic, municipal, commercial, and industrial needs.
Pueblos gain finality and legal certainty as the bill ratifies the settlement, directs entry of partial final judgments/decrees, and preserves federal court jurisdiction to interpret and enforce the Agreement, reducing prolonged litigation risk.
Pueblo communities must waive and release extensive pre‑Enforceability Date historical claims and potential damages, foregoing the ability to pursue past claims in exchange for the settlement funds.
Taxpayers and the federal budget bear substantial upfront and authorized costs (well over hundreds of millions, with over $1.3 billion in trust/authorized funding across pueblos), increasing federal spending priorities and fiscal exposure.
Key benefits and funds are conditional and subject to expiration or failure to vest if the title does not reach an Enforceability Date (e.g., by July 1, 2030) or if Congress does not appropriate funds, creating significant funding and enforceability uncertainty for pueblos and other parties.
Based on analysis of 6 sections of legislative text.
Ratifies and implements two Pueblo water-rights settlement agreements in New Mexico, directs the Interior Secretary to execute them, and authorizes funds and trust accounts to carry them out.
Introduced February 13, 2025 by Teresa Leger Fernandez · Last progress February 13, 2025
Ratifies and implements two negotiated water-rights settlements for New Mexico Pueblo communities: one for the Rio San José Stream System (Acoma and Laguna Pueblos) and one for the Jemez River Stream System (Jemez and Zia Pueblos). The bill directs the Secretary of the Interior to sign and carry out the settlement agreements, defines key terms and trust accounts, authorizes the funds needed to implement the agreements, and sets rules for judicial review and enforcement when the settlements become enforceable. The legislation also clarifies which courts can review Pueblo water-permit decisions, preserves other tribes’ and allottees’ rights, limits federal liability without congressional appropriations, and allows limited post-execution adjustments by the Secretary so long as they remain consistent with the statute.