Sponsors (2)
The bill makes it easier and cheaper for tribes, local governments, and qualifying New Mexico land grants to regain and protect historic cemetery lands—preserving cultural and community burial sites—while foregoing sale revenue, shifting maintenance costs to recipients, risking exclusion of unrecognized descendant groups, and creating potential procedural inconsistencies.
Indigenous tribes can acquire ancestral cemetery lands without payment so they can preserve and manage burial sites and cultural heritage.
State and local governments and qualifying New Mexico land grants can regain historic cemetery parcels at no cost, enabling local stewardship and community use of burial sites.
Conveyed parcels are legally restricted to cemetery use, which protects burial sites from development and helps ensure long‑term preservation.
Federal taxpayers could forgo revenue because parcels are conveyed without monetary consideration.
Recipient governments or tribes may incur ongoing upkeep and potential liability costs to maintain cemetery-only parcels, which could strain local budgets.
Narrow eligibility (federally recognized tribes and specific New Mexico land grants) may exclude descendant groups or claimants without formal recognition, denying some communities access to ancestral burial sites.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to convey small federal cemetery parcels (plus up to 1 acre adjacent) without payment to qualified recipients, with cemetery-use restrictions and possible reversion.
Allows the Secretary of Agriculture to transfer small federal parcels used (or formerly used) as cemeteries to qualified recipients without requiring payment, subject to a cemetery-only use restriction and possible reversion to the United States if the restriction is violated. The law defines who counts as a qualified recipient (including federally recognized Indian Tribes, state or local governments, and certain New Mexico land grant entities), sets limits on cemetery size, and preserves application of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
Introduced July 2, 2025 by Teresa Leger Fernandez · Last progress March 17, 2026