Sponsors (13)
The bill gives Tribes much greater authority, flexibility, and administrative relief to plan and fund climate resilience and voluntary relocation, but it concentrates implementation power, reduces some external oversight and public transparency, and risks shifting funds or creating coordination burdens that could affect other program beneficiaries and federal agencies.
Tribal governments (American Indian and Alaska Native communities) can combine multiple federal program funds into a single, tribe-led Plan, giving them greater control to design and fund climate resilience, infrastructure, and voluntary community relocation projects.
Tribes and tribal administrations face much lower administrative burden because Plans consolidate reporting and auditing into a single annual report and reduce duplicative reporting requirements.
Participating Tribes gain faster, more predictable project approvals and permitting because participating agencies must follow coordinated review timelines and (in many cases) 90‑day decision windows after complete submissions.
Decisions concentrated in a single lead official (the Secretary) shift substantial implementation power away from agencies, Congress, and local stakeholders, risking less oversight and inconsistent outcomes across states and programs.
Broad waiver, reprogramming, and deemed-approval authorities reduce external oversight and transparency, increasing the risk that federal dollars are used in ways that depart from original statutory purposes or prompt legal disputes.
Exempting Traditional Ecological Knowledge from FOIA and narrowing disclosure/NEPA processes can limit public and agency review of environmental impacts, reducing transparency for local communities and potentially weakening environmental safeguards.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Allows Tribes to combine multiple federal funding programs into a single, tribe-led Plan for climate resilience and voluntary relocation, with consolidated reporting and streamlined federal review.
Introduced May 29, 2025 by Emily Randall · Last progress May 29, 2025
Creates a program that lets Indian Tribes combine multiple federal funding streams into a single, tribe-led Plan to address climate- and disaster-related threats (including voluntary, community-driven relocation or protect-in-place actions). The Department of the Interior is the lead agency, the Secretary approves Plans and decides which federal programs can be integrated, and approved Plans allow tribes to reprogram and consolidate federal funds while replacing multiple agency reports with a single, annual model report and participating in a streamlined federal permitting and review process.