Sponsors (2)
Introduced December 26, 2025 by Eli Crane · Last progress December 26, 2025
The bill secures major federal funds and a legally binding settlement to deliver reliable water infrastructure and quantified water rights to the Yavapai‑Apache Nation and nearby communities, trading expanded federal spending and administrative conditions for tribal certainty while narrowing some tribal claims and creating long‑term operational and local revenue tradeoffs.
Yavapai‑Apache Nation members and reservation communities receive large, dedicated federal funding and trust accounts to build the Cragin‑Verde pipeline, a drinking water system, wastewater/OM&R, and related Verde River projects, enabling construction and long‑term water infrastructure.
The Act ratifies a comprehensive water‑rights settlement that gives the Yavapai‑Apache Nation and its members legally certain, quantified water entitlements and resolves many historical claims, allowing predictable planning and fewer pending disputes.
The Nation gains long‑term CAP water service, the ability to lease/exchange and store water (including long leases and storage credits), and clarified allocation/pricing rules that increase flexibility for managing and using its water entitlements.
All U.S. taxpayers bear substantial new federal outlays and long‑term obligations to fund construction, trust accounts, and potential future appropriations for these water projects, increasing federal spending pressure.
YAN members and the Nation give up broad historic/aboriginal claims and accept limited waivers (including constrained sovereign immunity), which narrows future legal remedies and reduces some aspects of tribal sovereignty and bargaining leverage.
The settlement and funding are conditioned on multiple state and court approvals by a hard deadline (June 30, 2035); failure to meet conditions repeals most of the Act and reverts funds to the Treasury, risking project cancellation and lost opportunities.
Based on analysis of 32 sections of legislative text.
Creates and funds a negotiated water-rights settlement for the Yavapai‑Apache Nation and directs federal construction of the Túńlįįníchoh Water Infrastructure Project (the Cragin‑Verde Pipeline and a Nation drinking water system). Transfers specific federal land into tribal trust, establishes a project fund and a trust fund with large, specified Treasury deposits, confirms tribal water rights to be held in trust by the United States, and requires waivers and limited releases of legal claims in exchange for the benefits. The settlement and federal actions become effective only after specified legal, administrative, and financial conditions are met and published by the Secretary; if those conditions are not met by the statutory deadline the Act largely repeals itself. Implements detailed rules on water delivery, leasing, ownership and use (including an amended CAP delivery contract), cost allocation for construction and operation, environmental and compliance obligations, restrictions on certain legal challenges, and ongoing federal duties such as a USGS stream gage and NEPA/ESA reviews. It also limits some claims and preserves others, restricts sale/alienation of trust water, forbids per-capita cash distributions from the trust, and sets reporting and investment rules for use of trust funds.