Sponsors (2)
Official title: Approve the settlement of water rights claims of the Yavapai-Apache Nation in the State of Arizona, to authorize construction of a water project relating to those water rights claims, and for other purposes.
Introduced January 13, 2026 by Mark Edward Kelly · Last progress January 13, 2026
The bill secures large federal funding, legal certainty, and long‑term water and infrastructure benefits for the Yavapai‑Apache Nation and nearby communities but does so at substantial federal cost while requiring broad tribal waivers, imposing implementation conditions, constraining some future flexibility, and shifting certain costs and oversight trade‑offs to governments and taxpayers.
Yavapai‑Apache Nation members and nearby communities gain major, dedicated federal funding and construction support to build, operate, and maintain drinking water, wastewater, and pipeline infrastructure, improving water access and public-health services.
The Yavapai‑Apache Nation and the United States obtain ratified, clearly defined tribal water rights and a settlement that reduces ongoing litigation risk and provides enforceable water entitlements.
Selected parcels are placed into federal trust for the Nation and related legal clarifications protect tribal land titles and exempt trust parcels from state/local taxation, supporting tribal self‑governance and economic development.
Federal taxpayers fund large up‑front appropriations and transfers (hundreds of millions), increasing federal outlays and potential fiscal exposure to implement the settlement and infrastructure projects.
Many Nation members (and the Nation itself) give up broad past, present, and future claims against the United States and others as part of waivers in the settlement, limiting future legal remedies and compensation options.
Implementation is conditioned on numerous administrative findings, approvals, and deadlines (including a June 30, 2035 and Dec 31, 2029 deadlines) — failure to meet them can void the Act and cancel promised projects and funds.
Based on analysis of 32 sections of legislative text.
Ratifies a Yavapai‑Apache water rights settlement, funds and directs construction of a pipeline and drinking water system, places parcels into trust, and creates a settlement trust fund.
Authorizes and funds a negotiated water‑rights settlement for the Yavapai‑Apache Nation, directs transfer of specific lands into federal trust for the Nation, and requires construction of the Túńlįįníchoh Water Infrastructure Project (a Cragin‑Verde pipeline and a drinking water system). It creates dedicated project and trust funds, establishes contractual water deliveries through the Central Arizona Project, and requires the Nation and the United States to execute waivers and releases of competing water claims in Arizona as part of finalizing the settlement. The law conditions the settlement’s enforceability on a set of statutory and administrative findings (including federal environmental reviews, state approvals, deposit of funds, and tribal actions). If those conditions are not satisfied by a deadline, most appropriated amounts revert to the Treasury and the Act’s authorities and contracts are voided. The Act also sets governance rules for fund use, limited waiver of the Nation’s sovereign immunity for dispute resolution, protection of certain water rights from forfeiture, and continued federal monitoring of instream flows.