H.R. 5935 — Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Water Rights Settlement Act

This section designates the Act as the "Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Water Rights Settlement Act" and provides a table of contents.

This section sets forth the purposes of the Act, which are (1) to settle all water rights claims in California for the Tribe and the United States (acting as trustee for the Tribe and allottees); (2) to settle claims regarding the Tribe's water-related fees, the RAC, and the Tribal Possessory Interest Tax; (3) to ratify the Agreement among the Tribe, CVWD, and DWA to the extent consistent with the Act; (4) to direct the Secretary to execute the Agreement and carry out necessary actions; (5) to authorize funds for implementation; (6) to authorize transfer of federal land to the Tribe; and (7) to authorize sale of federal land to CVWD.

This section defines 23 terms used in the Act related to the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians water rights settlement agreement, including "Adjacent Lands" (lands owned, leased, used, occupied, controlled, or managed by the Coachella Valley Water District immediately adjacent to the Facility); "AFY" (acre-feet per calendar year); "Agreement" (the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Water Rights Settlement Agreement dated May 19, 2025, and amendments consistent with the Act); "Agua Caliente or Tribe" (the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians); "Agua Caliente Indian Reservation or Reservation" (all lands within its exterior boundaries, as established by executive order, patent, or departmental order, plus lands held in trust for the Tribe or allottees); "Coachella Valley Water District or CVWD" (a California county water district formed in 1918); "Desert Water Agency or DWA" (a California special district created in 1961); and "Facility Land" (approximately 842.4 acres in Riverside County, California, as depicted in the Agreement and subject to final survey).

This section ratifies an agreement between the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians and specified parties (the Agreement)—except as modified by or conflicting with this Act—and authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to execute the Agreement (including exhibits requiring the Secretary's signature) and approve post-execution modifications consistent with this Act that do not require congressional approval under 25 U.S.C. 177 (the statute generally prohibiting land conveyances from Indian tribes without federal approval). (1) The section requires the Secretary and Tribe, in implementing the Agreement and this Act, to comply with the Endangered Species Act of 1973, National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA), and other applicable federal environmental laws, with the Tribe preparing necessary documents subject to the Secretary's independent evaluation and responsibility for their accuracy. (2) The Secretary's execution of the Agreement does not constitute a major federal action under NEPA. (3) Compliance costs are paid from the Agua Caliente Settlement Trust Fund, except for federal approval, review, or inherently federal functions borne by the Secretary.

This section ratifies, confirms, and declares valid the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians' Tribal Water Right to up to 20,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) of groundwater in the Indio Subbasin, with a priority date no later than the 1876 and 1877 Executive Orders establishing the reservation that is prior and paramount to rights claimed by water districts. The right is held in trust by the United States for the tribe and allottees; is not subject to state law, regulation, or jurisdiction (except in a comprehensive adjudication of groundwater rights permitted by federal law); and cannot be lost through non-use, forfeiture, abandonment, or other operation of law. (As background, 25 U.S.C. 381 authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to regulate water distribution for irrigation on reservations to ensure just and equal use among Indians without damage to other riparian owners; this section applies that provision to the Tribal Water Right and affirms Congress's intent that allottees receive equivalent or superior benefits relative to pre-enactment status, accounting for litigation risks and other factors.) The tribe may use the right on the reservation for any lawful purpose (including reuse); off-reservation with Secretary approval and a maximum 99-year lease term (including renewals); and via allottee leases of appurtenant water under tribal ordinance, the agreement, and this Act. The tribe cannot permanently alienate the right but may impose, assess, and collect production fees, water fees, delivery charges, and delivery services (not subject to state replenishment assessment charges, which are preempted); forbearance from fees under the agreement does not diminish the right. Federal authorizations under this Act satisfy requirements for land purchases or grants from Indians.

This section establishes the Agua Caliente Settlement Trust Fund, managed, invested, and distributed by the Secretary of the Interior consistent with the first section of the Act of June 24, 1938 (25 U.S.C. 162a), the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 4001 et seq.), and this section, consisting of amounts deposited under section 7(a) and any associated investment earnings (including interest) to carry out this Act. The Secretary shall establish within the fund four accounts: (1) Agua Caliente Development Projects Account, (2) Agua Caliente Groundwater Augmentation Account, (3) Agua Caliente Water Management Account, and (4) Agua Caliente Operation, Maintenance, and Replacement Costs Account. Amounts in the fund, including earnings, become available to the Agua Caliente Tribe on the Enforceability Date, except that $50 million deposited into the Development Projects Account is available immediately for planning, permitting, designing, engineering, investing in, and constructing water-related projects and facilities to improve water supply, reliability, infrastructure, or quality serving the Agua Caliente Indian Reservation. The Tribe may withdraw funds via (1) a Secretary-approved tribal management plan under the 1994 Act, requiring expenditures consistent with this Act and the Agreement, or (2) a Secretary-approved expenditure plan deemed reasonable and consistent with this Act; the Secretary may enforce compliance through judicial and administrative actions, with Tribe judicial review limited to the Administrative Procedure Act.

This section provides mandatory appropriations totaling $500 million for deposit into four accounts associated with the Agua Caliente Settlement Trust Fund: (1) $300 million for the Agua Caliente development projects account; (2) $100 million for the Agua Caliente Groundwater augmentation account; (3) $50 million for the Agua Caliente Water management account; and (4) $50 million for the Agua Caliente Operation, maintenance and replacement costs account. All amounts remain available until expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the general fund of the Treasury and are subject to increase or decrease for ordinary cost fluctuations (per the Bureau of Reclamation Construction Cost Index-Composite Trend), construction cost changes due to market volatility, or other adjustments as determined by the Secretary, with indexing beginning May 19, 2025, and repeating until the authorized (adjusted) amounts are appropriated.

This section establishes the enforceability date of the Act as the date on which the Secretary publishes in the Federal Register a statement confirming that five conditions have been met: (1) amendment of the Agreement to conform with the Act; (2) execution of the amended Agreement by all parties, including the United States; (3) full funding of accounts under section 7(a) via congressional appropriation or other sources; (4) approval of the Agreement by the Decree Court and entry of the Final Judgment and Decree; and (5) execution of waivers and releases under section 9 by the Tribe and the Secretary. The section further provides that the Act expires if the Secretary fails to publish such a statement by December 31, 2035 (or a later date agreed to by the Tribe, the Secretary, CVWD, and DWA), in which case (A) waivers and releases under section 9(a)-(c) do not become effective; (B) authorization of the Agreement under section 4 ceases; (C) actions, contracts, and agreements under the Act become void; (D) unexpended funds, interest, water rights, contracts, and property revert to the federal government (unless otherwise agreed by the Tribe and United States and approved by Congress); and (E) the United States may offset expended funds and interest against tribal water rights claims in the state or any future settlement.

This section requires the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians (Tribe), the United States as trustee for the Tribe and its allottees, and the Tribe against the United States to execute waivers and releases of specified claims related to water rights in the Indio Subbasin, subject to reservations under subsection (e) and in exchange for recognition of the Tribal Water Right and other benefits under the Agreement and Act. Specifically, (1) under subsection (a), the Tribe (on behalf of itself and members) and the United States as trustee for the Tribe release claims against the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) and Desert Water Agency (DWA)—including for water rights and pore space asserted or assertable before the enforceability date (except as recognized in the Agreement and Act); damages from water interference, groundwater overdraft (including subsidence or lost storage), readiness-to-serve charges (RAC), water quality degradation (if meeting federal and state standards), and water service provision up to the enforceability date or consistent with the Agreement and Act; and claims related to negotiation, execution, or adoption of the Agreement or Act; (2) under subsection (b), the United States as trustee for allottees releases water rights claims within the Reservation asserted or assertable before the enforceability date (except as recognized in the Agreement and Act); and (3) under subsection (c), the Tribe releases claims against the United States for water rights assertions, foregone benefits from non-Tribal water use, damages to water, land, or resources, failures to protect or deliver water or comply with specified agreements (including by CVWD, DWA, City of Palm Springs, and County of Riverside), pre-enforceability date litigation, water quality degradation consistent with the Agreement, and matters related to negotiation, execution, or adoption of the Agreement or Act.

This section establishes that benefits provided to the Tribe under the Act constitute complete replacement of, substitution for, and satisfaction of all tribal claims against the United States waived and released pursuant to section 9(c). The section further establishes that benefits realized by Allottees under the Act constitute complete replacement of, substitution for, and satisfaction of (1) all allottee claims waived and released pursuant to section 9(b), and (2) any similar claims Allottees have or could have asserted against the United States.

This section preempts the Riverside County ad valorem property tax on possessory interests for any taxable period in which the tribe imposes a tribal tax on such interests, with the preemption limited to that tax and not extending to charges by other public agencies. It authorizes the tribe to impose, assess, collect, and distribute the tribal tax in lieu of the county tax, at a rate and assessed value not lower than the preempted county tax; mirrors California exemptions for governments and nonprofits; requires priority distributions of tribal tax proceeds to other public agencies equivalent to amounts those agencies would have received from the county tax under the tax apportionment schedule (with no required excess over California law entitlements); and restricts remaining proceeds to specified tribal uses, including offsetting Agua Caliente Water Authority operating costs, tribal water infrastructure operation/maintenance/repair/replacement, and tribal government administration (prohibiting per capita distributions to tribal members). The section permits the tribe to delegate tax administration to Riverside County via intergovernmental agreement (with other public agencies as third-party beneficiaries), makes tribal compliance enforceable by other public agencies in federal district court (with tribal sovereign immunity waiver), and takes effect on January 1 following the enforceability date.

This section directs the United States to hold approximately 2,742 acres of specified Bureau of Land Management lands in trust for the benefit of the Agua Caliente Tribe of California as part of the Tribe's reservation upon the enforceability date, subject to valid existing rights. The parcels include approximately 640 acres in Section 32, T.5S., R.4E.; 145 acres in specified portions of Section 18, T.4S., R.4E.; 647 acres in Section 5, T.5S., R.4E.; 640 acres in Section 36, T.5S., R.4E.; 640 acres in Section 16, T.4S., R.4E.; and 30 acres in specified portions of Section 17, T.4S., R.4E., San Bernardino Base and Meridian. Specified portions of one parcel are transferred notwithstanding disposal prohibitions on conservation lands in the California Desert Conservation Area under section 714(b) of the California Desert Protection Act of 1994 (16 U.S.C. 410aaa-81c(b)); other parcels are transferred notwithstanding land management restrictions under section 5(i)(1)(A) of the Santa Rosa and San Jacinto Mountains National Monument Act of 2000 (Public Law 106-351). (1) Effective on enactment, the lands are withdrawn from public land laws, mining laws, and mineral/geothermal leasing; (2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs assumes existing authorizations and disburses related revenues to the Tribe; (3) personal property improvements must be removed within 90 days of authorization expiration; (4) technical corrections and surveys may be made with Tribe consent; and (5) trust deeds must be issued within 10 years of the enforceability date. Lands taken into trust under this section are ineligible for Class II or Class III gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

This section requires the Secretary to convey all right, title, and interest in the Facility Land to the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) at fair market value, notwithstanding the land use planning requirements of sections 202 and 203 of the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (43 U.S.C. 1712, 1713), subject to valid existing rights, if CVWD submits an offer within 30 days after completion of a required appraisal. The Secretary must complete the appraisal within 90 days after the Enforceability Date in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act and specified appraisal standards, with all appraisal and conveyance costs (including surveys) borne by CVWD, which must also pay the fair market value within 30 days after conveyance. Proceeds from the sale are deposited in the Federal Land Deposit Account established under the Federal Land Transaction Facilitation Act (43 U.S.C. 2305(a)) and used in accordance with that Act. (Thus, the proceeds may be used to acquire nonfederal land for conservation or public purposes.) The United States may make technical corrections to the Facility Land descriptions with CVWD consent. Upon discovery of suspected Tribal Cultural Resources at the Facility Land or Adjacent Lands, CVWD must cease ground-disturbing activities in the vicinity until resolved; promptly notify the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Director of Historic Preservation and General Counsel (and the County Coroner for human remains); and, if the tribe is the most likely descendant, provide access for inspection and facilitate treatment or reburial as decided by the tribe.

This section includes miscellaneous provisions for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians water rights settlement, as follows: (1) waives U.S. sovereign immunity to the extent provided by federal law for compelling compliance with the Act and Agreement; (2) states that the Act creates no precedent for quantifying or litigating other federal reserved water rights or Indian water claims; (3) clarifies that the Act neither quantifies nor diminishes water rights of any other Indian tribe; (4) disclaims creation of taxing authority for other Indian tribes or preemption of taxing authority for other water districts, agencies, states, or local governments; (5) provides that the Act controls over the Agreement in any conflict; and (6) specifies no effect on existing law regarding pre-enforcement review of federal environmental actions.

This section provides that the United States is not liable for any failure to carry out obligations or activities authorized by this Act—including under the Agreement—if Congress does not expressly provide adequate appropriations.