S. 564 — Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025

This section sets forth the purposes of this title, which are (1) to achieve a fair, equitable, and final settlement of all claims to water rights in the Zuni River Stream System in the State for the Tribe and the United States acting as trustee for the Tribe; (2) to authorize, ratify, and confirm the Agreement entered into by the Tribe, the State, and various other parties to the extent consistent with this title; (3) to authorize and direct the Secretary to execute the Agreement and take any other actions necessary to implement it in accordance with this title; and (4) to authorize funds necessary for implementation of the Agreement and this title.

This section defines terms used in this title, including “Adjudication” (i.e., the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico general adjudication of water rights in United States v. A&R Production, et al., Civil No. 01-CV-00072, including subproceeding Civil No. 07-CV-00681); “Agreement” (i.e., the May 1, 2023, settlement agreement to quantify and protect the Zuni Indian Tribe’s water rights in the Zuni River Basin in New Mexico and the Zuni Salt Lake, as amended for consistency with this title); “Allotment” (i.e., 15 specified parcels of land held in trust by the United States for individual Indians or the tribe, 9 on Zuni Lands and 6 off-reservation); “Allottee” (i.e., individual Indians or the tribe holding beneficial interests in allotments); “Partial Final Judgment and Decree” (i.e., a court judgment on the tribe’s water rights in the form specified in the agreement); “Trust Fund” (i.e., the fund established under section 105(a)); “Zuni Lands” (i.e., land held in trust by or owned by the tribe as of the filing of a motion for the partial final judgment and decree, including areas set apart by specified executive orders, proclamations, and acts); and “Zuni River Stream System” (i.e., the surface water drainage basin defined in a May 21, 2003, court order in the adjudication).

This section ratifies an Agreement between a tribe and other parties, as modified by this title and to the extent consistent with this title; authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to execute the Agreement and approve consistent modifications without further congressional approval under 25 U.S.C. 177 (which generally requires such approval for settlements extinguishing Indian land claims); and directs environmental compliance under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), and other federal laws, with the tribe preparing documents subject to the Secretary's evaluation and responsibility, execution of the Agreement not constituting a major federal action under NEPA, and specified costs paid from a trust fund.

This section declares the Tribal Water Rights held in trust by the United States for the Zuni Tribe, protects them from forfeiture, abandonment, or loss by non-use (including state-law based rights acquired after the date for inclusion in the Partial Final Judgment and Decree), and authorizes the Tribe to allocate, distribute, and lease them as follows: (1) for use on Zuni Lands under the settlement agreement, this title, and applicable federal law, including the Long-Term Leasing Act; and (2) for use off Zuni Lands, subject to Secretary of the Interior approval, with a maximum lease term of 99 years (including renewals). The section excludes water rights for allotments from the Tribal Water Rights but requires accounting for existing and reasonable domestic, stock, and irrigation uses (including decreed rights) on allotments within the Tribal Water Rights; directs the Tribe not to object in the Adjudication to quantification of such uses and to administer them per federal law; and prohibits permanent alienation of the rights.

This section establishes the Zuni Tribe 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 the section's terms, consisting of amounts deposited under section 106(a) plus investment earnings and remaining available until expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the Treasury. The Secretary must establish in the fund (1) the Zuni Tribe Water Rights Settlement Trust Account and (2) the Zuni Tribe Operation, Maintenance, & Replacement Trust Account. Amounts in the fund, including investment earnings, become available to the Zuni Tribe on the enforceability date, except that $50 million is available immediately for specified uses including economic water development plans, environmental compliance, engineering designs, groundwater wells, irrigation repairs, land and water rights acquisition, and water measurement plans. The tribe may withdraw funds via (1) an approved tribal management plan under the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994, requiring expenditures consistent with the title, or (2) an approved expenditure plan deemed reasonable and consistent with the title's purposes; the Secretary may enforce both through judicial and administrative actions. No judicial review is available except under the Administrative Procedure Act. Amounts in the Zuni Tribe Water Rights Settlement Trust Account may be used only for planning, permitting, designing, engineering, constructing, operating, or repairing water production, treatment, or related infrastructure.

This section provides mandatory appropriations from the Treasury to the Secretary for deposit into two trust accounts: (1) $655.5 million (as adjusted) into the Zuni Tribe Water Rights Settlement Trust Account established under section 105(b)(1); and (2) $29.5 million (as adjusted) into the Zuni Tribe Operation, Maintenance, and Replacement Trust Account established under section 105(b)(2). Both amounts remain available until expended, withdrawn, or reverted to the general fund and are subject to adjustments—repeated until fully appropriated—for ordinary cost fluctuations (per the Bureau of Reclamation Construction Cost Index–Composite Trend, indexed from January 1, 2022, to deposit date) and construction cost changes due to unforeseen market volatility (as determined by the Secretary). This section further requires the state, pursuant to the settlement agreement, to contribute (1) $750,000 for development and execution of monitoring plans; and (2) $500,000 to an interest-bearing account to mitigate impairment to non-Indian domestic and livestock groundwater rights from new tribal water use.

This section requires the Zuni Tribe and the United States, acting as trustee for the Tribe, to execute waivers and releases of all claims for water rights within the Zuni River Stream System and related damages, losses, or injuries (including to land, natural resources, hunting, fishing, gathering, or cultural rights) that accrued at any time up to and including the enforceability date—(1) against parties to the settlement agreement; and (2) by the Tribe against the United States for asserted or unasserted water rights, foregone benefits, failures to protect or develop water or infrastructure, irrigation and dam issues, and litigation or settlement costs. The waivers take effect on the enforceability date but are subject to reservations retaining tribal and U.S. claims for—(1) enforcement of or post-enforceability accrual under recognized rights; (2) water quality violations under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Federal Water Pollution Control Act; (3) post-enactment water rights; (4) non-water-related damages to land or resources; (5) unspecified rights, remedies, immunities, and powers; and (6) losses outside the stream system. The section clarifies that the agreement and title do not affect governmental sovereignty or jurisdiction, U.S. sovereign activities or trustee responsibilities under federal environmental laws, or state court authority to interpret such laws or determine federal duties.

This section provides that the benefits under this title constitute complete replacement of, substitution for, and full satisfaction of any claim of the Tribe against the United States that is waived and released pursuant to section 107(b).

This section establishes the enforceability date of the Zuni Tribe water rights settlement agreement as the date on which the Secretary of the Interior publishes in the Federal Register a statement certifying that the following conditions have been met: (1) the agreement has been amended to conform with this title and executed by all parties, including the United States; (2) the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico has approved the agreement and entered a partial final judgment and decree; (3) all amounts appropriated under section 106(a) and (b) have been deposited in the Zuni Tribe Water Rights Settlement Trust Account or the Zuni Tribe Operation, Maintenance, and Replacement Trust Account, as applicable; (4) the state has provided funding under section 106(c) and enacted legislation authorizing leases of tribal water rights for up to 99 years, including renewals; and (5) the tribe and Secretary have executed the waivers and releases under section 107.

This section sets forth miscellaneous provisions that (1) state nothing in this title waives the sovereign immunity of the United States; (2) provide that nothing in this title quantifies or diminishes any land or water right, or claim or entitlement to land or water, of any Indian tribe, band, Pueblo, or community other than the Tribe; (3) state nothing in this title affects any provision of law (including regulations) in effect on the day before enactment with respect to pre-enforcement review of any federal environmental enforcement action; and (4) provide that this title controls over the Agreement in the event of a conflict.

This section preserves the water rights and claims of allottees (i.e., individual Indians who received land allotments under the Indian General Allotment Act of 1887, 24 Stat. 388) or the United States as trustee for them relating to allotted lands, unaffected by this Act or the Agreement. It further directs (1) separate adjudication of water rights for allotments—whether patented under section 1 (25 U.S.C. 331) or section 4 (25 U.S.C. 334) of that Act—from tribal water rights, with no allotment rights included in the partial final judgment and decree; (2) exemption of adjudicated allotment water rights from tribal water rights restrictions and conditions unless the allotment becomes tribal land; and (3) authorization for allottees or the United States as trustee to assert water rights claims in the Zuni River Stream System.

This section provides that the United States is not liable for failing to carry out any obligation or activity authorized by this title—including any under the Agreement—if Congress does not expressly appropriate adequate funds for such purposes.

This section establishes definitions for purposes of this title, including (1) casual collecting, as defined in section 6301 of the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 (16 U.S.C. 470aaa); (2) Federal land as any Federal land or interest within the boundary of the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary, or any such land acquired by the Federal Government after enactment; (3) Map as the map entitled “Legislative Map for Zuni Tribe Water Settlement” and dated June 17, 2024; and (4) Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary as approximately 217,037 acres in New Mexico comprised of private, Tribal trust, State, and Bureau of Land Management-managed lands, as depicted on the Map and protected by New Mexico Office of the State Engineer Order No. 199 (July 5, 2023) due to their historical and cultural significance.

This section withdraws approximately 92,364 acres of specified federal land in New Mexico from all forms of (1) entry, appropriation, or disposal under the public land laws; (2) location, entry, and patent under the mining laws; and (3) disposition under all laws pertaining to mineral and geothermal leasing or mineral materials—effective on the date of enactment and subject to valid existing rights and section 204(a)(3). It imposes the same withdrawal on land described in section 201(2)(B) upon federal acquisition. The withdrawn land is reserved for (1) protection of the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary (i.e., a sacred saline lake and surrounding area in western New Mexico culturally significant to the Zuni Tribe); (2) the quality and quantity of water resources supplying the Zuni Salt Lake; and (3) cultural resources or values within or associated with the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary.

This section directs the Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of Land Management, to manage federal land withdrawn under section 202 in accordance with the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976, in consultation with the Tribe, to protect the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary (a sacred site and delicate playa lake ecosystem to the Zuni Tribe), its water resources, and associated cultural resources. It imposes the following restrictions on that land: (1) limiting motor vehicle use to designated routes (except for administrative or emergency purposes) that do not impact Zuni Salt Lake values; (2) prohibiting new water wells or extensions/expansions of existing wells after enactment, except replacements for failures; (3) prohibiting increases in existing permitted grazing; (4) prohibiting new rights-of-way or leases, except for geophysical, geologic, or hydrologic research/monitoring to protect the Zuni Salt Lake or for regional scientific study; (5) prohibiting sale or free use of timber; and (6) prohibiting casual collecting.

This section directs the Secretary, on the Enforceability Date and subject to valid existing rights, to take into trust for the benefit of the Tribe all federal land described as the “Tribal Acquisition Area” on the map. The land remains subject to existing rights, contracts, leases, permits, and rights-of-way (unless earlier terminated at the holder's request), with the Bureau of Indian Affairs assuming the prior agency's benefits and obligations and disbursing related revenues to the Tribe; personal property improvements must be removed by the holder within 90 days after expiration (or become the Tribe's property, with the holder liable for removal costs); the withdrawal under §202 terminates upon transfer; and associated water rights are held in trust for the Tribe but excluded from the Tribal Water Rights. This section further requires the Secretary to take into trust any land the Tribe acquires within the “Potential Future Acquisition Areas” shown on the map, if free of liens or environmental liabilities.

This section directs the Secretary, as soon as practicable after enactment, to prepare maps depicting land withdrawn under section 202 and land taken into trust under section 204, publish legal descriptions of such land in the Federal Register, deem the maps and descriptions legally binding as if included in the title (subject to corrections for clerical and typographical errors), and make copies available for public inspection at appropriate Bureau of Land Management offices.