Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act of 2025

The bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to take two parcels of land in El Dorado County, California, into trust for the benefit of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians within 180 days of enactment. The first parcel — approximately 80 acres currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management — would be transferred administratively after the bill revokes a 1964 public land order that had designated the land as a Forest Service experiment station. The second parcel — approximately 185 acres known as Indian Creek Ranch currently held by the tribe as fee land — would also be placed into trust. Both parcels would be declared part of the tribe's existing reservation and administered under laws generally applicable to Indian trust property.

The bill would not permit gaming on the newly trusted land. Class II and Class III gaming, as defined under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, would be expressly prohibited. Interior would also be required to review whether a formal land survey is needed before completing the transfer, and any resulting survey would be kept on file at the Bureau of Indian Affairs for public inspection.

The Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians (Shingle Springs Rancheria, Verona Tract, California), who would gain additional reservation land held in federal trust. The Department of the Interior and its Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Indian Affairs would be directly directed to carry out the transfer. The Forest Service would lose administrative jurisdiction over the former experiment station land.

For the tribe, trust status gives land stronger legal protection than fee ownership, shielding it from state taxation and most local land-use controls. Adding the two parcels to the reservation expands the tribe's land base in El Dorado County. The gaming prohibition is notable because it limits how the tribe may use the newly trusted acreage, setting a condition not automatically required under federal Indian land law.

Within 180 days of enactment, the Secretary of the Interior must review whether a formal survey of both parcels is required; if so, the Secretary must conduct the survey before or concurrent with completing the trust transfer. The Bureau of Land Management map dated May 2, 2025 governs the parcel descriptions; the Secretary may make minor corrections to address clerical, typographical, or surveying errors. Survey records must be filed and made available for public inspection at the appropriate Bureau of Indian Affairs office. The land is then to be administered under standard federal Indian trust property rules.