Tule River Tribe Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025

The bill would authorize, ratify, and confirm a 2007 water rights settlement agreement among the Tule River Indian Tribe, the South Tule Independent Ditch Company, and the Tule River Association, directing the Secretary of the Interior to execute the agreement. It would formally confirm the Tribe's right to divert and use up to 5,828 acre-feet per year of surface water from the South Fork Tule River, held in trust by the United States, and protected from loss through non-use or abandonment. It would establish the Tule River Indian Tribe Settlement Trust Fund with two accounts — one for water development projects ($518 million) and one for operation, maintenance, and replacement ($50 million) — and transfer thousands of acres of Bureau of Land Management lands, Sequoia National Forest lands, and tribally owned fee lands into federal trust for the Tribe.

The bill would not take effect until an "Enforceability Date" — when the Secretary publishes Federal Register findings that the agreement has been amended, executed, funded, and approved by a federal court decree. The Act would expire if those findings are not published within eight years of enactment. Lands transferred into trust would be explicitly ineligible for Class II or Class III gaming.

The Tule River Indian Tribe and its members on the Tule River Reservation in Tulare County, California, who would gain secure water rights and infrastructure funding. Downstream water users — including the South Tule Independent Ditch Company, the Tule River Association, and other South Fork Tule River Basin rights holders — whose water allocations are defined relative to the Tribe's confirmed right. The Department of the Interior and Forest Service, which would manage the trust fund and execute land transfers.

If enacted, the Tribe would receive a legally secured, federally protected water right and $568 million to build water treatment, storage, and distribution infrastructure on the reservation — resolving claims that have been in negotiation since at least 2007. Downstream users would gain long-term certainty about their own allocations. The land transfers would add over 10,000 acres — including Sequoia National Forest watershed lands — to the tribal reservation.

The bill's operative provisions would not take effect until the Secretary of the Interior publishes Federal Register findings confirming that the 2007 Agreement has been amended, executed by all parties, funded, and approved by a final federal court decree. The Tribe and parties may file suit in the Eastern District of California to obtain that decree; if parties cannot agree on reservoir operation rules, the court may select among proposed rules or refer parties to voluntary dispute resolution. Once the Enforceability Date arrives, the Tribe may withdraw trust funds through a Secretary-approved tribal management plan under the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994, or through an approved expenditure plan. The Tribe must file annual expenditure reports. Trust deeds for all land transfers must be issued within 10 years of the Enforceability Date.