Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act updates the 2010 settlement by replacing the old MR&I System terminology with MR&I Projects, repealing one section, creating a new MR&I Projects Account, and creating a nontrust interest-bearing Crow CIP Implementation Account. The Tribe may use MR&I funds for planning, permitting, design, engineering, construction, reconstruction, replacement, rehabilitation, operation, and repair of domestic, municipal, wastewater, treatment, production, and delivery infrastructure. After on-reservation MR&I projects are complete, remaining MR&I account funds may buy on-reservation land with water rights. The bill also transfers joint-signature account funds into the new accounts, applies construction-cost indexing to MR&I deposits, extends a 15-year period to 20 years, and makes clear that title and operation of MR&I projects remain with the Tribe while the Federal Government has no ongoing obligation to pay operation, maintenance, or replacement costs.
Who Benefits and How
The Crow Tribe benefits because settlement funds become more flexible, interest-bearing, and available for water production, treatment, delivery, wastewater, environmental compliance, and potential land-with-water-rights purchases. Crow Reservation water users benefit from clearer authority to complete and maintain domestic and municipal water infrastructure. Crow Irrigation Project users benefit because the separate CIP Implementation Account can fund section 405 implementation with principal and interest. The Bureau of Reclamation gains clearer account-management instructions for settlement money.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Bureau of Reclamation and Interior Department must establish, manage, invest, distribute, and transfer funds into the MR&I Projects Account and Crow CIP Implementation Account, including moving money from named joint-signature accounts and applying cost-indexing rules. The Crow Tribe must use MR&I funds for eligible infrastructure and environmental-compliance purposes, provide written notice before using remaining funds to buy land with water rights, and assume title, control, operation, maintenance, and replacement responsibility for MR&I projects. Federal taxpayers bear the settlement-funding obligation while avoiding open-ended federal operation and maintenance liability.
Key Provisions
- Creates the MR&I Projects Account and authorizes Crow Tribe use for water production, treatment, delivery, wastewater, repair, rehabilitation, operation, and environmental compliance.
- Establishes the nontrust Crow CIP Implementation Account for Crow Irrigation Project implementation funds and interest earnings.
- Directs withdrawal of named joint-signature account funds into the new settlement accounts.
- Clarifies that the Crow Tribe owns and operates MR&I projects while the Federal Government has no continuing operation, maintenance, or replacement duty.
Evidence Chain:
This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
At a Glance
What This Bill Does
Amends the Crow Tribe water-rights settlement to restructure MR&I and Crow Irrigation Project accounts, expand eligible water-infrastructure uses, move money out of joint-signature accounts, extend a deadline from 15 to 20 years, and clarify federal versus Tribal responsibilities.
Key Policy Areas
Tribal Nations, Water Infrastructure, Government
Primary Purpose
Amends the Crow Tribe water-rights settlement to restructure MR&I and Crow Irrigation Project accounts, expand eligible water-infrastructure uses, move money out of joint-signature accounts, extend a deadline from 15 to 20 years, and clarify federal versus Tribal responsibilities.
Policy Domains
Substantive provisions
Identified Gains
- Crow Tribe
- Crow Reservation water users
- Crow Irrigation Project users
- Bureau of Reclamation
Identified Costs
- Bureau of Reclamation
- Crow Tribe
- Federal taxpayers
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
ReportedOrdered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute …
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
Mr. Downing (for himself and Mr. Zinke) introduced the following …
Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
Introduced in House
Stakeholder Effects
cui bono?How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.
Crow CIP Implementation Account, Crow Reservation water users, MR&I water infrastructure projects
Bureau of Reclamation
Bureau of Reclamation faces effects in multiple directions
Taxpayers
Taxpayers faces effects in multiple directions
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology