Enacts the "city of Buffalo historic preservation receivership act"

2025 Regular Session Introduced by Sean Ryan

Authorizes one-time adjusted-interest payments totaling about $18.5 million to three Indian water-rights settlement trust funds for water infrastructure.

REFERRED TO CITIES

Purpose

S. 640 makes technical statutory corrections to three previously enacted Indian water-rights settlement laws to authorize one-time “adjusted interest” payments to existing trust funds. The bill restores interest amounts that the affected Tribes were effectively denied because the original settlement laws prohibited investing settlement funds until each settlement’s enforceability date.

Key provisions

Authorizes a total of $18,467, (rounded) million in adjusted interest payments to be appropriated and deposited into three settlement trust funds:

Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund — $6,357,674.46 (amendment to the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009; adds a new subsection authorizing the deposit).
Taos Pueblo Water Development Fund — $7,794,297.52 (added to the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 as a new section authorizing the deposit).
Aamodt Settlement Pueblos’ Fund — $4,314,709.18 (added to the Claims Resolution Act of 2010; funds to support Pueblo Water Facilities and the Regional Water System).

For the Aamodt fund, the bill also directs the Secretary of the Treasury to waive any amounts otherwise due to the United States that are attributable to interest earned on certain prior appropriations before September 15, 2017.

Provides short title and technical, section-by-section amendments that slot these payments into the existing statutory frameworks for the three settlements.

Contains “disclaimer” clauses confirming that the bill does not alter or call into question prior Secretarial findings or the satisfaction of statutory conditions precedent under the Claims Resolution Act of 2010.

Who is affected

Primary beneficiaries: Navajo Nation (San Juan River / Navajo‑Gallup project), Taos Pueblo, and the four Pueblos covered by the Aamodt settlement (Nambé, Pojoaque, San Ildefonso, Tesuque).

Purpose of funds: support construction, operation, maintenance, replacement, and other authorized uses under each settlement’s trust fund (e.g., water infrastructure delivery and Pueblo water facilities/services).

Federal agencies affected: Department of the Interior (implementation role), Department of the Treasury (waiver directive for Aamodt-related payments), and relevant appropriations processes.

Procedural and timeline notes

Introduced: Feb 19, 2025 (Senators Luján and Heinrich).

Committee action: Reported favorably by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs (March 5, 2025) and Senate Report No. 119‑95 issued Nov 4, 2025 (includes CBO cost estimate reference).

Senate calendar: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders (Calendar No. 262) Nov 4, 2025.

Legislative history: Similar/identical measures were considered in prior sessions (e.g., S. 3406 in 118th Congress; companion/related House measures previously introduced).

Notes and caveat

The materials provided also included unrelated state-level text (a Massachusetts bill and other state actions) and some mixed legislative-action entries (e.g., “Referred to Cities”) that appear to be from other bills with the same number. This summary focuses solely on the federal S. 640 (119th Congress) concerning technical corrections and adjusted interest payments for the three Indian water-rights settlement trust funds.

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