Lets Tribal governments use their own appraisals for certain land purchases, speeding up the process.
This bill would require the Department of the Interior to accept Tribal appraisals for acquiring trust lands on or near their reservations, if the Tribe has a self-governance program. This change would streamline the process, making it faster for Tribes to add land for housing or economic development. Currently, the Department of the Interior usually requires its own appraisals.
Today, the Department of the Interior generally requires its own Federal appraisals or reviews for trust land acquisitions by Indian Tribes, even for those with self-governance programs. After this bill, the Secretary of the Interior would be required to accept Tribal appraisals, prepared by Indian Tribes with self-governance realty programs under specific conditions, in lieu of Federal appraisals for on-reservation or contiguous trust land acquisitions. This would streamline the process and limit the Department's role to ministerial confirmation.
HR 5696 · 119th Congress · October 6, 2025 · AI Summary by gemini-2.5-flash · 9/10
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