Congress restores federal recognition to Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas
H.R. 10435 — Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas Recognition Act · Filed by Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX) · Introduced Sep 16, 2026 · Referred to committee
Your members of Congress
Enter a ZIP to see where your representative and both senators stood on this bill.
Looked up on this device — your ZIP is never stored on our servers.
What it does
This bill extends federal recognition to the Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, a Native American tribe with documented historical presence in Texas and continuous cultural and political identity. Once recognized, the Tribe and its members become eligible for federal services and benefits available to other federally recognized Indian tribes, subject to verification of membership rolls and determination of service needs by the Interior Department and HHS.
Why we flagged it
The bill's sole operative mechanism is extending federal recognition to a specific Native American tribe and making them eligible for existing federal Indian programs. This is a straightforward recognition and eligibility measure, not a carve-out, subsidy, or deregulation.
What the text implies
- Tribe becomes eligible for land trust acquisition under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA), potentially enabling future land base development in Texas.
- Federal recognition may trigger consultation requirements under the National Historic Preservation Act and other environmental statutes affecting federal projects in Texas.
- Tribe gains standing to file claims under the Indian Claims Commission Act and related remedial statutes, though specific claims are not addressed in this bill.
- Service area determination (Section 5(b)) will require coordination between Interior and HHS; geographic scope and funding implications depend on that determination, which is not specified here.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Lipan Apache Tribe members gain access to federal services, healthcare, education, and housing benefits, and the Tribe gains the right to self-governance and control over its own affairs. The bill restores recognition of a historically documented Native American nation and remedies a documented gap in federal services access.
Who stands to gain
- Lipan Apache Tribe members (federal healthcare, education, housing, and social services)
- Lipan Apache Tribe (federal grants, technical assistance, self-governance support)
Named in the bill
Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Health and Human Services, State of Texas, Indian Reorganization Act (June 18, 1934), Department of the Interior, House Committee on Natural Resources
Where it stands
- Sep 16, 2026 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Sep 16, 2026 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (5,779 characters) on Sep 23, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 14,784 analysed bills.
Status and sponsors — Congress.gov's bill record — actions, committee referrals and cosponsors — loaded nightly. The timeline shows status changes, not every procedural action.
As of — page rendered 2026-09-24.
“Congress restores federal recognition to Lipan Apache Tribe of Texas” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr10435 Report an error