Congress expands Native American land rights in Everglades, mandates flood protection
H.R. 504 — Miccosukee Reserved Area Amendments Act · Filed by Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) · 3 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 16, 2025 · Vetoed
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What it does
This bill expands the Miccosukee Reserved Area within Everglades National Park to include Osceola Camp and requires the federal government to work with the Miccosukee Tribe to protect structures there from flooding within two years. The Miccosukee Tribe, a federally recognized Native American nation, gains expanded territorial rights and flood protection for their community.
Why we flagged it
The bill's operative mechanism is territorial expansion and a federal duty to mitigate flooding risk for a federally recognized tribe's settlement. This is a public-interest measure addressing both land sovereignty and community resilience.
What the text implies
- Flood-protection mandate may trigger significant federal infrastructure spending in Everglades National Park, with design and implementation details to be determined in consultation with the Tribe.
- Map reference (160/188443, dated July 2023) anchors the boundary definition to a specific cartographic record, reducing future boundary disputes but tying expansion to a fixed historical moment.
- Two-year implementation deadline creates a hard federal obligation; failure to act could expose the government to administrative or legal challenge from the Tribe.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill recognizes and protects a Native American community's land and infrastructure. Ordinary citizens in the Miccosukee Tribe gain expanded territorial rights, federal acknowledgment of their settlement area, and a binding federal obligation to address flooding that threatens their homes and structures.
Who stands to gain
- Miccosukee Tribe (land rights, flood-protection infrastructure investment)
Named in the bill
Miccosukee Tribe, Miccosukee Reserved Area, Osceola Camp, Everglades National Park, National Park Service, Miami-Dade County, U.S. Department of Interior (Secretary)
Where it stands
3 cosponsors: 2 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- Jan 16, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 16, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addition to the Committee on Transportation and…”
- Feb 5, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jun 25, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Unanimous Consent”
- Jul 14, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H3228-3229)”
- Jul 14, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Westerman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”
- Dec 11, 2025 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8693)”
- Dec 18, 2025 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
- Dec 29, 2025 — Vetoed · Congress.gov: “Vetoed by President”
- Jan 8, 2026 — Failed · Congress.gov: “Failed of passage in House over veto On passage, the objections of the President to the contrary…”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
Money around this bill
1 lobbying clients named this bill on 2 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $140,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 2 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.
More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Carlos Gimenez, the sponsor, reported $315,250 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida — $140,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 16, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (1,303 characters) on Aug 20, 2026. Section numbers in the findings refer to that text, linked below; transparency and hidden-provision scores are compared against the median of 16,222 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.
Money — Senate Lobbying Disclosure Act filings whose specific-issue field names this bill for quarters ending Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. A filing's amount is reported whole beside the median number of bills a filing names; it is never divided across them. PAC receipts are FEC-reported contributions to the sponsor's candidate committee in the 2026 cycle.
As of — lobbying records through Jul 16, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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