Tribe gains water rights and $500M, but surrenders litigation claims in 10-year settlement gamble

What it does

This bill approves a water rights settlement for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians in California's Indio Subbasin. It confirms the Tribe's right to 20,000 acre-feet per year of groundwater, establishes a $500 million trust fund for water infrastructure and management, transfers approximately 2,982 acres of federal land into the Tribe's reservation, and requires the Tribe to waive past water rights claims in exchange for these benefits and protections against future water-related damages.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core function is to settle a tribal water rights dispute through statutory ratification of a negotiated agreement, quantification of water entitlements, and establishment of a trust fund for infrastructure—a standard Indian water settlement mechanism.

What the text implies

• Waiver of all past water rights claims by the Tribe and US trustee (section 9) is broad and permanent; Tribe retains only enforcement rights under the agreement itself and environmental/natural resource claims, creating asymmetry in future dispute resolution.
• Allottees must exhaust tribal remedies before suing US (section 5(h)(4)), shifting dispute resolution to tribal courts and potentially limiting federal accountability for water allocation disputes.
• Possessory interest tax preemption (section 11) allows Tribe to tax non-tribal lessees at rates equivalent to county property tax, creating new revenue stream but also new tax burden on private lessees and businesses on the reservation.
• Conveyance of Facility Land to Coachella Valley Water District (section 13, truncated) at fair market value suggests water district gains operational control of infrastructure; full terms not visible in truncated text.
• Enforceability date contingent on full appropriation of $500M by December 31, 2035 (section 8(b)); if funds not appropriated, entire settlement voids and all waivers become ineffective, creating 10-year implementation risk.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The settlement resolves a long-standing water dispute through negotiated agreement rather than protracted litigation, providing the Tribe with quantified water rights, substantial capital for infrastructure, and land expansion while reducing public costs of ongoing litigation. Allottees retain protections through federal oversight of tribal water ordinances and exhaustion-of-remedies procedures.

Who stands to gain

• Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians (water rights, land, $500M trust fund)
• Allottees within the Tribe (water allocations, trust protections)
• Water infrastructure contractors (construction funded from Development Projects Account)

Named in the bill

Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD), Desert Water Agency (DWA), US Department of Interior / Secretary of Interior, Riverside County, City of Palm Springs, Indio Subbasin, Bureau of Reclamation, Bureau of Indian Affairs

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.

• Nov 7, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Nov 7, 2025 — 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.

Money around this bill

4 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $305,000 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 72% of bills with at least one filing.

Ken Calvert, the sponsor, reported $1,368,100 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — $225,000 on 2 filings
• Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — $30,000 on 1 filing
• Telegraph Avenue LLC on Behalf of Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians — $30,000 on 1 filing
• Coachella Valley Water District — $20,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.