Arizona monument becomes a park with tribal sacred site rights

What it does

This bill changes Chiricahua Monument in Arizona into a Park. The land stays the same size and gets the same money. The Interior Department must protect tribal sacred sites. Tribes can close small areas to the public for ceremonies and spiritual practices.

Who it affects

Native American tribes gain the right to protect and use their sacred sites. The public can still visit the park except during brief tribal closures.

One thing to notice

The law limits tribal closures to the smallest area needed and shortest time needed. The park gets the same money as before, so Congress may need to add more money later.

From the analysis of the bill text, linked under Primary records below.

Where it stands

1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.

• Dec 3, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Dec 3, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources and Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
• Dec 11, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Subcommittee Hearings Held”
• Feb 11, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Feb 11, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Unanimous Consent”
• Mar 16, 2026 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2525)”
• Mar 16, 2026 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Wittman moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended”
• Sep 30, 2026 — Passed both chambers · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent”
• Oct 15, 2026 — Sent to president · Congress.gov: “Presented to President”
• Oct 20, 2026 — Signed into law · Congress.gov: “Became Public Law No: 119-133”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 groups reported lobbying about this bill. They filed 1 reports from Dec 2025 to Dec 2025.

Those reports show $139,430 in lobbying spending. Each report lists about 46 bills. So that money was not all for this bill.

More groups named this bill than 0% of bills with any report.

Juan Ciscomani, who sponsored the bill, received $1,784,277 from PACs for the 2026 election.

• National Parks Conservation Association — $139,430 in 1 report

Lobbying is legal. These reports show who lobbied about this bill, not what changed.

Words to know

• Park — a large public land area protected by the government
• Interior Department — the government agency that manages public lands
• sacred sites — places that are holy or spiritually important to a group
• lobbying — Trying to influence lawmakers about a bill. Companies and groups pay people to do this.
• PACs — Groups that collect money and give it to candidates for office.
• sponsored — To sponsor a bill is to introduce it in Congress and put your name on it.