Crow Tribe gains control of water infrastructure funding and tribal land investment
H.R. 726 — Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025 · Filed by Troy Downing (R-MT) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Jan 24, 2025 · Reported out
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 amends the 2010 Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act to restructure how water infrastructure funds are managed and used. It repeals the old MR&I System framework, establishes a new MR&I Projects Account for the Crow Tribe to build and maintain water infrastructure on tribal lands, clarifies that the Tribe retains full ownership and control of projects built with these funds, and extends the federal government's obligation to help operate Yellowtail Dam from 15 to 20 years. The Tribe gains direct control over water infrastructure investment and can use remaining funds to purchase land with water rights.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to transfer control of water infrastructure funding and project ownership from federal management to the Crow Tribe, strengthening tribal self-determination and water security. It is a technical amendment to a 2010 settlement agreement that operationalizes tribal authority.
What the text implies
- The 20-year limit on federal Yellowtail Dam operation support creates a hard deadline after which the Tribe must assume full operational costs—a long-term fiscal obligation not immediately apparent from the amendment language.
- The ability to use remaining MR&I funds to purchase on-Reservation land with water rights may trigger complex interactions with existing water law, state water rights regimes, and federal trust responsibilities not addressed in this amendment.
- Repeal of Section 406 eliminates prior federal oversight mechanisms for MR&I projects; the bill does not specify what environmental or financial accountability structures replace that oversight.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Crow tribal members gain direct control over water infrastructure funding, ownership of projects built, and the ability to invest in domestic water systems and land acquisition—strengthening tribal sovereignty and water security. The federal government's reduced operational obligation (20-year limit on Yellowtail Dam support) is offset by the Tribe's expanded autonomy and capital access.
Who stands to gain
- Crow Tribe (direct recipient of water infrastructure capital and management authority)
Named in the bill
Crow Tribe, Yellowtail Dam, MR&I Projects Account, Secretary of Interior, American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994, Claims Resolution Act of 2010, Public Law 111–291
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Republicans.
- Jan 24, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
- Jan 24, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Natural Resources · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources”
- Jul 15, 2026 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
- Jul 15, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported in the Nature of a Substitute (Amended) by Voice Vote”
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 $60,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 6 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.
Troy Downing, the sponsor, reported $762,100 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Crow Tribe of Indians — $60,000 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 (5,249 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.
“Crow Tribe gains control of water infrastructure funding and tribal land investment” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/hr726 Report an error
The week in bills
One email, Sunday: what Congress passed, what it changed, and who paid.
One link arrives to confirm the address. It is used for this email and nothing else, and every issue carries an unsubscribe link.