Tribal courts gain equal access to digital evidence in criminal investigations.
S. 1574 — Tribal Access to Electronic Evidence Act · Filed by Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) · 4 cosponsors · Introduced May 1, 2025 · Passed chamber
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What it does
This bill amends the Stored Communications Act to recognize Tribal courts as courts of competent jurisdiction for issuing search warrants to access electronic communications and records held by service providers. It allows Tribal courts to compel disclosure of customer data under the same legal framework that currently applies to federal, state, and military courts, provided the Tribal court's warrant procedures comply with the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to extend existing federal law-enforcement tools (warrant-based access to electronic communications) to Tribal courts on equal terms with state and federal courts, addressing a jurisdictional gap in Tribal law enforcement capacity.
What the text implies
- Tribal courts must adopt warrant procedures compliant with the Indian Civil Rights Act § 202(a)(2), which may require Tribal courts to clarify or strengthen their own procedural rules to meet federal standards.
- Electronic communications service providers (e.g., telecommunications and internet companies) will now receive warrant requests from Tribal courts; compliance infrastructure and training may be needed.
- The bill does not create new funding for Tribal court operations or digital forensics capacity, so implementation may depend on existing Tribal resources.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Tribal courts and law enforcement gain equal legal standing to investigate crimes using digital evidence, improving public safety and criminal justice capacity in Indian Country. The bill conditions this access on compliance with the Indian Civil Rights Act's warrant procedures, preserving due-process protections for citizens subject to Tribal court jurisdiction.
Named in the bill
Tribal courts, Indian Tribes, Electronic communications service providers, Department of Interior, Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968, Stored Communications Act (18 U.S.C. § 2703)
Where it stands
4 cosponsors: 3 Republicans, 1 Democrats.
- May 1, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- May 1, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on the Judiciary · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary”
- Sep 29, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Senate Committee on the Judiciary discharged by Unanimous Consent”
- Sep 29, 2026 — Passed the Senate · Congress.gov: “Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent. (text: CR S5184)”
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.
Catherine Cortez Masto, the sponsor, reported $298,634 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes — $60,000 on 2 filings
Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 13, 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 (4,277 characters) on Sep 30, 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 13, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Tribal courts gain equal access to digital evidence in criminal investigations.” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s1574 Report an error
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