Two tribes gain equal leasing power Congress long denied them
S. 236 — A bill to amend the Act of August 9, 1955 (commonly known as the "Long-Term Leasing Act"), to authorize leases of up to 99 years for land in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation and land held in trust for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and for other purposes. · Filed by Ed Markey (D-MA) · 2 cosponsors · Introduced Jan 23, 2025 · Reported out
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What it does
This bill amends the Long-Term Leasing Act of 1955 to allow the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) to lease tribal lands for up to 99 years, a power previously unavailable to them. The change extends an existing authority that other tribes already possess, enabling these two tribes to generate long-term revenue from their reservation lands for economic development and self-governance.
Why we flagged it
The bill corrects a statutory gap by extending an existing leasing authority to two tribes that were previously excluded, equalizing their economic self-determination rights with other federally recognized tribes.
What the text implies
- Enables long-term land-based revenue streams that may support tribal government operations, education, healthcare, and economic development without requiring annual congressional appropriations.
- May facilitate tribal housing development, commercial enterprise, and infrastructure investment on reservation lands by providing lenders and investors with long-term lease certainty.
- Removes a statutory distinction that may have been perceived as discriminatory or paternalistic, affirming equal treatment of these tribes under federal Indian law.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
Tribal members gain the ability to lease their own lands for long-term economic development and revenue generation, strengthening tribal sovereignty and self-determination. The change removes a discriminatory restriction that applied only to these two tribes while other federally recognized tribes already held this authority.
Who stands to gain
- Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe
- Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah)
Named in the bill
Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), Long-Term Leasing Act of 1955, 25 U.S.C. 415(a), Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, Senate Committee on Indian Affairs
Where it stands
2 cosponsors: 1 Democrats, 1 Republicans.
- Jan 23, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Jan 23, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Indian Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs”
- Dec 17, 2025 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held”
- May 20, 2026 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably”
Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (504 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.
As of — page rendered 2026-10-20.
“Two tribes gain equal leasing power Congress long denied them” QuorumCivic. https://share.quorumcivic.app/bill/119/s236 Report an error
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