Federal land returned to Pit River Tribe after decades of Forest Service control
S. 2871 — Pit River Land Transfer Act of 2025 · Filed by Alex Padilla (D-CA) · 1 cosponsor · Introduced Sep 18, 2025 · Hearing held
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What it does
This bill transfers approximately 583.79 acres of federal forest land in California (called the Four Corners Federal land) from the U.S. Forest Service to the Department of Interior, and places it into federal trust for the Pit River Tribe. The land becomes part of the tribe's reservation and is managed under standard federal Indian trust law, but cannot be used for gambling under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Why we flagged it
The bill's core function is to transfer federal land into trust status for a Native American tribe, restoring tribal sovereignty and land rights over a specific parcel. This is a straightforward land-trust mechanism with no hidden commercial or private-sector benefit.
What the text implies
- The gaming prohibition may limit the tribe's economic development options on the land, as gaming enterprises are a significant revenue source for many tribes. However, this constraint is explicit and may reflect negotiated compromise with local stakeholders.
- The 180-day survey requirement creates a procedural gate before the tribe can fully exercise management rights, though this is standard administrative practice for trust land transfers.
- Transfer of administrative jurisdiction from Agriculture to Interior shifts long-term management authority; Interior has greater experience with Indian trust lands, but this represents a change in federal agency oversight.
Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.
Who it affects
The bill restores tribal land rights and self-governance over a specific parcel, addressing a historical dispossession pattern. The gaming prohibition protects the surrounding public from potential negative externalities while preserving the tribe's core land-use and economic development rights.
Who stands to gain
- Pit River Tribe (land rights, reservation expansion, management authority)
Named in the bill
Pit River Tribe, U.S. Forest Service, Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of the Interior, Department of Interior, Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, XL Ranch Rancheria, Big Bend Rancheria, Likely Rancheria, Lookout Rancheria, Montgomery Creek Rancheria, Roaring Creek Rancheria
Where it stands
1 cosponsor: 1 Democrats.
- Sep 18, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in Senate”
- Sep 18, 2025 — Referred to Senate Committee on Indian Affairs · Congress.gov: “Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR…”
- Jun 3, 2026 — Hearing held · Congress.gov: “Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held”
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 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $10,000 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 0% of bills with at least one filing.
Alex Padilla, the sponsor, reported $176,500 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.
- Pit River Tribe — $10,000 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.
How this was measured
Analysis — Quorum's AI read the bill text published by Congress.gov (2,144 characters) on Sep 28, 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 Jun 2026 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 20, 2026 · page rendered 2026-10-20.
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