# What This Bill Does

This bill transfers about 204 acres of federal land in California to the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, a Native American tribe. The land comes from two sources: roughly 85 acres currently managed by the Bureau of Land Management and about 119 acres known as Indian Creek Ranch. Once transferred, this land becomes part of the tribe's official reservation and will be held in trust by the federal government on their behalf, meaning the tribe gains control and ownership rights to the property while the government maintains a protective legal status over it.

The practical effect is that the Shingle Springs Band gains land they can use for their community's benefit—whether for housing, economic development, cultural purposes, or other tribal needs. The transfer must be completed within 180 days after the bill becomes law. The land will be managed according to standard federal rules for tribal trust lands, and the tribe will have the same legal protections and authorities over this land that they have over their existing reservation.

There is one significant restriction: the tribe cannot use this land for gambling operations. This prohibition prevents the tribe from opening casinos or other gaming facilities on the transferred property, even though many tribes across the country operate gaming enterprises on their reservations as an economic development strategy. This limitation is written directly into the bill and cannot be changed by the tribe without new legislation.

Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act of 2025

McClintock, Tom

Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians Land Transfer Act of 2025This bill takes approximately 204.14 acres&nbsp;of specified lands in El Dorado County, California, into trust for the benefit of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians.The bill revokes a specified public land order and administratively transfers the land from the Forest Service to the Department of the Interior. (In the public land order, the land was designated for use by the Forest Service as an experiment station.)The bill directs Interior to take the following lands into trust for the benefit of the tribe: (1) approximately 85.3 acres of federal land managed by Interior's Bureau of Land Management (which includes the land transferred&nbsp;from the Forest Service), and (2) approximately 118.84 acres of fee land held by the tribe. These combined lands, approximately 204.14 acres, shall be part of the tribe's reservation. Further, the bill prohibits gaming on the land taken into trust.