PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 514.
Congressional Research Service
Version 01 · Reported to Senate with amendment(s) · Jun 9, 2016
Interior Improvement Act
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Indian Reorganization Act to expand the definition of Indian to include members of Indian tribes that were federally recognized after June 18, 1934. Trust acquisitions by the Department of the Interior for tribes recognized after June 18, 1934, are ratified and confirmed.
(Sec. 3) Indian tribes and individual Indians may apply to Interior to have off-reservation land taken into trust for the benefit of that tribe or individual. An application must include specified information, including a description of the need for the proposed acquisition and the purpose for which the property is to be used.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Interior must publish these applications and notify jurisdictions contiguous to land included in an application.
Interior must encourage applicants to enter into cooperative agreements with contiguous jurisdictions. An application with a cooperative agreement is automatically approved if Interior does not make a decision on the application within a specified number of days.
In making a decision on an application that does not include a cooperative agreement, Interior must determine whether anticipated impacts on contiguous jurisdictions have been mitigated and consider whether contiguous jurisdictions failed to work in good faith to reach an agreement with the applicant.
People & committees
Sen. Barrasso, John [R-WY] · R–WY
Legislative record
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Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 514.
Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Barrasso with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 114-275. Minority views filed.
Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Barrasso with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 114-275. Minority views filed.
Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
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No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Jun 20, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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