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A bill to amend the Act of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes.

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

Official summary

Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Mar 12, 2015

Amends the Indian Reorganization Act to apply the Act to all federally recognized Indian tribes, regardless of when any tribe became recognized. (This effectively overrules the Supreme Court's decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, which held that the Secretary of the Interior could not take land into trust for a specified tribe because that tribe had not been under federal jurisdiction when the Act was enacted.)

Ratifies and confirms any action taken by the Secretary pursuant to such Act for any Indian tribe that was federally recognized on the date of that action.

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Who introduced it

Sen. Tester, Jon [D-MT] · D–MT

Committees

  • Indian Affairs Committee
7 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

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  1. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

  2. Introduced in Senate

Bill text & related measures

Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.

Related bills identified by Congress.gov

Source last updated: Dec 6, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

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