I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 726 
To amend the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 to make 
improvements to that Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 24, 2025 
Mr. DOWNING (for himself and Mr. ZINKE) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To amend the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act 
of 2010 to make improvements to that Act, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Crow Tribe Water 
Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025’’. 
SEC. 2. CROW TRIBE WATER RIGHTS SETTLEMENT. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—Section 403 of the Crow Tribe 
Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public Law 111– 
291; 124 Stat. 3097) is amended— 
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(1) by striking paragraph (11) and inserting 
the following: 
‘‘(11) MR&I 
PROJECT.—The term ‘MR&I 
Project’ means an activity described in clauses (i) 
through (iii) of section 411(e)(3)(F).’’; and 
(2) in paragraph (12)— 
(A) in the paragraph heading, by striking 
‘‘SYSTEM’’ and inserting ‘‘PROJECTS’’; and 
(B) in subparagraphs (A) through (C), by 
striking ‘‘System’’ each place it appears and in-
serting ‘‘Projects’’. 
(b) REPEAL OF MR&I SYSTEM.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Section 406 of the Crow 
Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public 
Law 111–291; 124 Stat. 3102) is repealed. 
(2) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of con-
tents for the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 (Public 
Law 111–291; 124 Stat. 3064) is amended by strik-
ing the item relating to section 406. 
(c) CROW SETTLEMENT FUND.—Section 411 of the 
Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 (Public 
Law 111–291; 124 Stat. 3113) is amended— 
(1) in subsection (a), by striking ‘‘to be admin-
istered by the Secretary’’ and inserting ‘‘to be man-
aged, invested, and distributed by the Secretary and 
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to remain available until expended, withdrawn, or re-
verted to the general fund of the Treasury, con-
sisting of amounts deposited in the Fund under sub-
section (b), together with any investment earnings, 
including interest, earned on those amounts,’’; 
(2) in subsections (b) and (c), by striking ‘‘sec-
tion 414’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘sec-
tion 415’’; 
(3) in subsection (c)— 
(A) in paragraph (3), by striking ‘‘Sys-
tem’’ and inserting ‘‘Projects’’; and 
(B) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(5) The MR&I Projects Account, to be estab-
lished as soon as practicable after the date of enact-
ment of the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement 
Amendments Act of 2025, consisting of— 
‘‘(A) amounts made available pursuant to 
paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 415(b) that 
are appropriated after the date of enactment of 
the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement 
Amendments Act of 2025; and 
‘‘(B) amounts to be deposited pursuant to 
section 415(h)(2).’’; 
(4) in subsection (e)— 
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(A) in paragraph (2), by striking subpara-
graph (C) and inserting the following: 
‘‘(C) the American Indian Trust Fund 
Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 
4001 et seq.).’’; and 
(B) in paragraph (3)— 
(i) in subparagraph (A), by striking 
‘‘through (E)’’ and inserting ‘‘through 
(F)’’; 
(ii) in subparagraph (C)(i), by strik-
ing ‘‘section 412’’ and inserting ‘‘section 
413’’; 
(iii) in subparagraph (E)— 
(I) in the subparagraph heading, 
by striking ‘‘SYSTEM’’ and inserting 
‘‘PROJECTS’’; and 
(II) by striking ‘‘System’’ each 
place 
it 
appears 
and 
inserting 
‘‘Projects’’; and 
(iv) by adding at the end the fol-
lowing: 
‘‘(F) MR&I PROJECTS ACCOUNT.—Funds 
from the MR&I Projects Account shall be used 
for expenditures by the Tribe in accordance 
with the following: 
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‘‘(i) PRIORITY USE OF FUNDS.—The 
Tribe shall use funds from the MR&I 
Projects Account— 
‘‘(I) to plan, permit, design, engi-
neer, construct, reconstruct, replace, 
rehabilitate, operate, or repair water 
production, treatment, or delivery in-
frastructure, including for domestic 
and municipal use or wastewater in-
frastructure; and 
‘‘(II) to comply with applicable 
environmental laws for the activities 
described in subclause (I). 
‘‘(ii) OTHER USE OF FUNDS.—After 
providing written notice to the Secretary 
that on-Reservation MR&I projects de-
scribed in clause (i) are complete, the 
Tribe may use funds remaining in the 
MR&I Projects Account to purchase on- 
Reservation land with water rights.’’; 
(5) in subsection (f)(2), by striking ‘‘section 
414’’ and inserting ‘‘section 415’’; and 
(6) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(i) TITLE TO INFRASTRUCTURE.—Title to, control 
over, and operation of any project constructed using funds 
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