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Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022

Public Law 117-349 · S. 4104 · 117th Congress · began in the Senate

Signed by Joe Biden (D) on Jan 5, 2023 · Native Americans

Sponsor: Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ)

Cosponsors (1): Sen. Mark Kelly

Passage votesYeaNay

  • HouseRecorded vote: 360 yea, 55 nay360–55
  • SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes

The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.

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Summary

The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.

Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022

This act authorizes, ratifies, and confirms the Hualapai Tribe water rights settlement agreement negotiated between the tribe, the United States, Arizona, and others, thus satisfying the tribe's claims for groundwater and surface water rights to water in Arizona, including the Verde River, the Bill Williams River, and the Colorado River.

The act outlines the tribe's water rights, including the right to divert, use, and store 4,000 acre-feet of agricultural priority water of the Central Arizona Project that was previously allocated to nontribal agricultural entities, but retained by the Department of the Interior for reallocation to tribes in Arizona pursuant to the Central Arizona Project Settlement Act of 2004. Interior must reallocate this priority water to the tribe, firm through 2107 a specified amount of the water, and enter into a water delivery contract with the tribe.

The act directs Interior to establish the Hualapai Water Trust Fund Account. Amounts deposited in the trust fund account shall be made available to the tribe for specified purposes, including to construct the Hualapai Water Project. The project must be designed to divert, treat, and convey up to 3,414 acre-feet of water per year from the Colorado River for municipal, commercial, and industrial uses on the Hualapai Reservation.

Additionally, the act establishes in the Treasury the Hualapai Water Settlement Implementation Fund Account. Amounts in this account must be used to carry out groundwater monitoring and an estimate for groundwater withdrawals in the Truxton Basin outside the boundaries of the tribe's reservation.

The act adds certain land in Arizona to the tribe's reservation and also authorizes Interior to take specified land into trust for the benefit of the tribe. In the future, land located outside the reservation may only be taken into trust through an act of Congress.

The act outlines (1) waivers, releases, and retentions of claims by the tribe and the United States under the settlement agreement; and (2) a limited waiver of sovereign immunity by the United States and the tribe with respect to certain claims.

The act repeals the settlement agreement (except for provisions related to land added to the reservation and land taken into trust) if Interior does not publish by April 15, 2029, a statement of findings that specified conditions have been fulfilled (including that Interior has executed the required water delivery contract).

Who voted for it

Every House member of the 117th Congress on the ideology compass. Highlighted: the 360 who voted yea on final passage. Faded: everyone else, including those who voted nay, did not vote, or had not yet taken office.

360 yea55 nay15 present or did not vote

ProEstablishmentAnti
Economic left–right
More liberalMore conservative

Democrats who voted yea(212)

Republicans who voted yea(148)

Data notes

The House’s recorded vote on the final version of the law (roll call 989 in Voteview), matched to the vote the record cites and checked against its totals. Positions are each member’s DW-NOMINATE score for that Congress, as on the Ideology page; left to right is more liberal to more conservative. Paired and announced yea votes count as yea. Lists follow the compass, most liberal first. A name links to a profile only for members of the current Congress. A law passed by voice vote or unanimous consent has no member list, and neither does a vote Voteview has not yet recorded.

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Committees

The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.

Data notes

A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.

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Related bills

2 bills the Library of Congress relates to this one.

  • H.R. 5118Related bill

    Continental Divide Trail Completion Act

  • H.R. 7633Identical bill

    Hualapai Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2022

Data notes

Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.

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Timeline

From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 24 actions.

  1. Jan 5, 2023Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 117-349.
  2. Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
  3. Dec 28, 2022FloorFloor · Presented to President.
  4. Dec 22, 2022FloorFloor · By Senator Schatz from Committee on Indian Affairs filed written report. Report No. 117-287.
  5. FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  6. FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by the Yeas and Nays: (2/3 required): 360 - 55 (Roll no. 542).House roll call 542
  7. FloorFloor · Considered as unfinished business.
  8. Dec 21, 2022FloorFloor · At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were demanded and ordered. Pursuant to the provisions of clause 8, rule XX, the Chair announced that further proceedings on the motion would be postponed.
  9. FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 4104.
  10. FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
  11. FloorFloor · Mrs. Peltola moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill.
  12. FloorFloor · Held at the desk.
  13. FloorFloor · Received in the House.
  14. Dec 20, 2022FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
  15. Dec 19, 2022FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
  16. FloorFloor · The committee amendments withdrawn by Unanimous Consent. (CR S7302)
  17. FloorFloor · Measure laid before Senate by unanimous consent.
  18. CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 684.
  19. CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Schatz with amendments. Without written report.
  20. Nov 16, 2022CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment favorably.
  21. Jul 20, 2022CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held. Hearings printed: S.Hrg. 117-530.
  22. CommitteeCommittee · Hearings by Senate Indian Affairs Committee
  23. Apr 28, 2022CommitteeCommittee · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
  24. IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes

Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.

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Amendments

1 amendment offered to the bill, with the last recorded step of each.

  • S.Amdt. 6547SenateSen. Brian SchatzD-HI· offered Dec 19, 2022Agreed to

    In the nature of a substitute.

    Dec 19, 2022: Amendment SA 6547 agreed to in Senate by Unanimous Consent.

    Agreed to
Data notes

Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.

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Official record

The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.