SB 564, the Zuni Indian Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2025, approves and ratifies a negotiated settlement of the Zuni Tribe’s water rights claims in the Zuni River Stream System in New Mexico. The bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to execute the settlement agreement, confirms the Tribe’s quantified water rights as described in the agreement and a court decree, and establishes a federal trust fund to finance settlement implementation, water infrastructure, and related tribal water management activities. It also provides for a partial final judgment and decree in the ongoing federal water rights adjudication and requires the State of New Mexico to enact conforming legislation allowing long-term leasing of the Tribal Water Rights for up to 99 years.
In addition to the water settlement, the bill creates a land protection title for the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary. It withdraws specified federal lands from mining, mineral leasing, and other forms of disposal, directs the Bureau of Land Management to manage those lands to protect water resources and cultural values, and transfers certain federal lands into trust for the Tribe on the settlement’s enforceability date. The bill also addresses future trust acquisitions, maps, legal descriptions, and restrictions on land uses such as new wells, expanded grazing, timber sales, and casual collecting.
The bill’s impact on state and federal law is substantial. It settles and extinguishes a broad set of past and future water-related claims by the Tribe and the United States as trustee, while preserving certain claims related to water quality, post-settlement enforcement, and rights outside the basin. It also amends the practical operation of state water law by requiring New Mexico to authorize leasing of the Tribal Water Rights for terms up to 99 years, and it coordinates with the state’s contribution to the settlement. The bill further establishes that tribal water rights are held in trust, are not lost through nonuse, and may be allocated, leased, or managed under the agreement and federal law.
The general sentiment reflected in the bill’s posture is favorable and consensus-oriented. The measure was reported by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs without amendment, suggesting committee support and no recorded opposition in the available materials. The structure of the bill, which implements a negotiated settlement and provides funding for water infrastructure and environmental protection, also indicates a cooperative resolution among the Tribe, the United States, and the State of New Mexico.
The main points of contention are limited in the available record, but the bill itself shows the issues that were negotiated: the scope of the Tribe’s waivers and releases, the amount and use of federal settlement funding, the state’s required legislative changes, and the treatment of allottee water rights and future land acquisitions. The bill carefully preserves allottee claims and certain environmental and post-enforceability rights, which suggests those were sensitive issues in the settlement framework. The land withdrawal and trust transfer provisions, especially those affecting grazing, wells, and mineral access in the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary, are the most likely areas of concern for non-tribal land users and resource interests.
SB 564 would ratify a federal water rights settlement, create and fund a settlement trust, and direct the Department of the Interior to implement the agreement and related court decree. It would also withdraw and protect federal lands around the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary, transfer certain lands into trust for the Zuni Tribe, and impose land-use restrictions to safeguard water, cultural, and ecological resources. The bill would require New Mexico to enact conforming legislation allowing long-term leasing of tribal water rights and would extinguish a wide range of pre-enactment claims in exchange for the settlement benefits.
The available record suggests broad support and a largely noncontroversial committee posture. The bill was reported without amendment and there are no recorded votes or committee transcript excerpts indicating opposition. Its negotiated settlement structure, tribal water infrastructure funding, and cultural resource protections point to a collaborative resolution among the Tribe, the federal government, and the State of New Mexico.
The principal areas of potential contention are the scope of the Tribe’s claim waivers, the size and allocation of federal funding, the state-law changes needed to support 99-year leasing, and the land withdrawal and trust-transfer provisions affecting other land and water users. The bill also carefully carves out allottee rights and certain environmental claims, indicating those were important negotiation points. Restrictions on wells, grazing expansion, mineral development, and other uses in the Zuni Salt Lake and Sanctuary could be sensitive for local or resource-development interests.