Bill > HR681

This bill amends a federal law known as the Long-Term Leasing Act—which generally limits how long Native American tribes can lease out their reservation or trust lands—to give two specific tribes, the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), the authority to lease their lands for up to 99 years. Under federal law, land held in trust means the federal government holds the legal title to the property for the benefit of the tribe, and this legislation ensures that these Massachusetts-based tribes have the same extended leasing capabilities already granted to certain other tribes, such as the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation, to help promote economic development and housing opportunities on their lands.