Crow Revenue Act

H.R. 725, the Crow Revenue Act, would relocate certain mineral interests currently held by federal and private parties in Montana into a trust framework benefiting the Crow Tribe. The bill contemplates a rapid, one-time process (within 60 days of enactment) that hinges on the relinquishment of a specific federal lease (the Bull Mountains Lease) by its lessee and the transfer of mineral interests from two sets of lands—the Hope Family Tracts and the Bull Mountains Tracts—into trust arrangements. Specifically, the Hope Family Tracts (located in Big Horn County within the Crow Reservation) would have their mineral rights conveyed to the Crow Tribe and held in trust for the Tribe’s benefit. The Bull Mountains Tracts (in Musselshell County) would be transferred to the Hope Family Trust for future management, subject to relinquishment of the existing lease. A revenue-sharing framework between the Crow Tribe and the Hope Family Trust must be established before these transfers occur. The bill also provides that these transfers do not reduce federal benefits to the Tribe and that the state cannot tax the mineral interests conveyed to the Tribe. In short, the bill seeks to shift federal mineral rights from two specified land blocks to benefit the Crow Tribe, with the Tribe gaining trust-held mineral rights from the Hope Family Tracts and potential ownership via a future revenue-sharing arrangement for the Bull Mountains Tracts, contingent on lease relinquishment.