PRIA Logo™
119-hr-2785119th Congress

New Mexico Land Grant-Mercedes Historical or Traditional Use Cooperation and Coordination Act

Sponsored By: Representative Leger Fernandez, Teresa [D-NM-3]

In Committee

Summary

Would protect and formalize historic noncommercial uses by New Mexico land grant-mercedes on Federal land through cooperative agreements. The bill would set rules for memoranda of understanding, allow fee reductions or waivers for community users with socioeconomic need, and require managers to consider these uses in Federal land-use planning.

Show full summary
  • Families and community users: Would be able to seek permits for long-standing noncommercial activities like water use, grazing, small-scale gathering, subsistence hunting and fishing, and cemetery or monument maintenance and would have a process to request fee reductions or waivers based on socioeconomic need.
  • New Mexico Land Grant Council and governing bodies: Would be authorized to represent qualified land grant-mercedes in developing and implementing MOUs and to participate in notice and comment on land management decisions.
  • Federal land managers: Would have to negotiate an initial MOU with the New Mexico Land Grant Council within 2 years after enactment and include procedures for permits, fees, vehicle and equipment use, and consultation with Tribes in those agreements.
  • Tribes and state authorities: Would require consultation with affected Tribes and would explicitly preserve treaty-reserved tribal rights and State authority over water and game management.

Personalized for You

How does this bill affect your finances?

Personalize government policy and PRIA will tell you what this bill means for your household, plus every other piece of legislation we track. PRIA reads each provision against your financial profile to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.

Free to download

Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

4 provisions identified: 4 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.

Include traditional uses in planning

If enacted, the Secretaries would be required to consider historical or traditional uses by qualified land grants when making or revising land‑use plans under Federal law. The Secretary would decide what is appropriate and must act consistent with existing legal requirements. This would formally add these uses to planning analyses.

MOUs for land grant uses

If enacted, the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior would have to sign an initial MOU with the New Mexico Land Grant Council within two years. The MOU would set permit and land‑use procedures, list fees and fee‑waiver processes, set vehicle and materials rules, require Tribe consultation, and allow routine maintenance and some improvements. When fee reductions or waivers are possible, the Secretary would have to consider community users' socioeconomic conditions and the governing body's annual budget, but only where the Secretary already has waiver authority.

Protect tribal and state rights

If enacted, the bill would say it does not change treaty‑reserved tribal rights, state water or game rules, valid existing rights, or any existing permitted uses of Federal land. The bill would not create any new legal right to use Federal land.

Who counts and what uses

If enacted, the bill would define who is a community user and what counts as historical or traditional use on Federal land. Examples include small gathering, small-scale grazing, cemetery upkeep, and subsistence hunting or fishing. These definitions would take effect upon enactment.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Leger Fernandez, Teresa [D-NM-3]

NM • D

Cosponsors

  • Rep. Stansbury, Melanie A. [D-NM-1]

    NM • D

    Sponsored 4/17/2025

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

View on Congress.gov
Back to Legislation