# 119-s-637: Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025 119-s-637, Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM); status in_committee; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-04-20). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-637 - As of: 2026-04-20 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Bill: 119-s-637 - Congress: 119 - Title: Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project Amendments Act of 2025 - Status: in_committee - Introduced: 2025-02-19 - Sponsor: Sen. Luján, Ben Ray [D-NM] (D-NM) - Cosponsors: 2 - Policy area: Native Americans - Touches household money: yes - Last recorded action: 2026-04-20 ## Summary **Expands and extends the Navajo-Gallup Water Supply Project** to reach more Navajo, Jicarilla Apache, and nearby communities while changing who pays, how projects are financed, and how some lands and revenues are managed. - Tribal families and communities: Would let the Navajo Nation add service areas including Lupton, Arizona, expand delivery to more New Mexico and Arizona communities, and direct the Department of the Interior to take certain lands into trust for the Nation. - Project participants and cities: Would revise cost-sharing rules, cap a city repayment obligation at $76 million and limit repayment percentages, and create three named settlement trust funds plus a Deferred Construction Fund for operations, maintenance, replacement, and deferred work. - Utah communities and water managers: Would create a framework to convey non-project water to Utah, cap that conveyance at 2,000 acre-feet per year, and limit use of Project funds for new non-project infrastructure beyond necessary connections. *Would authorize up to $2.2 billion in project appropriations through 2029 and establish trust accounts to fund construction, operations, and deferred activities.* ## Cosponsors (2) - Sen. Curtis, John R. [R-UT] (R-UT), 2025-02-19T00:00:00.000Z - Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] (D-NM), 2025-02-19T00:00:00.000Z ## Provisions PRIA read - Tribal water trust funds created: benefit, medium. This bill would create three Navajo and Jicarilla settlement trust funds in the Treasury. One fund would be authorized up to $250 million for Navajo operations, maintenance, and replacement. It would keep earlier yearly authorizations for a Navajo development fund and bar per‑capita payments to tri… - More communities eligible for Project water: benefit, low. This bill would define and expand the Project Service Area to include 43 Navajo Nation chapters and parts of the Jicarilla Reservation. It would allow delivery to Rio San Jose Basin communities and possibly Lupton, AZ (subject to a statutory test). It would also make it explicit that treatment plan… - More time for waivers and releases: benefit, low. This bill would move certain statutory waiver and release deadlines from 2025 to 2030. That would give parties five more years to obtain required waivers or releases tied to the Project. - Certain lands put into Navajo trust: benefit, low. This bill would require the Secretary to take specified fee and public domain parcels into trust for the Navajo Nation after conditions are met. Trust lands would become part of the Navajo Reservation and stay subject to existing rights. The San Juan Generating Station land would carry a U.S. easem… - Fund for deferred Project work: benefit, low. This bill would create a Deferred Construction Fund in the Treasury for mutually deferred NGWSP facilities. Amounts for agreed deferred work must be deposited by Dec. 31, 2029. Depositing the money would let the Secretary be treated as having met certain project timing deadlines even if constructio… - Renewable power funding for Project: benefit, low. This bill would let the Secretary use up to $6.25 million from Project funds to add renewable power where Project sites lack Colorado River power. Up to $1.25 million of that could be used for hydroelectric development at suitable Project facilities. - Who taxes Project construction work: mixed, medium. This bill would say that construction, operation, and maintenance on land held in trust for the Navajo Nation would be taxable only by the Nation and exempt from State or local taxes. Work on non‑trust land would be taxable by the State and exempt from Nation taxes. If enacted, this would change wh… - Limited water sharing to Utah: mixed, low. This bill would allow limited non‑Project water to be provided to Navajo communities in Utah, capped at 2,000 acre‑feet per year. Such deliveries must follow the Navajo‑Utah Settlement and a Utah decreed water right. Project funds generally could not pay to build new non‑Project infrastructure, and… ## Related bills - 119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act - 119-s-3597: National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026 - 119-s-4504: Full-Service Community School Expansion Act of 2026 - 119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026 - 119-s-3885: Aviation Innovation and Global Competitiveness Act - 119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025 ## Sources - [119-s-637 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-bill/637) ## Related - [119-s-1748: Kids Online Safety Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1748) - [119-s-3597: National Quantum Initiative Reauthorization Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3597) - [119-s-4504: Full-Service Community School Expansion Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-4504) - [119-s-3990: PrEP Access and Coverage Act of 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3990) - [119-s-3885: Aviation Innovation and Global Competitiveness Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-3885) - [119-s-1241: Sanctioning Russia Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-1241) - [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-s-637 (as of 2026-04-20).