Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress House Bill HB2130 Compare Versions

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11 I
22 119THCONGRESS
33 1
44 STSESSION H. R. 2130
55 To require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and complete all mortgage
66 packages associated with residential and business mortgages on Indian
77 land by certain deadlines, and for other purposes.
88 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
99 MARCH14, 2025
1010 Mr. J
1111 OHNSONof South Dakota (for himself, Mr. ZINKE, Mr. COLE, and Mr.
1212 N
1313 EGUSE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com-
1414 mittee on Natural Resources
1515 A BILL
1616 To require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and
1717 complete all mortgage packages associated with residen-
1818 tial and business mortgages on Indian land by certain
1919 deadlines, and for other purposes.
2020 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
2121 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
2222 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
2323 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tribal Trust Land 4
2424 Homeownership Act of 2025’’. 5
2525 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
2626 In this Act: 7
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3030 (1) APPLICABLE BUREAU OFFICE .—The term 1
3131 ‘‘applicable Bureau office’’ means— 2
3232 (A) a Regional office of the Bureau; 3
3333 (B) an Agency office of the Bureau; or 4
3434 (C) a Land Titles and Records Office of 5
3535 the Bureau. 6
3636 (2) B
3737 UREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 7
3838 Bureau of Indian Affairs. 8
3939 (3) D
4040 IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 9
4141 the Director of the Bureau. 10
4242 (4) F
4343 IRST CERTIFIED TITLE STATUS REPORT .— 11
4444 The term ‘‘first certified title status report’’ means 12
4545 the title status report needed to verify title status on 13
4646 Indian land. 14
4747 (5) I
4848 NDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian land’’ 15
4949 has the meaning given the term in section 162.003 16
5050 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect 17
5151 on the date of enactment of this Act). 18
5252 (6) L
5353 AND MORTGAGE.—The term ‘‘land mort-19
5454 gage’’ means a mortgage obtained by an individual 20
5555 Indian who owns a tract of trust land for the pur-21
5656 pose of— 22
5757 (A) home acquisition; 23
5858 (B) home construction; 24
5959 (C) home improvements; or 25
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6363 (D) economic development. 1
6464 (7) L
6565 EASEHOLD MORTGAGE .—The term ‘‘lease-2
6666 hold mortgage’’ means a mortgage, deed of trust, or 3
6767 other instrument that pledges the leasehold interest 4
6868 of a lessee as security for a debt or other obligation 5
6969 owed by the lessee to a lender or other mortgagee. 6
7070 (8) M
7171 ORTGAGE PACKAGE .—The term ‘‘mort-7
7272 gage package’’ means a proposed residential lease-8
7373 hold mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, land 9
7474 mortgage, or right-of-way document submitted to an 10
7575 applicable Bureau office under section 3(a)(1). 11
7676 (9) R
7777 ELEVANT FEDERAL AGENCY .—The term 12
7878 ‘‘relevant Federal agency’’ means any of the fol-13
7979 lowing Federal agencies that guarantee or make di-14
8080 rect mortgage loans on Indian land: 15
8181 (A) The Department of Agriculture. 16
8282 (B) The Department of Housing and 17
8383 Urban Development. 18
8484 (C) The Department of Veterans Affairs. 19
8585 (10) R
8686 IGHT-OF-WAY DOCUMENT .—The term 20
8787 ‘‘right-of-way document’’ has the meaning given the 21
8888 term in section 169.2 of title 25, Code of Federal 22
8989 Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment 23
9090 of this Act). 24
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9494 (11) SUBSEQUENT CERTIFIED TITLE STATUS 1
9595 REPORT.—The term ‘‘subsequent certified title sta-2
9696 tus report’’ means the title status report needed to 3
9797 identify any liens against a residential, business, or 4
9898 land lease on Indian land. 5
9999 SEC. 3. MORTGAGE REVIEW AND PROCESSING. 6
100100 (a) R
101101 EVIEW ANDPROCESSINGDEADLINES.— 7
102102 (1) I
103103 N GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 8
104104 receiving a proposed residential leasehold mortgage, 9
105105 business leasehold mortgage, land mortgage, or 10
106106 right-of-way document, the applicable Bureau office 11
107107 shall notify the lender that the proposed residential 12
108108 leasehold mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, or 13
109109 right-of-way document has been received. 14
110110 (2) P
111111 RELIMINARY REVIEW.— 15
112112 (A) I
113113 N GENERAL.—Not later than 10 cal-16
114114 endar days after receipt of a proposed residen-17
115115 tial leasehold mortgage, business leasehold 18
116116 mortgage, land mortgage, or right-of-way docu-19
117117 ment, the applicable Bureau office shall conduct 20
118118 and complete a preliminary review of the resi-21
119119 dential leasehold mortgage, business leasehold 22
120120 mortgage, land mortgage, or right-of-way docu-23
121121 ment to verify that all required documents are 24
122122 included. 25
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126126 (B) INCOMPLETE DOCUMENTS .—As soon 1
127127 as practicable, but not more than 2 calendar 2
128128 days, after finding that any required documents 3
129129 are missing under subparagraph (A), the appli-4
130130 cable Bureau office shall notify the lender of 5
131131 the missing documents. 6
132132 (3) A
133133 PPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL .— 7
134134 (A) L
135135 EASEHOLD MORTGAGES .—Not later 8
136136 than 20 calendar days after receipt of a com-9
137137 plete executed residential leasehold mortgage or 10
138138 business leasehold mortgage, proof of required 11
139139 consents, and other required documentation, the 12
140140 applicable Bureau office shall approve or dis-13
141141 approve the residential leasehold mortgage or 14
142142 business leasehold mortgage. 15
143143 (B) R
144144 IGHT-OF-WAY DOCUMENTS .—Not 16
145145 later than 30 calendar days after receipt of a 17
146146 complete executed right-of-way document, proof 18
147147 of required consents, and other required docu-19
148148 mentation, the applicable Bureau office shall 20
149149 approve or disapprove the right-of-way docu-21
150150 ment. 22
151151 (C) L
152152 AND MORTGAGES.—Not later than 30 23
153153 calendar days after receipt of a complete exe-24
154154 cuted land mortgage, proof of required con-25
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158158 sents, and other required documentation, the 1
159159 applicable Bureau office shall approve or dis-2
160160 approve the land mortgage. 3
161161 (D) R
162162 EQUIREMENTS.—The determination 4
163163 of whether to approve or disapprove a residen-5
164164 tial leasehold mortgage or business leasehold 6
165165 mortgage under subparagraph (A), a right-of- 7
166166 way document under subparagraph (B), or a 8
167167 land mortgage under subparagraph (C)— 9
168168 (i) shall be in writing; and 10
169169 (ii) in the case of a determination to 11
170170 disapprove a residential leasehold mort-12
171171 gage, business leasehold mortgage, right- 13
172172 of-way document, or land mortgage shall, 14
173173 state the basis for the determination. 15
174174 (E) A
175175 PPLICATION.—This paragraph shall 16
176176 not apply to a residential leasehold mortgage or 17
177177 business leasehold mortgage with respect to In-18
178178 dian land in cases in which the applicant for 19
179179 the residential leasehold mortgage or business 20
180180 leasehold mortgage is an Indian tribe (as de-21
181181 fined in subsection (d) of the first section of the 22
182182 Act of 1955 (69 Stat. 539, chapter 615; 126 23
183183 Stat. 1150; 25 U.S.C. 415(d))) that has been 24
184184 approved for leasing under subsection (h) of 25
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187187 •HR 2130 IH
188188 that section (69 Stat. 539, chapter 615; 126 1
189189 Stat. 1151; 25 U.S.C. 415(h)). 2
190190 (4) C
191191 ERTIFIED TITLE STATUS REPORTS .— 3
192192 (A) C
193193 OMPLETION OF REPORTS .— 4
194194 (i) I
195195 N GENERAL.—Not later than 10 5
196196 calendar days after the applicable Bureau 6
197197 office approves a residential leasehold 7
198198 mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, 8
199199 land mortgage, or right-of-way document 9
200200 under paragraph (3), the applicable Bu-10
201201 reau office shall complete the processing 11
202202 of, as applicable— 12
203203 (I) a first certified title status re-13
204204 port, if a first certified title status re-14
205205 port was not completed prior to the 15
206206 approval of the residential leasehold 16
207207 mortgage, business leasehold mort-17
208208 gage, land mortgage, or right-of-way 18
209209 document; and 19
210210 (II) a subsequent certified title 20
211211 status report. 21
212212 (ii) R
213213 EQUESTS FOR FIRST CERTIFIED 22
214214 TITLE STATUS REPORTS .—Notwith-23
215215 standing clause (i), not later than 14 cal-24
216216 endar days after the applicable Bureau of-25
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219219 •HR 2130 IH
220220 fice receives a request for a first certified 1
221221 title status report from an applicant for a 2
222222 residential leasehold mortgage, business 3
223223 leasehold mortgage, land mortgage, or 4
224224 right-of-way document under paragraph 5
225225 (1), the applicable Bureau office shall com-6
226226 plete the processing of the first certified 7
227227 title status report. 8
228228 (B) N
229229 OTICE.— 9
230230 (i) I
231231 N GENERAL.—As soon as prac-10
232232 ticable after completion of the processing 11
233233 of, as applicable, a first certified title sta-12
234234 tus report or a subsequent certified title 13
235235 status report under subparagraph (A), but 14
236236 by not later than the applicable deadline 15
237237 described in that subparagraph, the appli-16
238238 cable Bureau office shall give notice of the 17
239239 completion to the lender. 18
240240 (ii) F
241241 ORM OF NOTICE.—The applica-19
242242 ble Bureau office shall give notice under 20
243243 clause (i)— 21
244244 (I) electronically through secure, 22
245245 encryption software; and 23
246246 (II) through the United States 24
247247 mail. 25
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251251 (iii) OPTION TO OPT OUT.—The lend-1
252252 er may opt out of receiving notice elec-2
253253 tronically under clause (ii)(I). 3
254254 (b) N
255255 OTICES.— 4
256256 (1) I
257257 N GENERAL.—If the applicable Bureau of-5
258258 fice does not complete the review and processing of 6
259259 mortgage packages under subsection (a) (including 7
260260 any corresponding first certified title status report 8
261261 or subsequent certified title status report under 9
262262 paragraph (4) of that subsection) by the applicable 10
263263 deadline described in that subsection, immediately 11
264264 after missing the deadline, the applicable Bureau of-12
265265 fice shall provide notice of the delay in review and 13
266266 processing to— 14
267267 (A) the party that submitted the mortgage 15
268268 package or requested the first certified title sta-16
269269 tus report; and 17
270270 (B) the lender for which the mortgage 18
271271 package (including any corresponding first cer-19
272272 tified title status report or subsequent certified 20
273273 title status report) is being requested. 21
274274 (2) R
275275 EQUESTS FOR UPDATES .—In addition to 22
276276 providing the notices required under paragraph (1), 23
277277 not later than 2 calendar days after receiving a rel-24
278278 evant inquiry with respect to a submitted mortgage 25
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281281 •HR 2130 IH
282282 package from the party that submitted the mortgage 1
283283 package or the lender for which the mortgage pack-2
284284 age (including any corresponding first certified title 3
285285 status report or subsequent certified title status re-4
286286 port) is being requested or an inquiry with respect 5
287287 to a requested first certified title status report from 6
288288 the party that requested the first certified title sta-7
289289 tus report, the applicable Bureau office shall re-8
290290 spond to the inquiry. 9
291291 (c) D
292292 ELIVERY OFFIRST ANDSUBSEQUENT CER-10
293293 TIFIEDTITLESTATUSREPORTS.—Notwithstanding any 11
294294 other provision of law, any first certified title status report 12
295295 and any subsequent certified title status report, as appli-13
296296 cable, shall be delivered directly to— 14
297297 (1) the lender; 15
298298 (2) any local or regional agency office of the 16
299299 Bureau that requests the first certified title status 17
300300 report or subsequent certified title status report; 18
301301 (3) in the case of a proposed residential lease-19
302302 hold mortgage or land mortgage, the relevant Fed-20
303303 eral agency that insures or guarantees the loan; and 21
304304 (4) if requested, any individual or entity de-22
305305 scribed in section 150.303 of title 25, Code of Fed-23
306306 eral Regulations (as in effect on the date of enact-24
307307 ment of this Act). 25
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311311 (d) ACCESS TOTRUSTASSET ANDACCOUNTING 1
312312 M
313313 ANAGEMENT SYSTEM(TAAMS).—Beginning on the 2
314314 date of enactment of this Act, the relevant Federal agen-3
315315 cies and Indian Tribes shall have read-only access to por-4
316316 tals containing the relevant land documents from the 5
317317 Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (com-6
318318 monly known as ‘‘TAAMS’’) maintained by the Bureau. 7
319319 (e) A
320320 NNUALREPORT.— 8
321321 (1) I
322322 N GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 of 9
323323 each calendar year, the Director shall submit to the 10
324324 Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate and the 11
325325 Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 12
326326 Representatives a report describing— 13
327327 (A) for the most recent calendar year, the 14
328328 number of requests received to complete resi-15
329329 dential leasehold mortgage packages, business 16
330330 leasehold mortgage packages, land mortgage 17
331331 packages, and right-of-way document packages 18
332332 (including any requests for corresponding first 19
333333 certified title status reports and subsequent cer-20
334334 tified title status reports), including a detailed 21
335335 description of— 22
336336 (i) requests that were and were not 23
337337 successfully completed by the applicable 24
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341341 deadline described in subsection (a) by 1
342342 each applicable Bureau office; and 2
343343 (ii) the reasons for each applicable 3
344344 Bureau office not meeting any applicable 4
345345 deadlines; and 5
346346 (B) the length of time needed by each ap-6
347347 plicable Bureau office during the most recent 7
348348 calendar year to provide the notices required 8
349349 under subsection (b)(1). 9
350350 (2) R
351351 EQUIREMENT.—In submitting the report 10
352352 required under paragraph (1), the Director shall 11
353353 maintain the confidentiality of personally identifiable 12
354354 information of the parties involved in requesting the 13
355355 completion of residential leasehold mortgage pack-14
356356 ages, business leasehold mortgage packages, land 15
357357 mortgage packages, and right-of-way document 16
358358 packages (including any corresponding first certified 17
359359 title status reports and subsequent certified title sta-18
360360 tus reports). 19
361361 (f) GAO S
362362 TUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the 20
363363 date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 21
364364 of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 22
365365 Indian Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Nat-23
366366 ural Resources of the House of Representatives a report 24
367367 that includes— 25
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371371 (1) an evaluation of the need for residential 1
372372 leasehold mortgage packages, business leasehold 2
373373 mortgage packages, land mortgage packages, and 3
374374 right-of-way document packages of each Indian 4
375375 Tribe to be digitized for the purpose of streamlining 5
376376 and expediting the completion of mortgage packages 6
377377 for residential mortgages on Indian land (including 7
378378 the corresponding first certified title status reports 8
379379 and subsequent certified title status reports); and 9
380380 (2) an estimate of the time and total cost nec-10
381381 essary for Indian Tribes to digitize the records de-11
382382 scribed in paragraph (1), in conjunction with assist-12
383383 ance in that digitization from the Bureau. 13
384384 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF REALTY OMBUDSMAN POSI-14
385385 TION. 15
386386 (a) I
387387 NGENERAL.—The Director shall establish with-16
388388 in the Division of Real Estate Services of the Bureau the 17
389389 position of Realty Ombudsman, who shall report directly 18
390390 to the Secretary of the Interior. 19
391391 (b) F
392392 UNCTIONS.—The Realty Ombudsman shall— 20
393393 (1) ensure that the applicable Bureau offices 21
394394 are meeting the mortgage review and processing 22
395395 deadlines established by section 3(a); 23
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398398 •HR 2130 IH
399399 (2) ensure that the applicable Bureau offices 1
400400 comply with the notices required under subsections 2
401401 (a) and (b) of section 3; 3
402402 (3) serve as a liaison to other Federal agencies, 4
403403 including by— 5
404404 (A) ensuring the Bureau is responsive to 6
405405 all of the inquiries from the relevant Federal 7
406406 agencies; and 8
407407 (B) helping to facilitate communications 9
408408 between the relevant Federal agencies and the 10
409409 Bureau on matters relating to mortgages on In-11
410410 dian land; 12
411411 (4) receive inquiries, questions, and complaints 13
412412 directly from Indian Tribes, members of Indian 14
413413 Tribes, and lenders in regard to executed residential 15
414414 leasehold mortgages, business leasehold mortgages, 16
415415 land mortgages, or right-of-way documents; and 17
416416 (5) serve as the intermediary between the In-18
417417 dian Tribes, members of Indian Tribes, and lenders 19
418418 and the Bureau in responding to inquiries and ques-20
419419 tions and resolving complaints. 21
420420 Æ
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