II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 723
To require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and complete all mortgage
packages associated with residential and business mortgages on Indian
land by certain deadlines, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
FEBRUARY25, 2025
Mr. T
HUNE(for himself, Ms. SMITH, and Mr. ROUNDS) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on In-
dian Affairs
A BILL
To require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and
complete all mortgage packages associated with residen-
tial and business mortgages on Indian land by certain
deadlines, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tribal Trust Land 4
Homeownership Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
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(1) APPLICABLE BUREAU OFFICE .—The term 1
‘‘applicable Bureau office’’ means— 2
(A) a Regional office of the Bureau; 3
(B) an Agency office of the Bureau; or 4
(C) a Land Titles and Records Office of 5
the Bureau. 6
(2) B
UREAU.—The term ‘‘Bureau’’ means the 7
Bureau of Indian Affairs. 8
(3) D
IRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 9
the Director of the Bureau. 10
(4) F
IRST CERTIFIED TITLE STATUS REPORT .— 11
The term ‘‘first certified title status report’’ means 12
the title status report needed to verify title status on 13
Indian land. 14
(5) I
NDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian land’’ 15
has the meaning given the term in section 162.003 16
of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect 17
on the date of enactment of this Act). 18
(6) L
AND MORTGAGE.—The term ‘‘land mort-19
gage’’ means a mortgage obtained by an individual 20
Indian who owns a tract of trust land for the pur-21
pose of— 22
(A) home acquisition; 23
(B) home construction; 24
(C) home improvements; or 25
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(D) economic development. 1
(7) L
EASEHOLD MORTGAGE .—The term ‘‘lease-2
hold mortgage’’ means a mortgage, deed of trust, or 3
other instrument that pledges the leasehold interest 4
of a lessee as security for a debt or other obligation 5
owed by the lessee to a lender or other mortgagee. 6
(8) M
ORTGAGE PACKAGE .—The term ‘‘mort-7
gage package’’ means a proposed residential lease-8
hold mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, land 9
mortgage, or right-of-way document submitted to an 10
applicable Bureau office under section 3(a)(1). 11
(9) R
ELEVANT FEDERAL AGENCY .—The term 12
‘‘relevant Federal agency’’ means any of the fol-13
lowing Federal agencies that guarantee or make di-14
rect mortgage loans on Indian land: 15
(A) The Department of Agriculture. 16
(B) The Department of Housing and 17
Urban Development. 18
(C) The Department of Veterans Affairs. 19
(10) R
IGHT-OF-WAY DOCUMENT .—The term 20
‘‘right-of-way document’’ has the meaning given the 21
term in section 169.2 of title 25, Code of Federal 22
Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment 23
of this Act). 24
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(11) SUBSEQUENT CERTIFIED TITLE STATUS 1
REPORT.—The term ‘‘subsequent certified title sta-2
tus report’’ means the title status report needed to 3
identify any liens against a residential, business, or 4
land lease on Indian land. 5
SEC. 3. MORTGAGE REVIEW AND PROCESSING. 6
(a) R
EVIEW ANDPROCESSINGDEADLINES.— 7
(1) I
N GENERAL.—As soon as practicable after 8
receiving a proposed residential leasehold mortgage, 9
business leasehold mortgage, land mortgage, or 10
right-of-way document, the applicable Bureau office 11
shall notify the lender that the proposed residential 12
leasehold mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, or 13
right-of-way document has been received. 14
(2) P
RELIMINARY REVIEW.— 15
(A) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 10 cal-16
endar days after receipt of a proposed residen-17
tial leasehold mortgage, business leasehold 18
mortgage, land mortgage, or right-of-way docu-19
ment, the applicable Bureau office shall conduct 20
and complete a preliminary review of the resi-21
dential leasehold mortgage, business leasehold 22
mortgage, land mortgage, or right-of-way docu-23
ment to verify that all required documents are 24
included. 25
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(B) INCOMPLETE DOCUMENTS .—As soon 1
as practicable, but not more than 2 calendar 2
days, after finding that any required documents 3
are missing under subparagraph (A), the appli-4
cable Bureau office shall notify the lender of 5
the missing documents. 6
(3) A
PPROVAL OR DISAPPROVAL .— 7
(A) L
EASEHOLD MORTGAGES .—Not later 8
than 20 calendar days after receipt of a com-9
plete executed residential leasehold mortgage or 10
business leasehold mortgage, proof of required 11
consents, and other required documentation, the 12
applicable Bureau office shall approve or dis-13
approve the residential leasehold mortgage or 14
business leasehold mortgage. 15
(B) R
IGHT-OF-WAY DOCUMENTS .—Not 16
later than 30 calendar days after receipt of a 17
complete executed right-of-way document, proof 18
of required consents, and other required docu-19
mentation, the applicable Bureau office shall 20
approve or disapprove the right-of-way docu-21
ment. 22
(C) L
AND MORTGAGES.—Not later than 30 23
calendar days after receipt of a complete exe-24
cuted land mortgage, proof of required con-25
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sents, and other required documentation, the 1
applicable Bureau office shall approve or dis-2
approve the land mortgage. 3
(D) R
EQUIREMENTS.—The determination 4
of whether to approve or disapprove a residen-5
tial leasehold mortgage or business leasehold 6
mortgage under subparagraph (A), a right-of- 7
way document under subparagraph (B), or a 8
land mortgage under subparagraph (C)— 9
(i) shall be in writing; and 10
(ii) in the case of a determination to 11
disapprove a residential leasehold mort-12
gage, business leasehold mortgage, right- 13
of-way document, or land mortgage shall, 14
state the basis for the determination. 15
(E) A
PPLICATION.—This paragraph shall 16
not apply to a residential leasehold mortgage or 17
business leasehold mortgage with respect to In-18
dian land in cases in which the applicant for 19
the residential leasehold mortgage or business 20
leasehold mortgage is an Indian tribe (as de-21
fined in subsection (d) of the first section of the 22
Act of 1955 (69 Stat. 539, chapter 615; 126 23
Stat. 1150; 25 U.S.C. 415(d))) that has been 24
approved for leasing under subsection (h) of 25
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that section (69 Stat. 539, chapter 615; 126 1
Stat. 1151; 25 U.S.C. 415(h)). 2
(4) C
ERTIFIED TITLE STATUS REPORTS .— 3
(A) C
OMPLETION OF REPORTS .— 4
(i) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than 10 5
calendar days after the applicable Bureau 6
office approves a residential leasehold 7
mortgage, business leasehold mortgage, 8
land mortgage, or right-of-way document 9
under paragraph (3), the applicable Bu-10
reau office shall complete the processing 11
of, as applicable— 12
(I) a first certified title status re-13
port, if a first certified title status re-14
port was not completed prior to the 15
approval of the residential leasehold 16
mortgage, business leasehold mort-17
gage, land mortgage, or right-of-way 18
document; and 19
(II) a subsequent certified title 20
status report. 21
(ii) R
EQUESTS FOR FIRST CERTIFIED 22
TITLE STATUS REPORTS .—Notwith-23
standing clause (i), not later than 14 cal-24
endar days after the applicable Bureau of-25
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fice receives a request for a first certified 1
title status report from an applicant for a 2
residential leasehold mortgage, business 3
leasehold mortgage, land mortgage, or 4
right-of-way document under paragraph 5
(1), the applicable Bureau office shall com-6
plete the processing of the first certified 7
title status report. 8
(B) N
OTICE.— 9
(i) I
N GENERAL.—As soon as prac-10
ticable after completion of the processing 11
of, as applicable, a first certified title sta-12
tus report or a subsequent certified title 13
status report under subparagraph (A), but 14
by not later than the applicable deadline 15
described in that subparagraph, the appli-16
cable Bureau office shall give notice of the 17
completion to the lender. 18
(ii) F
ORM OF NOTICE.—The applica-19
ble Bureau office shall give notice under 20
clause (i)— 21
(I) electronically through secure, 22
encryption software; and 23
(II) through the United States 24
mail. 25
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(iii) OPTION TO OPT OUT.—The lend-1
er may opt out of receiving notice elec-2
tronically under clause (ii)(I). 3
(b) N
OTICES.— 4
(1) I
N GENERAL.—If the applicable Bureau of-5
fice does not complete the review and processing of 6
mortgage packages under subsection (a) (including 7
any corresponding first certified title status report 8
or subsequent certified title status report under 9
paragraph (4) of that subsection) by the applicable 10
deadline described in that subsection, immediately 11
after missing the deadline, the applicable Bureau of-12
fice shall provide notice of the delay in review and 13
processing to— 14
(A) the party that submitted the mortgage 15
package or requested the first certified title sta-16
tus report; and 17
(B) the lender for which the mortgage 18
package (including any corresponding first cer-19
tified title status report or subsequent certified 20
title status report) is being requested. 21
(2) R
EQUESTS FOR UPDATES .—In addition to 22
providing the notices required under paragraph (1), 23
not later than 2 calendar days after receiving a rel-24
evant inquiry with respect to a submitted mortgage 25
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package from the party that submitted the mortgage 1
package or the lender for which the mortgage pack-2
age (including any corresponding first certified title 3
status report or subsequent certified title status re-4
port) is being requested or an inquiry with respect 5
to a requested first certified title status report from 6
the party that requested the first certified title sta-7
tus report, the applicable Bureau office shall re-8
spond to the inquiry. 9
(c) D
ELIVERY OFFIRST ANDSUBSEQUENT CER-10
TIFIEDTITLESTATUSREPORTS.—Notwithstanding any 11
other provision of law, any first certified title status report 12
and any subsequent certified title status report, as appli-13
cable, shall be delivered directly to— 14
(1) the lender; 15
(2) any local or regional agency office of the 16
Bureau that requests the first certified title status 17
report or subsequent certified title status report; 18
(3) in the case of a proposed residential lease-19
hold mortgage or land mortgage, the relevant Fed-20
eral agency that insures or guarantees the loan; and 21
(4) if requested, any individual or entity de-22
scribed in section 150.303 of title 25, Code of Fed-23
eral Regulations (as in effect on the date of enact-24
ment of this Act). 25
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(d) ACCESS TOTRUSTASSET ANDACCOUNTING 1
M
ANAGEMENT SYSTEM(TAAMS).—Beginning on the 2
date of enactment of this Act, the relevant Federal agen-3
cies and Indian Tribes shall have read-only access to por-4
tals containing the relevant land documents from the 5
Trust Asset and Accounting Management System (com-6
monly known as ‘‘TAAMS’’) maintained by the Bureau. 7
(e) A
NNUALREPORT.— 8
(1) I
N GENERAL.—Not later than March 1 of 9
each calendar year, the Director shall submit to the 10
Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate and the 11
Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 12
Representatives a report describing— 13
(A) for the most recent calendar year, the 14
number of requests received to complete resi-15
dential leasehold mortgage packages, business 16
leasehold mortgage packages, land mortgage 17
packages, and right-of-way document packages 18
(including any requests for corresponding first 19
certified title status reports and subsequent cer-20
tified title status reports), including a detailed 21
description of— 22
(i) requests that were and were not 23
successfully completed by the applicable 24
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deadline described in subsection (a) by 1
each applicable Bureau office; and 2
(ii) the reasons for each applicable 3
Bureau office not meeting any applicable 4
deadlines; and 5
(B) the length of time needed by each ap-6
plicable Bureau office during the most recent 7
calendar year to provide the notices required 8
under subsection (b)(1). 9
(2) R
EQUIREMENT.—In submitting the report 10
required under paragraph (1), the Director shall 11
maintain the confidentiality of personally identifiable 12
information of the parties involved in requesting the 13
completion of residential leasehold mortgage pack-14
ages, business leasehold mortgage packages, land 15
mortgage packages, and right-of-way document 16
packages (including any corresponding first certified 17
title status reports and subsequent certified title sta-18
tus reports). 19
(f) GAO S
TUDY.—Not later than 1 year after the 20
date of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General 21
of the United States shall submit to the Committee on 22
Indian Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on Nat-23
ural Resources of the House of Representatives a report 24
that includes— 25
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(1) an evaluation of the need for residential 1
leasehold mortgage packages, business leasehold 2
mortgage packages, land mortgage packages, and 3
right-of-way document packages of each Indian 4
Tribe to be digitized for the purpose of streamlining 5
and expediting the completion of mortgage packages 6
for residential mortgages on Indian land (including 7
the corresponding first certified title status reports 8
and subsequent certified title status reports); and 9
(2) an estimate of the time and total cost nec-10
essary for Indian Tribes to digitize the records de-11
scribed in paragraph (1), in conjunction with assist-12
ance in that digitization from the Bureau. 13
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF REALTY OMBUDSMAN POSI-14
TION. 15
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Director shall establish with-16
in the Division of Real Estate Services of the Bureau the 17
position of Realty Ombudsman, who shall report directly 18
to the Secretary of the Interior. 19
(b) F
UNCTIONS.—The Realty Ombudsman shall— 20
(1) ensure that the applicable Bureau offices 21
are meeting the mortgage review and processing 22
deadlines established by section 3(a); 23
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(2) ensure that the applicable Bureau offices 1
comply with the notices required under subsections 2
(a) and (b) of section 3; 3
(3) serve as a liaison to other Federal agencies, 4
including by— 5
(A) ensuring the Bureau is responsive to 6
all of the inquiries from the relevant Federal 7
agencies; and 8
(B) helping to facilitate communications 9
between the relevant Federal agencies and the 10
Bureau on matters relating to mortgages on In-11
dian land; 12
(4) receive inquiries, questions, and complaints 13
directly from Indian Tribes, members of Indian 14
Tribes, and lenders in regard to executed residential 15
leasehold mortgages, business leasehold mortgages, 16
land mortgages, or right-of-way documents; and 17
(5) serve as the intermediary between the In-18
dian Tribes, members of Indian Tribes, and lenders 19
and the Bureau in responding to inquiries and ques-20
tions and resolving complaints. 21
Æ
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