Wampanoag Tribes Long-Term Leasing Authorization

Current understanding

A bill would amend the Act of August 9, 1955 (the Long-Term Leasing Act) to authorize leases of up to 99 years on the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation and on land held in trust for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah). The 99-year term matches leasing authority already extended to numerous other tribes and is intended to make trust land more usable for housing, commercial development, and long-term financing without requiring case-by-case Secretarial approval. Status: introduced.

Evidence log

• 2026-07-16 — Unlocking Native Lands and Opportunities for Commerce and Key Economic Developments Act of 2025: cross-connection with unlocking-native-lands-commerce-act-s3383: Both fit within the ongoing congressional pattern of loosening federal restrictions on tribal land transactions to enable economic development. (novelty: 2)
• 2026-05-20 — To amend the Act of August 9, 1955 (commonly known as the “Long-Term Leasing Act”), to authorize leases of up to 99 years for land in the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe Reservation and land held in trust for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), and for other purposes: HR681 (introduced) would amend the Long-Term Leasing Act to authorize leases of up to 99 years on Mashpee Wampanoag Reservation land and land held in trust for the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), matching leasing terms extended to numerous other tribes. (novelty: 2)
• 2026-03-04 — To authorize leases of up to 99 years for land held in trust for federally recognized Indian Tribes.: HR5910 (introduced) would generalize 99-year trust-land leasing authority to all federally recognized tribes, which would subsume the tribe-specific Wampanoag amendment if enacted. (novelty: 2)

Open questions

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