Troy Downing

**Preventing Aliens Through Rivers or Land Act or the PATROL Act** This bill prohibits the Department of Justice (DOJ) from bringing certain civil actions against a state for building a physical structure impacting navigable waters along the U.S. border for security purposes. Specifically, the DOJ is prohibited from bringing an action for (1) the construction of a bridge, causeway, dam, dike, or other structure over or in a port, harbor, or other navigable water of the United States without federal approval; or (2) the creation of any obstruction to the navigable capacity of waters of the United States without federal approval.

**1071 Repeal to Protect Small Business Lending Act** This bill repeals the statute that requires financial institutions to collect data regarding applications for women-owned, minority-owned, or small business loans. Currently, financial institutions must collect and report to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau information on (1) how many applications were received; (2) the disposition of each application; (3) the type of loan; (4) the amount applied for; (5) the amount approved; and (6) each applicant’s census tract, revenue, race, sex, and ethnicity.

**Aerial Firefighting Enhancement Act of 2025** This bill reauthorizes the Department of Defense to sell its excess aircraft and aircraft parts that are acceptable for commercial sale for wildfire suppression purposes. Such authority begins October 1, 2025, and ends October 1, 2035. The bill also provides that such aircraft may be used to deliver water by air in order to suppress wildfire (the previous authority only provided for the delivery of fire retardant). The bill removes the previous limitation on providing international wildfire suppression assistance with such purchased aircraft.

**No User Fees for Gun Owners Act** This bill prohibits a state or local government from imposing any insurance requirement, tax, user fee, or similar charge on the manufacture, import, acquisition, transfer, or continued ownership of a firearm or ammunition. The bill includes an exception for a generally applicable sales tax that is assessed against firearms or ammunition in the same proportion to which the tax applies to other goods or services.

**Northern Montana Water Security Act of 2025** This bill modifies and ratifies a specified water rights settlement agreement entered into by the United States, Montana, and the Fort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana (i.e., the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine Tribes). The bill also authorizes wastewater infrastructure on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana. The bill requires the community's water rights to be held in trust for the benefit of the community and its allottees. The community must enact a tribal water code to regulate its water rights. Additionally, the bill authorizes the Department of the Interior and the Department of Agriculture (as applicable) to enter negotiations with Montana to exchange certain state lands for federal lands to be held in trust for the benefit of the community. The bill prohibits gaming on the land taken into trust. The bill also * establishes the Aaniiih Nakoda Settlement Trust Fund (and specified accounts) for purposes of carrying out this bill, * establishes the Fort Belknap Indian Community Water Settlement Implementation Fund (and specified accounts) for purposes of carrying out this bill, and * provides funding for specified accounts established by the bill. The bill also authorizes Interior to plan, design, construct, operate, maintain, and replace community water distribution and wastewater treatment facilities for the Blackfeet Tribe of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation of Montana.

**Jeremy and Angel Seay and Sergeant Brandon Mendoza Protect Our Communities from DUIs Act of 2025** This bill makes driving while intoxicated or impaired a ground for (1) barring a non-U.S. national (*alien* under federal law) from admission into the United States, or (2) deporting the individual. The bar to admission shall apply to an individual who has been convicted of the offense or has admitted to having committed the acts which constitute the elements of the offense. As a ground for deportability, the individual must have been convicted of the offense.

**Pet and Livestock Protection Act of 2025** This bill directs the Department of the Interior to remove protections for the gray wolf under the Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA). Specifically, the bill requires Interior to reissue the final rule titled *Endangered and Threatened Wildlife and Plants; Removing the Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) From the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife* and published on November 3, 2020. The rule removed the gray wolf in the lower 48 United States, except for the Mexican wolf (*C. l. baileyi*) subspecies, from the endangered and threatened species list. However, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California vacated the rule on February 10, 2022. As a result, the gray wolf reattained the protection status it had prior to the rule's promulgation. The bill also prohibits the reissuance of the rule from being subject to judicial review.

**Rural Small Business Resilience Act** This bill requires the Small Business Administration's Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience to take necessary actions to ensure that individuals located in rural areas where a disaster has been declared have full access to disaster assistance. Such actions include providing targeted outreach and marketing materials to such individuals.

**Stop Illegal Reentry Act** This bill increases criminal penalties for certain non-U.S. nationals (*aliens* under federal law) who illegally reenter the United States after removal or exclusion. Generally, an individual who had been denied entry into or removed from the United States and who later enters or attempts to enter the United States without prior approval from the Department of Homeland Security shall be fined, imprisoned for up to five years, or both. Current law requires a fine, imprisonment for up to two years, or both, for such an individual. An individual who had been denied entry or removed three or more times and who later enters or attempts to enter the United States shall be fined, imprisoned for up to 10 years, or both. An individual who was convicted of an aggravated felony or convicted at least two times before removal or departure and who subsequently enters or tries to enter the United States shall be imprisoned at least 5 years and for up to 20 years and may also be fined. Currently, there is no minimum term of imprisonment for an individual who reenters after a conviction for an aggravated felony, and there are no criminal penalties for a reentering individual who had been convicted at least two times (other than the penalties for illegal reentry generally).

**Protect Small Businesses from Excessive Paperwork Act of 2025** This bill extends the deadline for certain companies that are required to file beneficial ownership information with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). Specifically, the bill requires companies formed or registered before January 1, 2024, to submit this information to FinCEN by January 1, 2026, instead of by January 1, 2025, as required under current regulations.

**Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Amendments Act of 2025** This bill revises the water rights settlement agreement entered into by the Crow Tribe of Montana and Montana. The Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 ratified, authorized, and confirmed the water rights compact between the tribe and Montana. Among other provisions, this settlement act authorized the Bureau of Reclamation to plan, design and construct the following two major projects on the Crow Reservation: (1) the rehabilitation and improvement of the Crow Irrigation Project (CIP); and (2) the planning, design, and construction of the MR&I System (the municipal, rural, and industrial water system of the Crow Reservation). Among other provisions, the bill revises the settlement act to * replace references to the *MR&I System* with *MR&I Projects*;  * establish a nontrust, interest-bearing account (to be known as the Crow CIP Implementation Account) to allow Reclamation to continue to work on the rehabilitation of the CIP;  * create a new MR&I Projects Account, through which the tribe must use funds for activities related to water production, treatment, or delivery infrastructure; and * extend by five years (to 2030) the period during which the tribe has the exclusive right to construct hydropower facilities on the Yellowtail Afterbay Dam in Montana.

**Crow Revenue Act** This bill addresses the exchange of mineral interests in Montana involving the federal government, the Crow Tribe of Montana, and a private party. Specifically, the bill requires  * the Department of the Interior to accept the relinquishment of a specified federal coal lease associated with the Bull Mountains Mine near Roundup, Montana (the current operator of the mine is Signal Peak Energy);  * the Joe and Barbara Hope Mineral Trust (Hope Family Trust) to convey approximately 4,660 acres of subsurface mineral interests located within the boundaries of the Crow Indian Reservation in Big Horn County, Montana, to the tribe; and  * Interior to convey approximately 4,530 acres of subsurface mineral interests and 940 acres of surface interests located in Musselshell County, Montana, to the Hope Family Trust.  Prior to these conveyances, the tribe must notify Interior that the tribe and the Hope Family Trust have agreed on a revenue-sharing formula for the development of the mineral and surface interests in Musselshell County, Montana. The mineral interests conveyed by the Hope Family Trust to the tribe shall be held in trust by the United States for the benefit of the tribe, upon the tribe's request. These mineral interests shall not be subject to state or local taxation.