Law360 (June 3, 2025, 5:44 PM EDT) — A trio of Washington state federal lawmakers has reintroduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives that would fast-track the process for tribal nations to apply for resources to manage the impact of extreme weather and natural disasters, and address their environmental resiliency and relocation goals.
The Tribal Emergency Response Resources Act aims to streamline tribes’ requests for resources and assistance into one program under the U.S. Department of the Interior, according to a Monday statement from U.S. Rep. Emily Randall, D-Wash.
Randall is sponsoring the legislation, reintroduced on Monday, alongside Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., and Mike Simpson, R-Idaho.
According to the bill, as natural disasters increase in frequency and severity across the country, Indigenous nations are experiencing needs for relocation and federal resources on reservation lands.
To obtain these resources, tribes must navigate at least a dozen federal agencies to apply for assistance, including the U.S. Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, and Health and Human Services — each with its own set of application standards, the legislation says.
“Climate change is already impacting all Americans,” Randall said in a Monday statement. “Right here at home, we have seen rising tides, wildfires and dwindling natural resources as a consequence. No one knows this better than tribal nations, who have been stewards of this land since time immemorial. Our promise to safeguard tribal sovereignty must extend long into the future — which means ensuring tribal nations have the resources necessary to navigate the changing climate.”
The bill was first introduced in April 2024, according to legislative records, but stalled in the House Committee on Natural Resources. It has the backing of several Indigenous nations and organizations.
In a Monday statement, the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe said its Pacific Coast reservation is under constant threat of slow-moving natural disasters and that the land will soon be entirely underwater because of the loss of 100 to 130 feet of coastline each year.
To protect its community and way of life, the tribe said it has purchased 1,200 acres of higher-elevation land adjacent to its reservation to establish a new relocation project — an investment the federal government has significantly backed.
“However, bureaucratic red tape has significantly hampered our progress. The TERRA Act would eliminate this administrative overreach by minimizing reporting requirements, eliminating redundancies, and streamlining government efficiency so tribal nations like us can prepare, mitigate, and respond to natural disasters efficiently and effectively,” it stated Monday.
According to the United South and Eastern Tribes Sovereignty Protection Fund, there are few federal resources dedicated to long-term tribal climate and disaster planning, adaptation and mitigation.
The nonprofit said Monday it is calling on members of Congress to create a comprehensive federal program to coordinate tribal environmental resiliency efforts.
Similar to the 1992 Indian Employment, Training and Related Services Demonstration Act, also known as the 477 Program, the TERRA Act would remove needless administrative barriers to expedite response efforts, it said.
The 477 Program allows federally recognized tribes and Alaskan Native corporations to combine various grant programs for employment, training and other services into a single reporting system.
“We fully support efforts that increase tribal nations’ access to federal funding and programs in a manner that increases our ability to exercise our sovereignty and determine the best way to utilize these funds for our communities. Our tribal leaders expect Congress to uphold its trust and treaty obligations by enacting this and other bills to support our efforts to protect our homelands and cultural lifeways in perpetuity,” the protection fund said in a Monday statement.
