Loading bill breakdown…
S. 1363119th CongressPublic Lands and Natural Resources
New Mexico Land Grant-Mercedes Historical or Traditional Use Cooperation and Coordination Act
Sponsored by Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-NM) · 0 active
Latest action: Held at the desk.
Where it standsBefore the Senate11 senators score as swing votes
Passed Senate
- Senate: passedSep 23, 2026
- House: next
- President: not yet
Summary
, via Congress.govNew Mexico Land Grant-Mercedes Historical or Traditional Use Cooperation and Coordination Act
This bill directs the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Forest Service to enter a memorandum of understanding with the New Mexico Land Grant Council to describe existing processes that land grants-mercedes may use to obtain authorization for historical, traditional, or other uses of federal lands.
Read full summaryHide full summary
Land grants-mercedes were created when Spain and Mexico issued grants of land to communities or individuals. When the United States acquired the land, including New Mexico, a process was created for adjudicating and recognizing these property rights. During that process, most land grants-mercedes lands became federal lands. Today, New Mexico recognizes 27 community land grants-mercedes as political subdivisions.
When entering into the memorandum of understanding, the BLM and the Forest Service must consult with Indian tribes.
The memorandum of understanding must provide for (1) enhanced cooperation and coordination between the BLM, the Forest Service, and qualified land grants-mercedes; and (2) subsidiary agreements with certain land grants-mercedes for specific projects.
Additionally, the bill outlines what the memorandum of understanding must describe, such as the procedures for notice and comments on land management planning decisions.
Finally, the BLM and the Forest Service must include in land use plans a section that evaluates the impact of other uses in the plan on historical or traditional uses by land grants-mercedes.
Committees and subjects
Committees
- Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources · SenateReported by · Markup by · Referred to
- Public Lands, Forests, and Mining · SenateHearings by (subcommittee)
Subjects
- Advisory bodies
- Cemeteries and funerals
- Government information and archives
- Infrastructure development
- Land use and conservation
- Licensing and registrations
- Livestock
- New Mexico
- Roads and highways
- User charges and fees
- Water storage
Model
Directional: count only breaks toward the other partyWhy do scores change?v3default (selected)v2 model swing-v2
How the Senate breaks down
- 11Swing 70–100
- 69Middle 30–70
- 20Entrenched 0–30
Members fall into . All 100 senators have enough data to score.
Key players in the Senate
Ranked by swing score, 0–100 · swing-v3, directional: only movement toward the other party counts, so members who sit further from the center than their party no longer score as swing votes.
Bars show each input from 0 to 100: ideology gap, scorecard gap, , and the . is the seat’s partisan lean, and shows how much of the input data a score has.
Similar past votes, Senate
Earlier behind swing-v3’s inputLoading similar votes
Cosponsors
0 activeThis bill has no cosponsors.
How the swing score works
Ideology gapHow far a member’s DW-NOMINATE voting score sits from their party’s median in the same chamber.
Scorecard gapHow far their Heritage Action and LCV ratings stray from their party’s average, using the groups’ votes on similar bills where available.
Cross-pressureHow strongly their district or state leans toward the other party, from our own computed partisan lean.
Similar votesHow often they voted against their own party on earlier roll calls about this bill or similar ones.
Committee bonusMembers of the committees handling the bill decide whether it moves, so they get a boost.
Cosponsor checkThe sponsor and active cosponsors have already committed, so they drop toward entrenched.
