Legislation

---

The following information summarizes the legislation and why RMLP, Shivwits Band Members, and the wider community oppose this Act which would have facilitated Reef's takeover of our land and water, removed our federal voting rights, and subjected us to the authority of Utah State vs Indian courts, thereby rigging judges and juries in Reef's favor.

The misleadingly named Shivwits Band of Utah Paiutes Jurisdictional Clarity Act (S. 1508 and H.R. 3073), sponsored by Utah’s Representative Celeste Maloy and Senator John Curtis, and heavily promoted by Reef Capital, passed the US House of Representees and is now on hold in the Senate Committee for Indian Affairs, thanks to Senator John Curtis and Senators on the Committee. 

As of the end of June 2026, thanks to your generous contributions, we were able to hire a consulting firm and send six Shivwits members to Washington to voice their objections to Reef Capital’s proposed legislation in person. Reef was asking Congress to transfer jurisdiction over the entire Shivwits reservation to the State of Utah, which would effectively terminate its status as a reservation, and to authorize a lease of Shivwits trust lands for up to 99 years, all without the consent of the Shivwits members. 

Senator Curtis had sponsored the bill in the Senate, but when Shivwits members and hundreds of concerned neighbors began flooding his office with calls and emails, he asked for an explanation of the opposition and put the bill "on hold” until the objections could be heard. Shivwits members met in person with key staff members for Senator Curtis, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and presented petitions signed by 87 Shivwits members opposing the legislation and Reef’s proposed golf development on their land.

Thanks to calls and emails from RMLP supporters, most of the Senate staff members were aware of the objections to Reef’s bill. Recognizing the dangerous precedent it could pose for other tribes, the Committee on Indian Affairs had asked the Department of the Interior for input, which it has still not received. Staff members expressed concern over Reef’s attempt to circumvent the county’s water conservation efforts for golf courses. Some characterized Reef’s bill as “a solution in search of a problem”, since jurisdiction over the reservation could be transferred to the State without a special act of Congress if a majority of members voted for it. 

Senator Curtis’s staff members apologized for failing to vet Reef’s lobbyist, who had pretended to represent the Shivwits people when Reef had actually been paying him for over a year. They assured the Shivwits members that their personal visit to the Senate “made all the difference” and added that they considered Reef’s bill “dead in the water.” The Shivwits members have since been assured that the legislation will not be reported out of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee during this session of Congress, and if it or a similar bill reappears in the next Congress Senator Curtis will oppose it.