HR 197 United States House · 119th Congress

Lake Winnibigoshish Land Exchange Act of 2025

HR 197, the Lake Winnibigoshish Land Exchange Act of 2025, authorizes a land exchange between a Minnesota land company (BWLT) and the federal government. It allows BWLT to transfer 36.7 acres of private land to the U.S. in exchange for 17.5 acres of federal land in Itasca County, with the transferred federal land added to the Chippewa National Forest. The exchange requires equal land value (with cash adjustments if needed), a mandatory environmental assessment by BWLT, and approval of title and appraisals meeting federal standards. The bill ensures the transaction is finalized within one year of BWLT’s offer, with BWLT covering all closing costs and survey expenses.

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Oct 2025

House Passage

Jan 2025

Senate Passage

President

Introduced Jan 3, 2025 Last action Oct 27, 2025

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced in House → Engrossed in House · 2 edits · Jan 21, 2025

MINOR

The changes between the Introduced in House and Engrossed in House versions of HR 197 are entirely formatting corrections. Spaces were added after section and paragraph numbers (e.g., '2.Definitions' became ' 2.Definitions') and blank lines were inserted between subsections for readability. No substantive policy, eligibility, funding, or scope changes were made.

TECHNICAL

Added a space after section and paragraph numbers throughout the bill (e.g., '(1)BWLT' became ' (1)BWLT') for consistent formatting.

Inserted blank lines between subsections and after introductory sentences to improve visual separation of provisions.

Floor votes

How they voted

This bill passed the House by voice vote (no roll call recorded).

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Oct 27, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Reported by Senator Boozman without amendment. Without written report.

upper

Oct 21, 2025

Upper · Passed

Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. Ordered to be reported without amendment favorably.

upper

Jan 22, 2025

Committee

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry.

upper

Jan 21, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H242-243)

lower

Jan 3, 2025

Committee

Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

lower

Jan 3, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

1 primary · 2 co-sponsors