September 19, 2026.
The Greenville Rancheria of Maidu Indians has sued the United States Department of Health and Human Services and the Indian Health Service in federal court, alleging that federal officials unlawfully reduced approximately $2.37 million in contract support costs requested by the tribe to less than $100,000.
The lawsuit was filed September 16, 2026, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The case is Greenville Rancheria v. United States Department of Health and Human Services, et al., Case Number 1:2026cv03241. United States District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich is assigned to the case.
The defendants named in the lawsuit are the United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Indian Health Service, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., in his official capacity as Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Beverly Miller. Beverly Miller, was serving as the Indian Health Service California Area Director during the period relevant to the dispute.
According to the federal court docket, the tribe's complaint alleges violations of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, an unlawful partial denial of contract support funding, claims for money damages for unpaid contract support costs under the Contract Disputes Act, and requests for declaratory, injunctive and other relief.
Funding dispute follows Supreme Court decision.
The lawsuit concerns contract support costs associated with the tribe's operation of federal health programs.
Contract support costs are designed to cover certain reasonable expenses tribal governments incur when they assume responsibility for federal programs through self-determination contracts. Federal law distinguishes these costs from the basic amount that the federal government would have spent operating the program itself.
The issue was addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court in a 2024 case involving the San Carlos Apache Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe.
In Becerra v. San Carlos Apache Tribe, the Supreme Court held that the Indian Health Service must pay eligible contract support costs that tribes incur when they collect and spend program income to further health programs transferred to them under self-determination contracts.
The Court explained that tribal governments can incur administrative, overhead and other expenses when operating health programs that the Indian Health Service would not incur when operating those programs itself. Congress established contract support funding to address those costs.
Greenville Rancheria operates a regional health system.
The Greenville Rancheria of Maidu Indians is a federally recognized Maidu tribe in Northern California.
The tribe's government is currently located in Greenville, California. The tribe's official website places the Greenville Rancheria in Indian Valley, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, approximately three miles east of Greenville.
The health system operates across both Plumas County and Tehama County. The communities served by the tribal health care program include Canyon Dam, Chester, Corning, Cottonwood, Crescent Mills, Gerber, Greenville, Greenville Ranch, Los Molinos, Plumas County, Portola, Quincy, Red Bluff, Taylorsville, eastern Tehama County and Vina.
The tribe's health system provides medical, mental health and dental services in Greenville and Red Bluff. Both U.S. First Nations Members along with the entire community are welcome to receive services.
Thousands of patients are registered.
The California Rural Indian Health Board currently lists 2,729 registered Tribal Member Patients for the Greenville Rancheria Tribal Health Program and 1,269 active patients. Those numbers should not be interpreted as the total number of people served by the entire health system. They specifically identify registered and active Tribal Member Patients in the California Rural Indian Health Board's patient-service information.
Tribe's history includes termination and restoration of federal recognition.
According to the Greenville Rancheria, the tribe's history dates to the Maidu people who lived throughout the Feather River and Sacramento River regions of Northern California.
The federal government terminated the Greenville Rancheria's federal recognition in 1958 under the California Rancheria Act.
The tribe regained federal recognition in 1983 and elected its first Tribal Council following restoration of recognition in 1988, according to the tribe's history.
The termination period resulted in the loss of its former federal trust land base. Its current tribal government and health operations are spread between the Greenville and Red Bluff areas.
What the lawsuit claims.
The federal docket identifies five principal claims in the complaint.
They include an alleged violation of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act; an alleged unlawful partial denial of contract support cost funding; a claim for money damages for unpaid contract support costs under the Contract Disputes Act; requests for declaratory and injunctive relief; and a request for mandamus and other appropriate relief under federal law.
The case could become another test of how federal agencies apply the contract support provisions of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act following the Supreme Court's 2024 decision.
