119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 165
AN ACT
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions
necessary for certain land to be held in restricted fee
status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River
Sioux Tribe, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 2
•HR 165 EH
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wounded Knee Mas-2
sacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 4
In this Act: 5
(1) R
ESTRICTED FEE STATUS .—The term ‘‘re-6
stricted fee status’’ means a status in which the 7
Tribal land— 8
(A) shall continue to be owned by the 9
Tribes; 10
(B) shall be part of the Pine Ridge Indian 11
Reservation and expressly made subject to the 12
civil and criminal jurisdiction of the Oglala 13
Sioux Tribe; 14
(C) shall not be transferred without the 15
consent of Congress and the Tribes; 16
(D) shall not be subject to taxation by a 17
State or local government; and 18
(E) shall not be subject to any provision of 19
law providing for the review or approval by the 20
Secretary of the Interior before the Tribes may 21
use the land for any purpose as allowed by the 22
document titled ‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala 23
Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux 24
Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 2022, directly, or 25
through agreement with another party. 26 3
•HR 165 EH
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 1
the Secretary of the Interior. 2
(3) T
RIBAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Tribal land’’ 3
means the approximately 40 acres (including the 4
surface and subsurface estate, and mineral estate, 5
and any and all improvements, structures, and per-6
sonal property on those acres) on the Pine Ridge In-7
dian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County, at Rural 8
County Road 4, Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and 9
generally depicted as ‘‘Area of Interest’’ on the map 10
entitled ‘‘Wounded Knee Sacred Site and Memorial 11
Land’’ and dated October 26, 2022, which is a seg-12
ment of the December 29, 1890, Wounded Knee 13
Massacre site. 14
(4) T
RIBES.—The term ‘‘Tribes’’ means the 15
Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 16
of the Cheyenne River Reservation, both tribes being 17
among the constituent tribes of the Great Sioux Na-18
tion and signatories to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 19
1868 between the United States of America and the 20
Great Sioux Nation, 15 Stat. 635. 21
SEC. 3. LAND HELD IN RESTRICTED FEE STATUS BY THE 22
TRIBES. 23
(a) A
CTION BYSECRETARY.—Not later than 365 24
days after enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 25 4
•HR 165 EH
(1) complete all actions, including documenta-1
tion and minor corrections to the survey and legal 2
description of Tribal land, necessary for the Tribal 3
land to be held by the Tribes in restricted fee status; 4
and 5
(2) appropriately assign each applicable private 6
and municipal utility and service right or agreement 7
with regard to the Tribal land. 8
(b) C
ONDITIONS.— 9
(1) F
EDERAL LAWS RELATING TO INDIAN 10
LAND.—Except as otherwise provided in this Act, 11
the Tribal land shall be subject to Federal laws re-12
lating to Indian country, as defined by section 1151 13
of title 18, United States Code and protected by the 14
restriction against alienation in section 177 of title 15
25, United States Code. 16
(2) U
SE OF LAND.—The Tribal land shall be 17
used for the purposes allowed by the document titled 18
‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the 19
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 20
2022. 21
(3) E
NCUMBRANCES AND AGREEMENTS .—The 22
Tribal land shall remain subject to any private or 23
municipal encumbrance, right-of-way, restriction, 24 5
•HR 165 EH
easement of record, or utility service agreement in 1
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. 2
(4) G
AMING.—Pursuant to the document titled 3
‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the 4
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 5
2022, the Tribal land shall not be used for gaming 6
activity under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act 7
(25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). 8
Passed the House of Representatives January 22,
2025.
Attest:
Clerk. 119
TH
CONGRESS
1
ST
S
ESSION
H. R. 165
AN ACT
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete
all actions necessary for certain land to be held
in restricted fee status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe
and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and for other
purposes.