I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 165
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.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY3, 2025
Mr. J
OHNSONof South Dakota introduced the following bill; which was
referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wounded Knee Mas-4
sacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 6
In this Act: 7
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Jan 30, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H165.IH H165
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 2
•HR 165 IH
(1) RESTRICTED FEE STATUS .—The term ‘‘re-1
stricted fee status’’ means a status in which the 2
Tribal land— 3
(A) shall continue to be owned by the 4
Tribes; 5
(B) shall be part of the Pine Ridge Indian 6
Reservation and expressly made subject to the 7
civil and criminal jurisdiction of the Oglala 8
Sioux Tribe; 9
(C) shall not be transferred without the 10
consent of Congress and the Tribes; 11
(D) shall not be subject to taxation by a 12
State or local government; and 13
(E) shall not be subject to any provision of 14
law providing for the review or approval by the 15
Secretary of the Interior before the Tribes may 16
use the land for any purpose as allowed by the 17
document titled ‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala 18
Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux 19
Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 2022, directly, or 20
through agreement with another party. 21
(2) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 22
the Secretary of the Interior. 23
(3) T
RIBAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Tribal land’’ 24
means the approximately 40 acres (including the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Jan 30, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H165.IH H165
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 3
•HR 165 IH
surface and subsurface estate, and mineral estate, 1
and any and all improvements, structures, and per-2
sonal property on those acres) on the Pine Ridge In-3
dian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County, at Rural 4
County Road 4, Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and 5
generally depicted as ‘‘Area of Interest’’ on the map 6
entitled ‘‘Wounded Knee Sacred Site and Memorial 7
Land’’ and dated October 26, 2022, which is a seg-8
ment of the December 29, 1890, Wounded Knee 9
Massacre site. 10
(4) T
RIBES.—The term ‘‘Tribes’’ means the 11
Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 12
of the Cheyenne River Reservation, both tribes being 13
among the constituent tribes of the Great Sioux Na-14
tion and signatories to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 15
1868 between the United States of America and the 16
Great Sioux Nation, 15 Stat. 635. 17
SEC. 3. LAND HELD IN RESTRICTED FEE STATUS BY THE 18
TRIBES. 19
(a) A
CTION BYSECRETARY.—Not later than 365 20
days after enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 21
(1) complete all actions, including documenta-22
tion and minor corrections to the survey and legal 23
description of Tribal land, necessary for the Tribal 24
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Jan 30, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H165.IH H165
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 4
•HR 165 IH
land to be held by the Tribes in restricted fee status; 1
and 2
(2) appropriately assign each applicable private 3
and municipal utility and service right or agreement 4
with regard to the Tribal land. 5
(b) C
ONDITIONS.— 6
(1) F
EDERAL LAWS RELATING TO INDIAN 7
LAND.—Except as otherwise provided in this Act, 8
the Tribal land shall be subject to Federal laws re-9
lating to Indian country, as defined by section 1151 10
of title 18, United States Code and protected by the 11
restriction against alienation in section 177 of title 12
25, United States Code. 13
(2) U
SE OF LAND.—The Tribal land shall be 14
used for the purposes allowed by the document titled 15
‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the 16
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 17
2022. 18
(3) E
NCUMBRANCES AND AGREEMENTS .—The 19
Tribal land shall remain subject to any private or 20
municipal encumbrance, right-of-way, restriction, 21
easement of record, or utility service agreement in 22
effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. 23
(4) G
AMING.—Pursuant to the document titled 24
‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the 25
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Jan 30, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H165.IH H165
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB 5
•HR 165 IH
Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 1
2022, the Tribal land shall not be used for gaming 2
activity under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act 3
(25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). 4
Æ
VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:32 Jan 30, 2025 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H165.IH H165
kjohnson on DSK7ZCZBW3PROD with $$_JOB