Alaska Native Landless Equity Act

# Alaska Native Landless Equity Act Summary **What the Bill Does:** The Alaska Native Landless Equity Act would allow five Southeast Alaska Native communities—Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell—to officially establish themselves as Alaska Native urban corporations and receive federal land as settlement entitlements. The Department of the Interior would transfer specified lands to each community, along with roads, trails, and other facilities on that land. The bill also allows each community to create a settlement trust to support the health, education, and welfare of local Alaska Native residents and preserve their cultural resources. **Who It Affects:** The bill directly impacts Alaska Native residents of these five Southeast Alaska communities, who would gain organized corporate status and land ownership. It also affects the regional Alaska Native corporation for Southeast Alaska, which would receive the subsurface rights (mineral and resource rights below the surface) to the conveyed lands.

More broadly, it touches federal land management and Interior Department operations. **Key Provisions and Status:** A notable aspect of the bill is that it addresses Alaska Native communities that were historically left out of earlier Alaska Native land settlement programs. Currently, the bill is in committee and has not yet been voted on by Congress. As sponsored by Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), it represents an attempt to rectify historical inequities in federal land distribution to Alaska Native groups.