H.R. 165 — Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act

This section defines four terms for purposes of the Act: (1) restricted fee status, under which the Tribal land remains owned by the Tribes, is part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and subject to the Oglala Sioux Tribe's civil and criminal jurisdiction, cannot be transferred without the consent of Congress and the Tribes, is not subject to state or local taxation, and is not subject to review or approval by the Secretary of the Interior for uses allowed by the October 21, 2022, covenant between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; (2) Secretary, meaning the Secretary of the Interior; (3) Tribal land, meaning approximately 40 acres (including surface, subsurface, mineral estates, improvements, structures, and personal property) on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County at Rural County Road 4, Wounded Knee, South Dakota—generally depicted as the “Area of Interest” on the map entitled “Wounded Knee Sacred Site and Memorial Land” dated October 26, 2022—which is a segment of the December 29, 1890, Wounded Knee Massacre site; and (4) Tribes, meaning the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe of the Cheyenne River Reservation, both constituent tribes of the Great Sioux Nation and signatories to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 (15 Stat. 635).

This section directs the Secretary to complete, not later than 365 days after enactment, all actions—including documentation and minor corrections to the survey and legal description—necessary to hold the Tribal land in restricted fee status and to assign applicable private and municipal utility and service rights or agreements for such land. The Tribal land is subject to (1) federal laws relating to Indian country, as defined in 18 U.S.C. §1151 (i.e., reservations, dependent Indian communities, and allotments), and protected by the alienation restriction in 25 U.S.C. §177; (2) uses allowed by the October 21, 2022, Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; (3) existing private or municipal encumbrances, rights-of-way, restrictions, easements of record, or utility service agreements; and (4) prohibition on gaming under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. §2701 et seq.) pursuant to such covenant.