S. 105 — Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act

This section defines four terms used in the Act: (1) "restricted fee status," meaning a protected land status under which the Tribal land remains owned by the Tribes, is subject to Oglala Sioux Tribe jurisdiction as part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, cannot be transferred without consent of Congress and the Tribes, is exempt from state and local taxation, and requires no Secretary of the Interior approval for Tribal use as 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, and improvements) at Rural County Road 4, Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and 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, 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, not later than 365 days (one year) after enactment, to complete all actions—including documentation and minor corrections to surveys and legal descriptions—necessary to hold specified Tribal land in restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and to assign applicable private and municipal utility and service rights or agreements. The land is subject to the following conditions: (1) federal laws applicable to Indian country, as defined in 18 U.S.C. §1151 (i.e., reservations, dependent Indian communities, and allotments with unextinguished Indian title), and protection against alienation under 25 U.S.C. §177; (2) uses allowed in the "Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe" dated October 21, 2022; (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.).