S. 2554 — Alaska Native Landless Equity Act

This section states the purpose of the Act is to authorize Alaska Natives enrolled in the southeastern Alaska communities of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell—previously omitted from eligibility under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA)—to form urban corporations for those communities and to receive certain settlement lands under ANCSA.

This section authorizes Native residents of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell, Alaska, to organize as Urban Corporations under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). (As background, ANCSA Urban Corporations receive shares of settlement revenues from certain natural resources but no land entitlements; this provision specifies that land entitlements of all previously established Native Corporations remain unaffected.)

This section establishes enrollment procedures under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) for Alaska Natives originally enrolled in the Native Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, or Wrangell (villages ineligible for Village Corporations under ANCSA). Specifically, it (1) directs the Secretary to enroll such individuals in the respective Urban Corporations (i.e., corporations established under ANCSA for Natives residing in those areas); (2) provides 100 shares of Settlement Common Stock in the respective Urban Corporation to each enrollee who holds shares in the Southeast Alaska Regional Corporation; (3) provides inheritors of Southeast Alaska Regional Corporation shares from an eligible decedent (i.e., one originally enrolled in such a village but not a Village or Urban Corporation shareholder) with the identical number of shares in the respective Urban Corporation; and (4) clarifies that this does not affect Regional Corporation land allocations under ANCSA sections 12(b) or 14(h)(8).

This section revises subsection (j) of Section 7 of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA; 43 U.S.C. 1606)—which governs distributions of net proceeds from regional corporation resource revenues to village corporations and at-large Alaska Native shareholders—by adding paragraph (4) to ensure that Native members of the Native Villages of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell who become shareholders in an Urban Corporation for such village remain eligible for those distributions as at-large shareholders of the Southeast Alaska Regional Corporation (i.e., Sealaska Corporation). (As background, ANCSA established 12 Alaska Native Regional Corporations and a 13th Regional Corporation to receive and manage lands and funds from the settlement of aboriginal claims, with subsection (j) requiring distribution of at least 70% of certain net revenues.) It also adds subsection (s) clarifying that the Alaska Native Landless Equity Act and its amendments do not affect (1) revenue distribution ratios among Native Corporations under Section 7 or (2) settlement agreements among Regional or Village Corporations or other provisions of subsections (i) or (j).

This section authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to convey the surface estate in approximately 23,040 acres of specified Federal lands—depicted on maps entitled “Haines Selections” (numbered 1–3), “Ketchikan Selections” (1–4), “Petersburg Selections” (1–3), “Tenakee Selections” (1–3), and “Wrangell Selections” (1–5), all dated June 27, 2025—to the Urban Corporations for Haines (13 parcels), Ketchikan (8 parcels), Petersburg (12 parcels), Tenakee (15 parcels), and Wrangell (13 parcels), respectively (i.e., corporations established under ANCSA §16(e)(1) for certain non-rural southeast Alaska communities). Conveyance to the Haines Urban Corporation for lands at Slate Creek, Berners Bay (map 2 of 3), occurs in two phases: phase 1 for approximately 81 acres (“Slate Ck. West Shore”) and phase 2 for approximately 92 acres (“Slate Ck. West Shore North” and “Slate Ck. East Shore”), subject to relinquishment, abandonment, or consent regarding underlying Federal mining claims by Coeur Mining or successor; on each surface conveyance date, the subsurface estate conveys to the Regional Corporation for Southeast Alaska. This section withdraws the specified lands from all forms of entry and appropriation, subject to valid existing rights. These conveyances constitute full and final satisfaction of the communities’ ANCSA entitlements, with surveyed acreage per corporation between 23,020 and 23,060 acres (adjusted as needed to 23,040 acres); Congress intends interim conveyance within two years of each corporation’s incorporation (extendable by one year for public easement appeals under ANCSA §17(b)).