Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act
Sponsored By: Representative Begich
In Committee
Summary
Creates Urban Corporations and ANCSA land settlements for five Southeast Alaska communities. This bill would let enrolled Alaska Natives in Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell form Urban Corporations to receive settlement land and stock under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
Your PRIA Score
Personalized for You
How does this bill affect your finances?
Sign up for a PRIA Policy Scan to see your personalized alignment score for this bill and every other piece of legislation we track. We analyze your financial profile against policy provisions to show you exactly what matters to your wallet.
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
New Urban Corporations and shares
This bill would let Native residents of Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell form Urban Corporations under ANCSA. If you enrolled under ANCSA to one of those villages and were a Regional Corporation shareholder, you would receive 100 shares of Settlement Common Stock in the new Urban Corporation. If you inherited Regional Corporation shares from a decedent who originally enrolled to a named village (and the decedent was not a Village or Urban shareholder), you would receive the same number of shares in the Urban Corporation. Each Urban Corporation could set up a settlement trust for health, education, welfare, and cultural programs. Trust income and principal would first help enrollees and their descendants who are elders or minor children, then other enrollees. The bill would also keep existing revenue-distribution ratios and settlement agreements among Native Corporations unchanged.
Land and access for Urban Corporations
This bill would direct the Secretary to convey roughly 23,040 acres of surface land to each Urban Corporation for the five named communities, with the Regional Corporation keeping the subsurface estate when the surface is conveyed. Conveyances would be final satisfaction of entitlement even if surveyed acreage is less. The bill would require interim conveyances within two years after incorporation and seek mutual-use agreements for Tongass National Forest roads no later than one year after incorporation; until an agreement is final, Urban Corporations would provide administrative access on Forest Service–comparable terms. Public subsistence, hunting, fishing, and noncommercial recreation would remain allowed, subject to reasonable restrictions and posting. Some conveyances (for Haines) would be phased and tied to mining-claim actions or consents, and existing leases, easements, and special-use permits would be respected or replaced under notice procedures.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Begich
AK • R
Cosponsors
Hurd (CO)
CO • R
Sponsored 1/15/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
View on Congress.govTake It Personal
Get Your Personalized Policy View
Start a Free Government Policy Watch to see how policy affects your household, then upgrade to PRIA Full Coverage for year-round monitoring.
Already have an account? Sign in