I 

119TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 165 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions necessary 

for certain land to be held in restricted fee status by the Oglala Sioux 

Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2025 

Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions 

necessary for certain land to be held in restricted fee 

status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River 

Sioux Tribe, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Wounded Knee Mas5 sacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 In this Act: 


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1 (1) RESTRICTED FEE STATUS.—The term ‘‘re2 stricted fee status’’ means a status in which the 

3 Tribal land— 

4 (A) shall continue to be owned by the 

5 Tribes; 

6 (B) shall be part of the Pine Ridge Indian 

7 Reservation and expressly made subject to the 

8 civil and criminal jurisdiction of the Oglala 

9 Sioux Tribe; 

10 (C) shall not be transferred without the 

11 consent of Congress and the Tribes; 

12 (D) shall not be subject to taxation by a 

13 State or local government; and 

14 (E) shall not be subject to any provision of 

15 law providing for the review or approval by the 

16 Secretary of the Interior before the Tribes may 

17 use the land for any purpose as allowed by the 

18 document titled ‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala 

19 Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux 

20 Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 2022, directly, or 

21 through agreement with another party. 

22 (2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

23 the Secretary of the Interior. 

24 (3) TRIBAL LAND.—The term ‘‘Tribal land’’ 

25 means the approximately 40 acres (including the 


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1 surface and subsurface estate, and mineral estate, 

2 and any and all improvements, structures, and per3 sonal property on those acres) on the Pine Ridge In4 dian Reservation in Oglala Lakota County, at Rural 

5 County Road 4, Wounded Knee, South Dakota, and 

6 generally depicted as ‘‘Area of Interest’’ on the map 

7 entitled ‘‘Wounded Knee Sacred Site and Memorial 

8 Land’’ and dated October 26, 2022, which is a seg9 ment of the December 29, 1890, Wounded Knee 

10 Massacre site. 

11 (4) TRIBES.—The term ‘‘Tribes’’ means the 

12 Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe 

13 of the Cheyenne River Reservation, both tribes being 

14 among the constituent tribes of the Great Sioux Na15 tion and signatories to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 

16 1868 between the United States of America and the 

17 Great Sioux Nation, 15 Stat. 635. 

18 SEC. 3. LAND HELD IN RESTRICTED FEE STATUS BY THE 

19 TRIBES. 

20 (a) ACTION BY SECRETARY.—Not later than 365 

21 days after enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall— 

22 (1) complete all actions, including documenta23 tion and minor corrections to the survey and legal 

24 description of Tribal land, necessary for the Tribal 


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1 land to be held by the Tribes in restricted fee status; 

2 and 

3 (2) appropriately assign each applicable private 

4 and municipal utility and service right or agreement 

5 with regard to the Tribal land. 

6 (b) CONDITIONS.— 

7 (1) FEDERAL LAWS RELATING TO INDIAN

8 LAND.—Except as otherwise provided in this Act, 

9 the Tribal land shall be subject to Federal laws re10 lating to Indian country, as defined by section 1151 

11 of title 18, United States Code and protected by the 

12 restriction against alienation in section 177 of title 

13 25, United States Code. 

14 (2) USE OF LAND.—The Tribal land shall be 

15 used for the purposes allowed by the document titled 

16 ‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the 

17 Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 

18 2022. 

19 (3) ENCUMBRANCES AND AGREEMENTS.—The 

20 Tribal land shall remain subject to any private or 

21 municipal encumbrance, right-of-way, restriction, 

22 easement of record, or utility service agreement in 

23 effect on the date of the enactment of this Act. 

24 (4) GAMING.—Pursuant to the document titled 

25 ‘‘Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the 


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1 Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe’’ and dated October 21, 

2 2022, the Tribal land shall not be used for gaming 

3 activity under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act 

4 (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.). 

Æ 


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