Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act
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The bill would direct the Interior Department to place about 40 acres at the Wounded Knee Massacre site in South Dakota into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, to be preserved as a memorial and sacred site.
It would bar the land from taxation, commercial development, or gaming, reflecting a 2022 covenant between the two tribes on how the historic massacre site should be permanently protected.
What this bill would do
What it would do
The bill would direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete, within 365 days of enactment, all actions needed to place approximately 40 acres at Wounded Knee, South Dakota — a segment of the December 29, 1890 massacre site — into restricted fee status held by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Under restricted fee status, the tribes would own the land, it would become part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation subject to Oglala Sioux Tribe civil and criminal jurisdiction, and it could not be transferred without consent of Congress and the tribes, nor taxed by a state or local government. The land would have to be used consistent with a 2022 covenant between the two tribes, and the bill expressly prohibits commercial development and gaming activity on the site. Existing private and municipal utility agreements and encumbrances on the land would remain in effect.
Key provisions
- 1Would direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions needed to place about 40 acres at Wounded Knee into restricted fee status within 365 days of enactment
- 2Would make the land part of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, subject to Oglala Sioux Tribe civil and criminal jurisdiction and exempt from state or local taxation
- 3Would require the land to be used consistent with the 2022 covenant between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
- 4Would prohibit gaming activity under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act on the land
- 5Would preserve existing private and municipal encumbrances, easements, and utility service agreements on the land
Who would be affected
The Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, which would gain restricted fee ownership of the land; the Department of the Interior, which must carry out the land transfer; and local South Dakota governments, which would lose taxing authority over the parcel.
Why it matters
The bill would permanently protect the Wounded Knee Massacre site from taxation, commercial development, and gaming, formalizing tribal control over land tied to a defining event in the history of federal-tribal relations. It would also set a jurisdictional and legal framework the tribes and Interior Department must follow going forward.
What would change
Changes to existing law
Amends Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) (Sec. 3(b)(4))
Bars the Tribal land from being used for gaming activity under this Act
Agencies directed to act
Effective dates
- Secretary must complete actions to place land in restricted fee status
Funding and costs
Congressional Budget Office estimate
CBO estimates S. 105 would have no effect on direct spending, revenues, or the deficit over the 2025–2035 period; discretionary administrative costs would be less than $500,000.
CBO estimates that S. 105 would have no effect on direct spending (mandatory spending) or revenues over the 2025–2035 scoring window, leaving the deficit unchanged. Administrative costs to the Department of the Interior for placing roughly 40 acres into restricted fee status — meaning the land would be protected from transfer or commercial development — would be less than $500,000 and would require a future discretionary appropriation. The bill contains one intergovernmental mandate: it would bar state and local governments from taxing the land placed into restricted fee status, but the foregone tax revenues would total less than $100,000 annually, well below UMRA's $103 million annual threshold. The bill contains no private-sector mandates.
How implementation would work
Within 365 days of enactment, the Secretary of the Interior must complete documentation, minor survey and legal-description corrections, and assignment of private and municipal utility rights needed to convert the roughly 40-acre parcel to restricted fee status. The land would remain subject to federal Indian country law and the alienation restriction in 25 U.S.C. § 177, and its use would be governed by the tribes' 2022 covenant rather than ordinary Interior Department review and approval requirements.
Legislative status & sources
Latest action
Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 176.
Official CRS summary
Show the CRS summaryHide the CRS summary
Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act
This bill directs the Department of the Interior to complete all actions necessary to place approximately 40 acres of land in Oglala Lakota County, South Dakota, into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Restricted fee status refers to land that is owned by a tribe or tribal member but is subject to restrictions by the United States against alienation (i.e., sale or transfer) or encumbrance (e.g., liens, leases, or rights-of-way) by operation of law.
The bill requires the land to be held and maintained as a memorial and sacred site, as outlined by the document titled Covenant Between the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe and dated October 21, 2022. Further, it prohibits commercial development and gaming activity on the land.
Legislative subjects
Federal-Indian relations; Indian lands and resources rights; Land transfers; Native Americans; South Dakota; State and local taxation
Committee report
S. Rept. 119-71