Alaska Native Landless Equity Act

The Alaska Native Landless Equity Act would recognize five southeastern Alaska Native communities (Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell) that were previously omitted from eligibility under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). It creates new Urban Corporations for each community, allows eligible Alaska Natives from those communities to enroll and receive stock, and directs the federal government to convey surface land to these Urban Corporations. The bill also preserves and clarifies existing ANCSA distributions, creates a Settlement Trust to support health, education, and cultural preservation, and provides funding for implementation. A key element is the transfer of surface lands to the urban corporations while the subsurface lands would go to the Southeast Alaska Regional Corporation, with a framework for road use, easements, and public access. In practical terms, if enacted, eligible Natives in these five villages would gain formal land holdings and stock in new Urban Corporations, alongside ongoing settlement distributions and a dedicated trust to support community welfare. The package also seeks to balance new land transfers with existing state and federal rights (such as mining claims, public easements, and forest road networks) and to ensure public access for subsistence and recreation under certain constraints.