For the second time in three years, federal legislation to create a land-owning Native corporation in Wrangell and four other Southeast communities has passed out a Senate committee.

But the bill still has a ways to go before it could become law.

It would have to win passage in the full Senate and concurrence in the House. Though the House approved an identical version of the legislation in June, sending it to the Senate, the same actual bill needs to win passage in both the House and Senate before it can go to the president for signature into law.

And though the current congressional makeup will remain in place until a new Congress is sworn into office in January, after the fall elections are certified, the congressional calendar shows members in session for less than a total of nine weeks before the end of the year as members take breaks for campaigns and holidays.

The five communities, under the banner of Landless Natives, have been advocating for the congressional land-grant legislation since the 1990s, following on the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act which created more than 200 urban and village corporations.

The act also created a dozen regional corporations, including Sealaska.

It has long been debated — but never resolved — why Native corporations were not created for the five Southeast communities under the 1971 legislation.

If the Senate — or the House — amendment to the land claims act makes it into law, the Native residents of Wrangell, Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg and Tenakee would be allowed to organize as an urban corporation under ANCSA. Each corporation would receive $2.5 million in startup planning money and each would receive about 23,000 acres of federal land.

The Senate bill, which was introduced a year ago, is sponsored by Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski and co-sponsored by Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan. The House bill, which was introduced in January 2025, is sponsored by Alaska U.S. Rep. Nick Begich III. 

“I think really it is about a measure being ripe for passage,” Murkowski said in an interview with the Juneau Independent in June.

“It has taken us many years to negotiate the maps in terms of identifying parcels,” she said. “As we know, when it comes to the Tongass, every acre is precious to someone. And so when you’re trying to identify areas that are perhaps outside of your immediate community, it’s challenging.”

The senator’s bill advanced out of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on July 16. It would go next to the floor for a vote by the full chamber, if Senate leadership makes that decision.

The bill also allows each urban corporation to establish a settlement trust to promote the health, education and welfare of the trust beneficiaries, and preserve the Alaska Native heritage and culture of their communities.

“Is it a perfect bill?” Murkowski said. “No. Is it one that we have agreement amongst everybody as to the maps? Probably not. But is it a work product that I think we and the communities can stand behind? Absolutely,” she said. “We’re finally to that place where all of that legwork has been done.”

The legislation’s proposed land selections for a Wrangell corporation include 2,091 acres on the mainland near the Garnet Ledge, 3,168 acres on the north end of Wrangell Island around the Shoemaker Bay overlook and Chichagof Peak, 3,275 acres around Lower and Upper Salamander Creek, about 2,000 acres near Turn Island Beach on the southern end of Wrangell Island, almost 5,000 acres on the east side of Zarembo Island near Round Point, almost 1,500 acres at Anita Bay on Etolin Island, and several other blocks in the area.

Murkowski pointed to support from environmental groups including The Nature Conservancy and The Wilderness Society, who previously opposed the legislation.

“While our defense of the Tongass continues, we must correct the injustices faced by certain Native communities in Southeast Alaska,” a March letter from The Wilderness Society states in support of the House bill. 

However, there is opposition, the senator said.

“I will share that there are some on the other side of the aisle who have reservations about the landless bill because they philosophically disagree that land should go from the federal estate into private hands because they are looking at these areas in the Tongass and saying, ‘All of these need to be preserved, and the best way to preserve that is to keep them in — again — in the federal estate,’” Murkowski said.