H.R. 165, Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act

H.R. 165 would direct the Department of the Interior (DOI) to place approximately 40 acres of land owned by the Oglala Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes in restricted fee status. The two tribes would retain ownership of the land, and the land could not be transferred without the consent of the Congress and the tribes. H.R. 165 would limit the use of the land to a memorial and sacred site and prohibit commercial development and gaming activity as outlined in a covenant signed in October 2022. The act also would require DOI to make any necessary corrections to the survey and legal description of the land. Using information from the department, CBO estimates that the administrative costs to implement H.R. 165 would not be significant.

H.R. 165 would impose an intergovernmental mandate as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). The act would prohibit state and local governments from taxing land placed into restricted fee status for the Oglala Sioux Tribe and the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe. Information from Oglala Lakota County about taxes and other receipts associated with the land indicates that those foregone revenues would total less than $100,000 annually, well below the annual intergovernmental threshold established in UMRA ($103 million in 2025, adjusted annually for inflation).

The act contains no private-sector mandates.

On April 3, 2025, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 105, the Wounded Knee Massacre Memorial and Sacred Site Act, as ordered reported by the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on March 5, 2025. The two pieces of legislation are similar, and CBO’s estimates of their budgetary effects are the same.

The CBO staff contacts for this estimate are Julia Aman (for federal costs) and Rachel Austin (for mandates). The estimate was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Director of Budget Analysis.