HR2916-119

In Committee

To authorize, ratify, and confirm the Agreement of Settlement and Compromise to Resolve the Akwesasne Mohawk Land Claim in the State of New York, and for other purposes.

119th Congress Introduced Apr 14, 2025

Legislative Progress

In Committee
Introduced Committee Passed
Dec 10, 2025

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian …

Dec 10, 2025 (inferred)

Passed House (inferred from eh version)

Oct 31, 2025

Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the …

Apr 14, 2025

Ms. Stefanik introduced the following bill; which was referred to …

Summary

What This Bill Does

This bill federally authorizes and ratifies a negotiated settlement resolving the Akwesasne Mohawk land claim in New York State. The settlement agreement was reached between the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne, New York State, Franklin and St. Lawrence Counties, the Towns of Fort Covington and Bombay, and the New York Power Authority. It designates certain lands as Indian Country.

Who Benefits and How

The Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe benefits from federal recognition of their land claim settlement and designation of Settlement Acquisition Areas as Indian Country. The Mohawk Council of Akwesasne also benefits from claim resolution. New York State and local governments benefit from resolution of long-standing litigation dating back to the 1980s. The New York Power Authority gains certainty regarding its facilities and operations.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The federal government takes responsibility for authorizing the settlement terms. Local landowners in settlement areas may be affected by Indian Country designation, though this is part of the negotiated settlement they agreed to.

Key Provisions

  • Authorizes, ratifies, and confirms the Settlement Agreement
  • Transfers of land, rights-of-way, and easements from prior claims are validated
  • Lands in Settlement Acquisition Areas become Indian Country under federal law
  • Resolves litigation from 1982-1989 land claim cases
Model: claude-opus-4
Generated: Jan 7, 2026 05:28

Evidence Chain:

This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

Primary Purpose

Authorizes and ratifies the Akwesasne Mohawk land claim settlement agreement between the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, New York State, counties, towns, and the New York Power Authority

Policy Domains

Indian Affairs Land Claims Tribal Sovereignty Federal-Tribal Relations

Legislative Strategy

"Provide federal authorization required to finalize negotiated settlement of decades-old tribal land claims"

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Indian Affairs Land Claims
Actor Mappings
"the_tribe"
→ Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe
"mohawk_council"
→ Mohawk Council of Akwesasne

Key Definitions

Terms defined in this bill

1 term
"Settlement Agreement" §1

Agreement of Settlement and Compromise to Resolve the Akwesasne Mohawk Land Claim in the State of New York

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology