By SUZANNE DOWNING
June 2, 2026 – Just 17 months into his first term in Congress, Alaska Congressman Nick Begich has now pushed 13 bills through the US House of Representatives, adding another item to what has become an unsurpassed legislative record for any freshman congressman in history.
On Tuesday, the House passed HR 41, the Unrecognized Southeast Alaska Native Communities Recognition and Compensation Act, a measure aimed at correcting what many Alaska Native leaders have viewed as a flaw in the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
The bill would authorize the creation of urban Native corporations for five Southeast Alaska communities that were left out of ANCSA’s original framework: Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee Springs, and Wrangell.
For decades, Alaska Natives in those communities have been known as the “landless” because they were excluded from receiving lands and forming urban corporations when ANCSA was implemented more than 50 years ago.
“When ANCSA became law, five Southeast Alaska Native communities were left out through no fault of their own,” Begich said after passage of the bill. “For generations, Native families in Haines, Ketchikan, Petersburg, Tenakee, and Wrangell have carried the burden of being known as the ‘landless.’ This bill honors existing agreements and provides a pathway for future economic development and self-determination for these Alaska Native families and their descendants.”
The legislation has a long and winding history.
Former Congressman Don Young introduced versions of the measure eight separate times during his nearly 50 years in office. Former Congresswoman Mary Peltola introduced the legislation twice during her tenure. Neither could get the legislation through the House.
That makes Begich the 3rd member of Congress to carry the effort for Alaska. But this is the first time the measure has actually cleared the House.
In that sense, the 11th attempt appears to have been the charm.
House Natural Resources Committee Chairman Bruce Westerman said the legislation fulfills longstanding commitments made to Alaska Native communities.
“For too long, five Southeast Alaska Native communities have been left out of a settlement framework intended to benefit Alaska Natives,” Westerman said. “HR 41 allows these communities to form urban corporations and receive land entitlements under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, creating new opportunities for self-determination, economic development and community investment.”
The bill is structured to preserve existing Native corporation entitlements and maintain revenue-sharing agreements already in place among Southeast Native corporations. Shareholders in the new urban corporations would continue receiving distributions through the regional Native corporation structure.
The legislation now heads to the US Senate, where supporters hope it can finally complete a journey that began more than half a century ago.
For Begich, the vote marks his 13th bill passed by the House in 18 months is a baker’s dozen of measures now tossed over the Capitol wall to the Senate for consideration.
Whether the Senate acts remains to be seen. But after 50 years of waiting, the five Southeast communities are closer than ever to receiving the recognition their advocates say should have come with ANCSA in the first place.
16 thoughts on “Breaking: Congressman Nick Begich Begich gets a baker’s dozen, as his 13th bill passes House”
All NB does is cater to the natives. What a loser.
Sure is nice that Alaska Natives have a Congressman that so effectively represents their interests. I guess the rest of us are irrelevant or worse. He sure did not talk about this the last time he ran for office. Assuming RCV is repealed, a primary opponent in 2028 would be fun.
He should also think about what happens when he runs out of things to do for Alaska Natives. Maybe he should have held a few things back for next cycle.
Don’t be such a moron. Maybe if Mary P had done her job he wouldn’t have to clear all this out. Besides, he brought Alaska 100 billion or so with the 70-30 over the next 20 years and all of NPRA and ANWR open. Even Ted Stevens and Don Young couldn’t get that done at their peak power.
Crediting the freshman Congressman with securing a massive revenue sharing split on NPRA and ANWR is childish. It has much more to do with the current Federal administration and the US Senators (yes – even Senator Murkowski). (And, 70 percent of nothing is nothing.). We will see. I do know that much of the physical infrastructure in Southcentral Alaska is crumbling as we speak and job growth is nonexistent.
Actually wrong, the bill text and even the idea for how to get 90/10 – the Senate changed that later to 70/30 – came directly from Begich and was in the resource committee text that started in the house before the senate even saw the bill. This is well documented.
Oh, OK. It’s not like the idea of a favorable revenue split hasn’t been around for a while. Like maybe since Statehood? I’m sure it was all Nick’s idea.
Nicholas is just awesome. Even Tom told me that his governors race is going to be well-received because of our famous nephew. Without Nicholas to blaze the way forward, the Begich name carries little clout anymore.
Nicholas may be helping the Alaska Native community, but I picked the ultimate running mate. She is full-on white, speaks a few words in Athabaskan (but does better in pigeon English) and most importantly …….her mom and dad were settlers, or so she claims. I’ve got the real deal.
Actually, they were colonists, not settlers. Certainly, not Pioneers.
Tom’s choice for land acknowledgements through a radical white woman with a very dubious background.
Nick Begich has done more in 2 years than most people do in an entire career.
At least from where I sit, I do not see much happening on the ground. The physical infrastructure is crumbling, job growth is nonexistent, the population is declining as young people move away for better opportunities elsewhere, the vagrant problem shows little progress, unemployment is high and educational outcomes are embarrassing. When and if Congressman Begich can point to actual achievements to address those problems, I will start to take him seriously. The Native special-interest legislation is performative at best and pandering at worst.
Wrangell was left out because they sent the wrong representative who was a drunk and missed the meetings when sent to DC. So of Wrangell Natives. It was of their own fault to be leftout.
Oh great, more public land given to Natives so they can do even more to prohibit access for hunting all while simultaneously pursuing that Alaskans from urban areas are prohibited from hunting on federal lands.
The Natives will clear cut the trees right down to the lakes and rivers and then after that will get idiots like Begich, Sullivan and Murkowski ti support federal funding for buying the land back from the natives. A repeat of what just happened on Northern Admiralty Island in the Tongass.
All of these Natives voted for Peltola and will again – wake up!
There are over 7 million acres of land in the Tongass. This applies to about 1% of it. You’ll survive.
Nick’s performance in the House has been spectacular, He works tirelessly for the interests of Alaska extremely well. He has gained the trust and respect of his colleagues in the House. He has a great future representing our state. Contrast Nick’s effectiveness to his predecessor who was absent in the House for key votes and has no record of accomplishment during her tenure. Mary Peltola was a zero in representing Alaska in the House and would be a disaster in Senate with SIX YEARS of no accountability. Dan Sullivan (not the democrat decoy one) is the only choice.