Breaking: Congressman Nick Begich Begich gets a baker’s dozen, as his 13th bill passes House

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 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.