HR 226 United States House · 119th Congress

Eastern Band of Cherokee Historic Lands Reacquisition Act

This bill transfers specific federal lands managed by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) in Monroe County, Tennessee, into trust for the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. It includes 46 acres for the Sequoyah Museum, 11.9 acres for support facilities, 18.2 acres for Chota and Tanasi memorials, plus easements for a peninsula (8.5 acres) and trail (11.4 acres). The lands must be used primarily for cultural preservation - like interpreting Cherokee history, managing memorials, and operating educational programs related to the Trail of Tears - while respecting TVA's flood control and water management responsibilities. The bill explicitly prohibits gaming on these lands and outlines detailed conditions for TVA's water level management and tribal land use.

Tags: Tribal Nations

Bill status passed 3 of 5 stages cleared

Introduction

Jan 2025

Committee Review

Sep 2026

House Passage

Feb 2025

Senate Passage

President

Introduced Jan 7, 2025 Last action Sep 23, 2026

Maddy AI version diff · 1 comparison

What changed between versions

Introduced in House → Engrossed in House · 2 edits · Feb 4, 2025

MINOR

The engrossed version of HR 226 adds two new subsections to Section 2: a revised maps reporting requirement (subsection c) and an explicit conditions provision (subsection e). The revised maps provision requires TVA to submit corrected maps to congressional committees within one year of any land transaction, after consultation with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Secretary of the Interior. The conditions provision explicitly ties all trust lands to the use restrictions and conditions set out in Section 5. All other changes are formatting (spacing and blank lines).

REQUIREMENT

New Section 2(c) requires TVA to submit revised maps depicting the trust lands, including any corrections, to the House Natural Resources Committee and Senate Indian Affairs Committee within one year of a land transaction, after consultation with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Secretary of the Interior.

SCOPE

New Section 2(e) explicitly states that all lands taken into trust under Section 2 are subject to the conditions described in Section 5 (flooding rights, facility restrictions, TVA authorities, liability protections, etc.), making the applicability of those conditions unambiguous.

Floor votes

How they voted

No floor votes recorded yet.

Full legislative history

Actions timeline

Total actions

Key actions

Committee

Sep 23, 2026

Upper · Passed

Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held.

upper

Feb 5, 2025

Committee

Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.

upper

Feb 4, 2025

Lower · Passed

Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H447-448)

lower

Jan 7, 2025

Committee

Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

lower

Jan 7, 2025

Introduced

Introduced in House

lower

1 primary · 0 co-sponsors