HR-42 — Alaska Native Settlement Trust Eligibility Act

This bill became law on 2025-07-07 as Public Law No. 119-22.

The summary below describes the bill at the version we last reviewed; the enacted text may differ.

YourVoice.Now Summary

Your MoneyTransparency & Accountability

Older, blind, or disabled Alaska Natives now keep trust money and their need-based help, for five years.

Your Money

Older, blind, or disabled Alaska Natives' benefits — trust money not counted

Alaska Native corporations set up these trusts to pay money to Native families. The payouts no longer count as savings when programs like SNAP decide who gets help.

Transparency & Accountability

Automatic expiration built into the trust-payment rule — July 2030

The rule started on July 7, 2025 and lasts exactly five years. Unless Congress acts again, trust payouts will start counting against benefits in July 2030.

More about this bill

Payments from an Alaska Native Settlement Trust no longer count against need-based federal benefits. The protection covers Alaska Natives and their descendants who are 65 or older, blind, or disabled. Programs like SNAP food aid check what a person owns before they approve help. Those trust payouts are now left out of that check. A Settlement Trust holds money an Alaska Native corporation sets aside for Native people. By law, these trusts exist to support the health, education, and welfare of the people they serve. The change took effect on July 7, 2025, when the law was signed. It runs for five years and ends in July 2030. After that, Congress would have to act again to keep it going.

Congressional Summary

Alaska Native Settlement Trust Eligibility Act This act excludes certain settlement trust payments to an Alaska Native or descendant of an Alaska Native who is aged, blind, or disabled for purposes of determining the individual's eligibility for certain need-based federal programs (e.g., the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

Legislative Subjects

Alaska Natives and HawaiiansDisability assistanceFood assistance and reliefIndian claimsPoverty and welfare assistance

Details

Congress: 119th
Chamber: House
Status: summarized
Action: Public Law
Action Date: 2025-07-07
Date Added: 2026-06-23
Source: Congress.gov →

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