Bill giving downtown Anchorage land to Southcentral Foundation goes to the president

Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., acting as speaker pro tempore, signed the enrolled bill Wednesday that would transfer about 3.4 acres of federal land in downtown Anchorage to Southcentral Foundation. The bill was presented to the president Thursday, and Congress.gov had recorded no presidential signature as of Saturday.

The parcel holds the Quyana Clubhouse, which provides intensive behavioral health services to Alaska Native people with serious mental illness. A Senate committee report said the transfer would let the foundation replace and modernize the clubhouse. The Indian Health Service agreed to the transfer in August 2023, the report said, but until the foundation owns the land, it cannot build permanent facilities or finance capital improvements there.

The bill text directs the Department of Health and Human Services to transfer the 3.372 acres by warranty deed. The foundation would pay nothing, and the federal government would keep no right to reclaim the land. The Congressional Budget Office said the government collects no rent for the land now and estimated the transfer would add less than $500,000 to Indian Health Service administrative costs from 2026 through 2030.

Darrell LaRoche, a deputy director of the Indian Health Service, testified in February on a substantially similar Senate bill. He said the health department supports the transfer's purpose but raised concerns about its terms. A warranty deed would leave the department responsible for clearing claims on the title at any time, "a potential liability of unknown cost," he said. Without a right to reclaim the land, he said, the department would lose a way to ensure the property stays in health care use.

Rep. Nick Begich introduced the bill in May 2025, and the U.S. House passed it by voice vote in December 2025. The U.S. Senate passed it by unanimous consent Sept. 29 on Sen. Lisa Murkowski's motion, according to a delegation press release.

"This transfer would allow Southcentral Foundation to continue providing services through the Quyana Clubhouse and enable SCF to finance capital improvements on the property to expand outpatient programming," Murkowski said at a May 20 Senate Indian Affairs Committee business meeting.

Once the bill is enacted, the health secretary would have two years to complete the transfer.