[Congressional Bills 104th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1448 Introduced in House (IH)]







104th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1448

     To amend the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to require that 
 determinations regarding status as an Indian child and as a member of 
an Indian tribe be prospective from the date of birth of the child and 
      of tribal membership of the member, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 6, 1995

    Ms. Pryce (for herself, Mr. Solomon, and Mr. Burton of Indiana) 
 introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 to require that 
 determinations regarding status as an Indian child and as a member of 
an Indian tribe be prospective from the date of birth of the child and 
      of tribal membership of the member, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS.

    (a) Indian Child.--Paragraph (4) of section 4 of the Indian Child 
Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1903) is amended by inserting ``at the 
time of the child's birth'' after ``Indian tribe'' the third place it 
appears.
    (b) Member of an Indian Tribe.--Section 4 of such Act is amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (11);
            (2) by striking the period at the end of paragraph (12) and 
        inserting ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(13) `Member of an Indian tribe' means a person who is on 
        the membership roll (or otherwise considered a member under 
        consistently applied policies and practices) of the Indian 
        tribe and, if over the age of eighteen before first becoming a 
        member of the Indian tribe, became such a member only upon the 
        person's written consent.''.

SEC. 2. RETROACTIVE EFFECT OF TRIBAL MEMBERSHIP NOT PERMITTED.

    Section 101 of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 
1911) is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(e) For the purposes of any child custody proceeding involving an 
Indian child, membership in an Indian tribe shall be effective from the 
actual date of admission to membership in the Indian tribe and shall 
not be given retroactive effect.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to any 
child custody proceeding in which a final decree has not been entered 
as of the date of the enactment of this Act.
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