[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5403 Introduced in House (IH)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5403

     To restore Federal recognition to the Miami Nation of Indiana.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 5, 2000

  Mr. Souder introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To restore Federal recognition to the Miami Nation of Indiana.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Miami Nation of Indiana Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Miami Nation of Indians of the State of Indiana, 
        Inc., an Indian nonprofit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt corporation, is 
        the modern day governing body of the Miami Nation of Indiana, 
        also known as the Miami Indians of Indiana or the Indiana 
        Miamis (collectively referred to herein as the ``Miamis''), 
        which is the descendant of, and the political successor to, the 
        signatory of the Treaty of 1854 (10 Stat. 1093).
            (2) Historically, the Miamis lived in northern and central 
        Indiana.
            (3) Between 1795 and 1840, the Miamis entered into a number 
        of treaties with the United States ceding millions of acres of 
        land to the Federal Government.
            (4) In some of those treaties, tracts of land were reserved 
        for individual tribal members or for bands of Miamis.
            (5) The 1840 Treaty required all members of the Miamis to 
        remove from Indiana to territory west of the Mississippi River 
        but the Miamis strongly resisted removal to the Kansas 
        Territory.
            (6) In early 1846, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs 
        ordered annuity payments withheld until the Miamis were 
        removed, and thereafter about one-half of the Miamis were 
        forcibly removed to the Kansas Territory.
            (7) After this emigration, some of the Miamis resided in 
        the Kansas Territory and some of the Miamis resided in Indiana.
            (8) In 1854, the Federal Government entered into treaty 
        negotiations with the Miamis who remained in Indiana and 
        thereby recognized them as a separate Indian tribe--the Indiana 
        Miamis.
            (9) Congress subsequently enacted legislation specifically 
        concerning treaties with the Indiana Miamis on a government-to-
        government basis and extended the Federal trust relationship to 
        the Indiana Miamis.
            (10) In 1897, the Secretary of the Interior, based on an 
        opinion by then Assistant Attorney General Willis Van Devanter, 
        withdrew the acknowledgement of the Indiana Miamis as a 
        federally recognized Indian tribe.
            (11) Congress has never terminated the Indiana Miamis or 
        authorized the Secretary of the Interior to terminate the 
        Indiana Miamis, as a result of which the 1897 administrative 
        termination by the Secretary of the Interior was ultra vires 
        and of no effect.
            (12) Tribes elsewhere, including the Miami Tribe of 
        Oklahoma, at Miami, Oklahoma, received services from the 
        Federal Government and were extended benefits of the Indian 
        Reorganization Act (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.).
            (13) In spite of the denial of recognition and the right to 
        organize under the Indian Reorganization Act (25 U.S.C. 461 et 
        seq.), the Indiana Miamis have continued to carry out 
        governmental functions through a tribal council from the treaty 
        times through the present day.
            (14) In 1990, the Department of the Interior admitted that 
        the opinion of Attorney General Van Devanter was incorrect and 
        that the trust relationship with the Indiana Miamis was 
        wrongfully terminated, but nothing has been done to remedy the 
        error.
            (15) For more than 100 years there has been administrative 
        neglect, violation of treaty and statutory obligations of 
        trusteeship, and misapplication of Federal law and regulations 
        with regard to the Indiana Miamis.
            (16) The injustice to the Indiana Miamis described in this 
        section should be corrected and their dignity and self-esteem, 
        individually and collectively, should be returned by 
        restoration of Federal recognition to the Indiana Miamis.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For purposes of this Act:
            (1) The term ``Tribe'' means the Miami Nation of Indiana.
            (2) The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of the 
        Interior.
            (3) The term ``member'' means an individual who meets the 
        membership criteria of the tribe.
            (4) The term ``State'' means the State of Indiana.
            (5) The term ``reservation'' means those lands acquired and 
        held in trust by the Secretary for the benefit of the Tribe.
            (6) The term ``service area'' means the State of Indiana.

SEC. 4. RESTORATION OF FEDERAL RECOGNITION, RIGHTS, AND PRIVILEGES.

    (a) Federal Recognition.--Federal recognition is hereby restored to 
the Tribe. Except as otherwise provided in this Act, all laws and 
regulations of general application to Indians and nations, tribes, or 
bands of Indians that are not inconsistent with any specific provision 
of this Act shall be applicable to the Tribe and its members.
    (b) Restoration of Rights and Privileges.--Except as provided in 
subsection (d), all rights and privileges of the Tribe and its members 
under any Federal treaty, Executive order, agreement, or statute, or 
under any other authority which were diminished or lost by virtue of 
the 1897 decision of the Secretary of the Interior which terminated 
Federal acknowledgement are hereby restored.
    (c) Federal Services and Benefits.--
            (1) In general.--Without regard to the existence of a 
        reservation, the Tribe and its members shall be eligible, on 
        and after the date of enactment of this Act for all Federal 
        services and benefits furnished to federally recognized Indian 
        tribes or their members. For the purposes of Federal services 
        and benefits available to members of federally recognized 
        Indian tribes residing on a reservation, members of the Tribe 
        residing in the Tribe's service area shall be deemed to be 
        residing on a reservation.
            (2) Relation to other laws.--The eligibility for or receipt 
        of services and benefits under paragraph (1) by the Tribe or 
        individual shall not be considered as income, resources, or 
        otherwise when determining the eligibility for or computation 
        of any payment or other benefit to the Tribe, individual, or 
        household under--
                    (A) any financial aid program of the United States, 
                including grants and contracts subject to the Indian 
                Self-Determination Act; or
                    (B) any other benefit to which such tribe, 
                household, or individual would otherwise be entitled 
                under any Federal or federally assisted program.
    (d) Hunting, Fishing, Trapping, Gathering, and Water Rights.--
Nothing in this Act shall expand, reduce, or affect in any manner any 
hunting, fishing, trapping, gathering, or water rights of the Tribe and 
its members.
    (e) Certain Rights Not Altered.--Except as specifically provided in 
this Act, nothing in this Act shall alter any property right or 
obligation, any contractual right or obligation, or any obligation for 
taxes levied.

SEC. 5. TRANSFER OF LAND TO BE HELD IN TRUST.

    (a) Lands To Be Taken in Trust.--Upon application by the Tribe, the 
Secretary shall accept into trust for the benefit of the Tribe any real 
property located in the State of Indiana, for the benefit of the Tribe 
after the property is conveyed or otherwise transferred to the 
Secretary and if, at the time of such conveyance or transfer, there are 
no adverse legal claims to such property, including outstanding liens, 
mortgages, or taxes.
    (b) Former Trust Lands of the Tribe.--Subject to the conditions 
specified in this section, real property eligible for trust status 
under this section shall include any land within the Tribe's service 
area.
    (c) Lands To Be Part of Reservation.--Any real property taken into 
trust for the benefit of the Tribe pursuant to this Act shall be part 
of the Tribe's reservation.
    (d) Gaming Rights Suspended.--This Act reserves all rights by the 
Miami Nation of Indiana to engage in all classes of gaming pursuant to 
the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act; however, class III gaming shall only 
be allowed with the express approval of Congress.
    (e) Lands To Be Nontaxable.--Any real property taken into trust for 
the benefit of the Tribe pursuant to this section shall be exempt from 
all local, State, and Federal taxation as of the date that such land is 
transferred to the Secretary.

SEC. 6. MEMBERSHIP ROLL; CONSTITUTION.

    Upon submission by the Tribe, the Secretary shall accept the 
current membership roll of the Tribe, its present membership criteria, 
and its existing constitution.
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