[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3824 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 3824

    To extend Federal recognition to the Gabrieleno Band of Mission 
                    Indians, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 28, 2002

  Mrs. Bono introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                         Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To extend Federal recognition to the Gabrieleno Band of Mission 
                    Indians, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians 
Federal Recognition Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The Gabrieleno Indians, aboriginally known as the kumi-
        vit, live within their homelands along the drainages of the 
        Santa Ana and San Gabriel Rivers and the San Pedro, Wilmington, 
        and Paso Robles areas of southern California.
            (2) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians are recognized 
        by anthropologists, historians, and genealogists, as the 
        lineal, social, and political descendants of Native Americans 
        contacted by Spanish and Portuguese explorers and settlers in 
        the 16th and 17th centuries.
            (3) In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish Mission San 
        Gabriel was established on Gabrieleno Indian homelands causing 
        the loss of their land base and disruption of the Gabrieleno 
        Band of Mission Indians.
            (4) Today's Gabrieleno Indians are direct lineal 
        descendants of enrollees on the 1928 Indian Census and on the 
        1933 supplemental roll book pursuant to the Act of May 8, 1928.
            (5) Gabrieleno tribal culture, manifest in life and burial 
        rites and other social and religious practices, has been handed 
        down generation-to-generation to the present day.
            (6) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians is an Indian 
        Tribe which is recognized as eligible for the special programs 
        and services provided by the United States to Indians because 
        of their status as Indians and does in fact receive such 
        services.
            (7) The Bureau of Indian Affairs has determined the 
        Gabrieleno tribal blood quantum of each of the enrolled members 
        of the Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians and, for this and 
        other reasons, the members of the Gabrieleno Band of Mission 
        Indians receive certain Federal and State services that are 
        afforded to them only because they are Indians.
            (8) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians of California, 
        Inc., was incorporated as a California nonprofit corporation on 
        May 16, 2000, for the purpose of administering the business of 
        the Tribe.
            (9) The Department of Health and Human Services has 
        determined that the Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians of 
        California, Inc., is eligible for certain Federal programs 
        because of its tribal and legal status and has provided grants 
        to it in support of tribal governance.
            (10) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians, Inc., is 
        recognized by other federally recognized tribes in San 
        Bernardino and Riverside Counties of California, as the 
        governing body of the Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians.
            (11) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians is desirous of 
        securing its cultural and its social and economic future and 
        land on which to bury the remains of ancestors and for other 
        purposes.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purposes of this Act the following definitions apply:
            (1) Member.--The term ``member'' means an enrolled member 
        of the Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians, as of the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, or an individual who has been placed 
        on the membership roles in accordance with this Act.
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
            (3) Tribe.--The term ``Tribe'' means the Gabrieleno Band of 
        Mission Indians.

SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION.

    Federal recognition is hereby extended to the Gabrieleno Band of 
Mission Indians. All laws and regulations of the United States of 
general application to Indians, or nations, tribes, or band of Indians, 
including the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.) which are 
not inconsistent with any specific provision of this Act, shall be 
applicable to the Tribe and its members.

SEC. 5. FEDERAL SERVICES AND BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--The Tribe and its members shall be eligible, on 
and after the date of the enactment of this Act, for all future 
services and benefits provided by the Federal Government to federally 
recognized tribes without regard to the existence of a reservation for 
the Tribe or the location of the residence of any member on or near any 
Indian reservation.
    (b) Service Area.--For purposes of the delivery of Federal services 
to enrolled members of the Tribe, the Tribe's service area shall be 
coterminous with the Mission Area of the Southern California Agency of 
the Sacramento Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

SEC. 6. MEMBERSHIP.

    Not later than 18 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act, the Tribe shall submit to the Secretary a membership roll 
consisting of all individuals enrolled in the Tribe. The qualifications 
for inclusion on the membership roll of the Tribe shall be determined 
by the membership clauses in the Tribe's governing document, in 
consultation with the Secretary. Upon completion of the roll, the 
Secretary shall immediately publish notice of the roll in the Federal 
Register. The Tribe shall ensure that such roll is maintained and kept 
current.

SEC. 7. CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNING BODY.

    (a) Constitution.--
            (1) Adoption.--Not later than 24 months after the date of 
        the enactment of this Act, the Tribe shall conduct, by secret 
        ballot, an election to adopt a constitution and bylaws for the 
        Tribe.
            (2) Interim governing documents.--Until such time as a new 
        constitution is adopted under paragraph (1), the governing 
        documents in effect on the date of the enactment of this Act 
        shall be the interim governing documents for the Tribe.
    (b) Officials.--Not later than 6 months after the Tribe adopts a 
constitution and bylaws pursuant to subsection (a), the Tribe shall 
elect a governing body in accordance with the procedures set forth in 
its constitution and bylaws. Until such time as a new governing body is 
elected, the governing body of the Tribe shall be the governing body 
selected under the election procedures specified in the interim 
governing documents of the Tribe.

SEC. 8. LAND IN TRUST.

    (a) Requirement To Take Land Into Trust.--If, not later than 25 
years after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Tribe transfers 
all right, title, and interest in and to any land identified under 
subsection (b) as its aboriginal homelands to the Secretary, the 
Secretary shall take such land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe.
    (b) Identification of Aboriginal Lands.--Not later than 10 years 
after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the 
Interior and the Secretary of Agriculture shall identify those lands 
which shall be considered the aboriginal homelands of the Tribe for the 
purposes of subsection (a).

SEC. 9. GAMING.

    Gaming regulated by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act shall not be 
conducted on lands taken into trust for the benefit of the Tribe 
pursuant to this Act.
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