[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1408 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1408

To provide for the consideration of a petition for Federal Recognition 
of the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 20, 2003

Mr. Taylor of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. Carson of Oklahoma, and 
 Mr. Jones of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the consideration of a petition for Federal Recognition 
of the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties, 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. AUTHORITY TO PETITION FOR FEDERAL RECOGNITION.

    (a) Consideration of Lumbee Petition.--The Act of June 7, 1956 (70 
Stat. 254), shall not be construed to constitute a bar to the 
consideration by the Secretary of the Interior of a petition of a group 
or organization representing the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and 
adjoining counties of North Carolina.
    (b) Consideration of Other Petitions.--The Act of June 7, 1956, 
shall not be construed to constitute a bar to the consideration by the 
Secretary of a petition of a group or organization representing any 
Indians in Robeson or any other county of North Carolina other than the 
Lumbee Indians.
    (c) Recognized Groups.--The Act of June 7, 1956, shall not be 
construed to operate to deny any group or organization whose petition 
is approved by the Secretary on or after the date of the enactment of 
this Act any of the special programs or services provided by the United 
States to Indian tribes and their members because of their status as 
Indians.

SEC. 2. CONSIDERATION OF PETITION REQUESTING RECOGNITION AS AN INDIAN 
              TRIBE.

    (a) Proposed Finding.--The Assistant Secretary of the Interior for 
Indian Affairs shall publish a proposed finding with respect to the 
petition for Federal recognition as an Indian tribe by the Secretary of 
the Interior pursuant to part 83 of title 25, Code of Federal 
Regulations, submitted by the Lumbee Regional Development Association 
on December 17, 1987, and subsequently supplemented, not later than 18 
months after the date on which the petitioner has fully responded to 
the notice of obvious deficiencies regarding that petition.
    (b) Number of Members Not a Factor.--The number of persons listed 
on the membership roll contained in the petition referred to in 
subsection (a) shall not be taken into account in considering such 
petition except that the Assistant Secretary may review the eligibility 
of individual members or groups listed in such petition in accordance 
with the provisions of part 83 of title 25, Code of Federal 
Regulations.
    (c) Review.--(1) If the Assistant Secretary fails to publish the 
proposed finding referred to in subsection (a) within the 18-month 
period referred to in such subsection, the petitioner may treat such 
failure as final agency action refusing to recognize the petitioner as 
an Indian tribe and seek in Federal district court a determination of 
whether the petitioner should be recognized as an Indian tribe in 
accordance with the criteria specified in section 83.7 of title 25, 
Code of Federal Regulations.
    (2) If the Assistant Secretary publishes a final decision refusing 
to recognize the Indians seeking recognition under the petition 
referred to in subsection (a), the petitioner may, not later than one 
year after the date on which the final decision is published, seek in 
Federal district court a review of the decision, notwithstanding the 
availability of other administrative remedies.

SEC. 3. CRIMINAL AND CIVIL JURISDICTION.

    (a) State.--In the event that an Indian tribe is recognized 
pursuant to the petition referred to in section 2(a), the State of 
North Carolina shall exercise jurisdiction over all criminal offenses 
that are committed and all civil causes of action that arise, on lands 
located within the State that are owned by, or held in trust by the 
United States for, such tribe or any member of such tribe, or on lands 
within any dependent community of such tribe, to the same extent that 
the State has jurisdiction over any such offense committed elsewhere in 
the State or over other civil causes of action.
    (b) Transfer to the United States.--The Secretary may accept on 
behalf of the United States, after consultation with the Attorney 
General of the United States, any transfer by the State of North 
Carolina to the United States of any portion of the jurisdiction of the 
State described in subsection (a).

SEC. 4. NO DELAY FOR PETITIONS AWAITING ACTIVE CONSIDERATION.

    It is the sense of the Congress that the review of the petition 
referred to in section 2(a) should not unnecessarily delay the review 
of the pending fully documented petitions for recognition as an Indian 
tribe awaiting active consideration as of the date of enactment of this 
Act.
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