[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4786 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4786

To provide grants to tribes to assist those tribes in participating in 
                  the Federal acknowledgement process.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              July 8, 2004

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

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide grants to tribes to assist those tribes in participating in 
                  the Federal acknowledgement process.

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

SECTION 1. GRANTS TO ASSIST TRIBES IN THE FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 
              PROCESS.

    (a) Grants.--The Secretary of the Interior may provide a grant to 
an entity to assist the entity in preparing, submitting, or otherwise 
supporting a petition to the Bureau of Acknowledgement and Recognition 
in the Department of the Interior for recognition or rerecognition of 
such entity as an Indian tribe.
    (b) Amount.--The Secretary may not provide a grant to an entity 
under this section in an amount that exceeds $500,000 in any fiscal 
year.
    (c) Outside Financing.--
            (1) Prohibition.--
                    (A) In general.--The Secretary may not provide a 
                grant under this section to an entity unless the entity 
                agrees that it will not accept funds to assist in the 
                Federal acknowledgement process from any other source 
                that may benefit financially from the recognition or 
                rerecognition of the entity as an Indian tribe.
                    (B) Penalties.--If the Secretary determines that an 
                entity has violated the requirement of subparagraph 
                (A), the Secretary--
                            (i) may not provide any additional 
                        assistance under this section to the entity; 
                        and
                            (ii) shall seek reimbursement from the 
                        entity in an amount equal to amounts received 
                        under a grant provided under this section plus 
                        reasonable interest.
            (2) Prior acceptance of funds.--The Secretary may not 
        provide a grant under this section to an entity that has 
        accepted funds from a source that may benefit financially from 
        the recognition or rerecognition of the entity as an Indian 
        tribe until one year after the date on which the entity 
        accepted the funds.
            (3) Waiver.--The Secretary may waive the penalty 
        requirements contained in clauses (i) and (ii) of paragraph 
        (1)(B) or the one-year waiting period requirement contained in 
        paragraph (2), as the case may be, if the Secretary determines 
        that the entity has returned the total amount of funds received 
        from all sources that may benefit financially from the 
        recognition or rerecognition of the entity as an Indian tribe.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian tribe'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 450b).
            (2) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
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