[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 660 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 660

    To provide for the acknowledgment of the Lumbee Tribe of North 
                   Carolina, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 17, 2005

  Mrs. Dole (for herself and Mr. Burr) introduced the following bill; 
  which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To provide for the acknowledgment of the Lumbee Tribe of North 
                   Carolina, 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 ``Lumbee Recognition Act''.

SEC. 2. PREAMBLE.

    The preamble to the Act of June 7, 1956 (70 Stat. 254), is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``and'' at the end of each clause;
            (2) by striking ``: Now, therefore,'' at the end of the 
        last clause and inserting a semicolon; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:

``Whereas the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties in North Carolina 
        are descendants of coastal North Carolina Indian tribes, principally 
        Cheraw, and have remained a distinct Indian community since the time of 
        contact with white settlers;
``Whereas since 1885 the State of North Carolina has recognized the Lumbee 
        Indians as an Indian tribe;
``Whereas in 1956 the Congress of the United States acknowledged the Lumbee 
        Indians as an Indian tribe, but withheld from the Lumbee Tribe the 
        benefits, privileges and immunities to which the Tribe and its members 
        otherwise would have been entitled by virtue of the Tribe's status as a 
        federally recognized Indian tribe; and
``Whereas the Congress finds that the Lumbee Indians should now be entitled to 
        full Federal recognition of their status as an Indian tribe and that the 
        benefits, privileges and immunities that accompany such status should be 
        accorded to the Lumbee Tribe: Now, therefore,''.

SEC. 3. FEDERAL RECOGNITION.

    The Act of June 7, 1956 (70 Stat. 254), is amended--
            (1) by striking the last sentence of the first section; and
            (2) by striking section 2 and inserting the following:

``SEC. 2. RECOGNITION.

    ``(a) In General.--Federal recognition is extended to the Lumbee 
Tribe of North Carolina. All laws and regulations of the United States 
of general application to Indians and Indian tribes shall apply to the 
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and its members.
    ``(b) Petition.--Notwithstanding the first section, any group of 
Indians in Robeson and adjoining counties, North Carolina, whose 
members are not enrolled in the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina as 
determined under section 3(c), may petition under part 83 of title 25, 
Code of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation) for 
acknowledgment of tribal existence.

``SEC. 3. ELIGIBILITY FOR SERVICES AND BENEFITS.

    ``(a) In General.--
            ``(1) Services and benefits.--The Lumbee Tribe of North 
        Carolina and its members shall be eligible for all services and 
        benefits provided to Indians because of their status as members 
        of a federally recognized Indian tribe.
            ``(2) Residence on or near reservation.--For the purposes 
        of the delivery of such services, members of the Tribe residing 
        in Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke, and Scotland counties in North 
        Carolina shall be deemed to be residing on or near an Indian 
        reservation.
    ``(b) Determination of Needs and Budget.--
            ``(1) In general.--On verification by the Secretary of the 
        Interior of a tribal roll under subsection (c), the Secretary 
        of the Interior and the Secretary of Health and Human Services 
        shall develop, in consultation with the Lumbee Tribe of North 
        Carolina, a determination of needs and budget to provide the 
        services to which members of the Tribe are eligible.
            ``(2) Inclusion in budget request.--The Secretary of the 
        Interior and the Secretary of Health and Human Services shall 
        each submit a written statement of those needs and a budget 
        with the first budget request submitted to Congress after the 
        fiscal year in which the tribal roll is verified.
    ``(c) Tribal Roll.--
            ``(1) In general.--For purposes of the delivery of Federal 
        services, the tribal roll in effect on the date of enactment of 
        this section shall, subject to verification by the Secretary of 
        the Interior, define the service population of the Tribe.
            ``(2) Verification.--The Secretary's verification shall be 
        limited to confirming compliance with the membership criteria 
        set out in the Tribe's constitution adopted on November 11, 
        2000, which verification shall be completed not less than 1 
        year after the date of enactment of this section.

``SEC. 4. FEE LAND.

    ``Fee land that the Tribe seeks to convey to the United States to 
be held in trust shall be treated by the Secretary of the Interior as 
on-reservation trust acquisitions under part 151 of title 25 Code of 
Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation) if the land is 
located within Robeson County, North Carolina.

``SEC. 5. STATE JURISDICTION.

    ``(a) In General.--The State of North Carolina shall exercise 
jurisdiction over--
            ``(1) all criminal offenses that are committed on; and
            ``(2) all civil actions that arise on;
land located within the state of North Carolina that is owned by, or 
held in trust by the United States for, the Lumbee Tribe of North 
Carolina, or any dependent Indian community of the Lumbee Tribe of 
North Carolina.
    ``(b) Transfer.--
            ``(1) In general.--The Secretary of the Interior may accept 
        on behalf of the United States, after consulting 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 of North Carolina described in 
        paragraph (1) under an agreement between the Lumbee Tribe and 
        the State of North Carolina.
            ``(2) Effective date.--A transfer of jurisdiction under 
        paragraph (1) shall not take effect until 2 years after the 
        effective date of the agreement.
    ``(c) Effect of Section.--This section shall not affect the 
application of section 109 of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 
U.S.C. 1919).

``SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    ``There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are 
necessary to carry out this Act.''.
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