[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 31 Introduced in House (IH)]







111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 H. R. 31

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 6, 2009

 Mr. McIntyre (for himself, Ms. Bordallo, Mr. Kissell, Mr. Towns, Mr. 
 Clyburn, Mr. Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida, Mr. Mario Diaz-Balart of 
Florida, Mr. Butterfield, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Miller of North Carolina, Mr. 
      Etheridge, Mr. Peterson, Mr. Becerra, Mr. Ryan of Ohio, Mr. 
     Abercrombie, Mr. Delahunt, Mr. Rahall, Ms. Loretta Sanchez of 
  California, Mr. Engel, Mr. Van Hollen, Mr. Hastings of Florida, Ms. 
Sutton, Mr. Price of North Carolina, Mr. Pastor of Arizona, Mr. Larson 
  of Connecticut, Mr. Honda, Mr. Wu, and Mr. Cummings) introduced the 
    following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural 
                               Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for the recognition 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 
as follows:
            (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.
            (3) By adding at the end the following new clauses:
``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 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 as follows:
            (1) By striking the last sentence of the first section.
            (2) By striking section 2 and inserting the following new 
        sections:
    ``Sec. 2.  (a) Federal recognition is hereby extended to the Lumbee 
Tribe of North Carolina, as designated as petitioner number 65 by the 
Office of Federal Acknowledgement. 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) 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 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations for acknowledgement of tribal existence.
    ``Sec. 3.  (a) 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 tribe. For 
the purposes of the delivery of such services, those 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) Upon 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. The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services shall each submit a written statement of such needs and 
budget to Congress after the tribal roll is verified.
    ``(c) For purposes of the delivery of Federal services, the tribal 
roll in effect on the date of the enactment of this section shall, 
subject to verification by the Secretary of the Interior, define the 
service population of the Tribe. The Secretary's verification shall be 
limited to confirming compliance with the membership criteria set out 
in the Tribe's constitution adopted on November 16, 2001, which 
verification shall be completed within 2 years after the date of the 
enactment of this section.
    ``Sec. 4.  (a) Fee lands which 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 of the Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation) 
if such lands are located within Robeson County, North Carolina.
    ``(b) The tribe may not conduct gaming activities as a matter of 
claimed inherent authority or under the authority of any Federal law, 
including the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) or 
under any regulations thereunder promulgated by the Secretary or the 
National Indian Gaming Commission.
    ``Sec. 5. (a) 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, lands located within 
        the State of North Carolina that are 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) The Secretary of the Interior is authorized to 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) pursuant to an agreement between 
the Lumbee Tribe and the State of North Carolina. Such transfer of 
jurisdiction may not take effect until 2 years after the effective date 
of the agreement.
    ``(c) The provisions of this subsection shall not affect the 
application of section 109 of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (25 
U.S.C. 1919).
    ``Sec. 6.  There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are 
necessary to carry out this Act.''.
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