[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 839 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 839

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


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            February 3, 2009

 Mr. Shuler (for himself, Mr. McHenry, Ms. Foxx, Mr. Jones, Mr. Boren, 
 and Mr. Minnick) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                   the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the consideration of a petition for Federal Recognition 
   of the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties and other 
        Indian groups in 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. 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, the Lumbee Regional Development 
Association, Inc., the Lumbee Tribe of Cheraw Indians, the Hatteras 
Tuscarora Indians, the Cherokee Indians of Robeson and Adjoining 
Counties, the Cherokee Indians of Hoke County, Inc., or the Tuscarora 
Nation of North Carolina.
    (b) 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. 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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