HR 31

HR 31 IH

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

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

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.’.