HR 65
6-27-07, Bill Passed House 256-128
Referred to Senate
Committee on Indian Affairs
110th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 65
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
June 12, 2007
Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs
AN ACT
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.'.
Passed the House of Representatives June 7, 2007.
Attest:
LORRAINE C. MILLER,
Clerk.
END
