I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1408

To provide for the consideration of a petition for Federal Recognition of 

the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 20, 2003

Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma, and 

Mr. JONES of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was 

referred to the Committee on Resources 

A BILL

To provide for the consideration of a petition for Federal 

Recognition of the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO PETITION FOR FEDERAL REC4 OGNITION. 

5 (a) CONSIDERATION OF LUMBEE PETITION.—The 

6 Act of June 7, 1956 (70 Stat. 254), shall not be construed 

7 to constitute a bar to the consideration by the Secretary 

8 of the Interior of a petition of a group or organization 
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1 representing the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoin2 ing counties of North Carolina. 

3 (b) CONSIDERATION OF OTHER PETITIONS.—The 

4 Act of June 7, 1956, shall not be construed to constitute 

5 a bar to the consideration by the Secretary of a petition 

6 of a group or organization representing any Indians in 

7 Robeson or any other county of North Carolina other than 

8 the Lumbee Indians. 

9 (c) RECOGNIZED GROUPS.—The Act of June 7, 

10 1956, shall not be construed to operate to deny any group 

11 or organization whose petition is approved by the Sec12 retary on or after the date of the enactment of this Act 

13 any of the special programs or services provided by the 

14 United States to Indian tribes and their members because 

15 of their status as Indians. 

16 SEC. 2. CONSIDERATION OF PETITION REQUESTING REC17 OGNITION AS AN INDIAN TRIBE. 

18 (a) PROPOSED FINDING.—The Assistant Secretary of 

19 the Interior for Indian Affairs shall publish a proposed 

20 finding with respect to the petition for Federal recognition 

21 as an Indian tribe by the Secretary of the Interior pursu22 ant to part 83 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations, 

23 submitted by the Lumbee Regional Development Associa24 tion on December 17, 1987, and subsequently supple25 mented, not later than 18 months after the date on which 
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1 the petitioner has fully responded to the notice of obvious 

2 deficiencies regarding that petition. 

3 (b) NUMBER OF MEMBERS NOT A FACTOR.—The 

4 number of persons listed on the membership roll contained 

5 in the petition referred to in subsection (a) shall not be 

6 taken into account in considering such petition except that 

7 the Assistant Secretary may review the eligibility of indi8 vidual members or groups listed in such petition in accord9 ance with the provisions of part 83 of title 25, Code of 

10 Federal Regulations. 

11 (c) REVIEW.—(1) If the Assistant Secretary fails to 

12 publish the proposed finding referred to in subsection (a) 

13 within the 18-month period referred to in such subsection, 

14 the petitioner may treat such failure as final agency action 

15 refusing to recognize the petitioner as an Indian tribe and 

16 seek in Federal district court a determination of whether 

17 the petitioner should be recognized as an Indian tribe in 

18 accordance with the criteria specified in section 83.7 of 

19 title 25, Code of Federal Regulations. 

20 (2) If the Assistant Secretary publishes a final deci21 sion refusing to recognize the Indians seeking recognition 

22 under the petition referred to in subsection (a), the peti23 tioner may, not later than one year after the date on which 

24 the final decision is published, seek in Federal district 
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1 court a review of the decision, notwithstanding the avail2 ability of other administrative remedies. 

3 SEC. 3. CRIMINAL AND CIVIL JURISDICTION. 

4 (a) STATE.—In the event that an Indian tribe is rec5 ognized pursuant to the petition referred to in section 

6 2(a), the State of North Carolina shall exercise jurisdic7 tion over all criminal offenses that are committed and all 

8 civil causes of action that arise, on lands located within 

9 the State that are owned by, or held in trust by the United 

10 States for, such tribe or any member of such tribe, or on 

11 lands within any dependent community of such tribe, to 

12 the same extent that the State has jurisdiction over any 

13 such offense committed elsewhere in the State or over 

14 other civil causes of action. 

15 (b) TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES.—The Sec16 retary may accept on behalf of the United States, after 

17 consultation with the Attorney General of the United 

18 States, any transfer by the State of North Carolina to the 

19 United States of any portion of the jurisdiction of the 

20 State described in subsection (a). 

21 SEC. 4. NO DELAY FOR PETITIONS AWAITING ACTIVE CON22 SIDERATION. 

23 It is the sense of the Congress that the review of the 

24 petition referred to in section 2(a) should not unneces25 sarily delay the review of the pending fully documented 
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1 petitions for recognition as an Indian tribe awaiting active 

2 consideration as of the date of enactment of this Act.

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