I 

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. 

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, the Lumbee Regional De3 velopment Association, Inc., the Lumbee Tribe of Cheraw 

4 Indians, the Hatteras Tuscarora Indians, the Cherokee In5 dians of Robeson and Adjoining Counties, the Cherokee 

6 Indians of Hoke County, Inc., or the Tuscarora Nation 

7 of North Carolina. 

8 (b) RECOGNIZED GROUPS.—The Act of June 7, 

9 1956, shall not be construed to operate to deny any group 

10 or organization whose petition is approved by the Sec11 retary on or after the date of the enactment of this Act 

12 any of the special programs or services provided by the 

13 United States to Indian tribes and their members because 

14 of their status as Indians. 

15 SEC. 2. CONSIDERATION OF PETITION REQUESTING REC16 OGNITION AS AN INDIAN TRIBE. 

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

18 the Interior for Indian Affairs shall publish a proposed 

19 finding with respect to the petition for Federal recognition 

20 as an Indian tribe by the Secretary of the Interior pursu21 ant to part 83 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations, 

22 submitted by the Lumbee Regional Development Associa23 tion on December 17, 1987, and subsequently supple24 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. NO DELAY FOR PETITIONS AWAITING ACTIVE CON4 SIDERATION. 

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

6 petition referred to in section 2(a) should not unneces7 sarily delay the review of the pending fully documented 

8 petitions for recognition as an Indian tribe awaiting active 

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

Æ 


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