I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3744 
To provide that an Indian group may receive Federal acknowledgment as 
an Indian tribe only by an Act of Congress. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 12, 2017 
Mr. BISHOP of Utah introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To provide that an Indian group may receive Federal ac-
knowledgment as an Indian tribe only by an Act of 
Congress. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Tribal Recognition Act 
of 2017’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Con-
stitution (commonly known as the ‘‘Indian Com-
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merce Clause’’) gives Congress authority over Indian 
affairs. 
(2) Such authority is plenary and exclusive. 
(3) Such authority may not be exercised by the 
executive branch, except as expressly delegated by 
an Act of Congress (or by a treaty ratified by the 
Senate before March 1871). 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
As used in this Act: 
(1) ASSISTANT SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Assist-
ant Secretary’’ means the Assistant Secretary of In-
dian Affairs, or that officer’s authorized representa-
tive. 
(2) AUTONOMOUS.—The term ‘‘autonomous’’ 
means the exercise of political influence or authority 
independent of the control of any other Indian gov-
erning entity. Autonomous must be understood in 
the context of the history, geography, culture and 
social organization of the petitioning group. 
(3) COMMUNITY.—The term ‘‘Community’’ 
means any group of people which can demonstrate 
that consistent interactions and significant social re-
lationships exist within its membership and that its 
members are differentiated from and identified as 
distinct from nonmembers. Community must be un-
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derstood in the context of the history, geography, 
culture and social organization of the group. 
(4) CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES.—The term 
‘‘continental United States’’ means the contiguous 
48 States and Alaska. 
(5) CONTINUOUSLY
OR
CONTINUOUS.—The 
term ‘‘continuously or continuous’’ means extending 
from first sustained contact with non-Indians 
throughout the group’s history to the present sub-
stantially without interruption. 
(6) DOCUMENTED PETITION.—The term ‘‘docu-
mented petition’’ means the detailed arguments 
made by a petitioner to substantiate its claim to con-
tinuous existence as an Indian tribe, together with 
the factual exposition and all documentary evidence 
necessary to demonstrate that these arguments ad-
dress the mandatory criteria. 
(7) HISTORICALLY, HISTORICAL OR HISTORY.— 
The term ‘‘historically, historical or history’’ means 
dating from first sustained contact with non-Indians. 
(8) INDIAN GROUP OR GROUP.—The term ‘‘In-
dian group or group’’ means any Indian or Alaska 
Native aggregation within the continental United 
States that the Secretary of the Interior does not ac-
knowledge to be an Indian tribe. Indian tribe, also 
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referred to herein as tribe, means any Indian or 
Alaska Native tribe, band, pueblo, village, or com-
munity within the continental United States that the 
Secretary of the Interior has lawfully acknowledged 
as an Indian tribe. 
(9) 
INDIGENOUS.—The 
term 
‘‘indigenous’’ 
means native to the continental United States in 
that at least part of the petitioner’s territory at the 
time of sustained contact extended into what is now 
the continental United States. 
(10) INFORMED PARTY.—The term ‘‘informed 
party’’ means any person or organization, other than 
an interested party, who requests an opportunity to 
submit comments or evidence or to be kept informed 
of general actions regarding a specific petitioner. 
(11) INTERESTED
PARTY.—The term ‘‘inter-
ested party’’ means any person, organization or 
other entity who can establish a legal, factual or 
property interest in an acknowledgment determina-
tion and who requests an opportunity to submit 
comments or evidence or to be kept informed of gen-
eral actions regarding a specific petitioner. ‘‘Inter-
ested party’’ includes the governor and attorney gen-
eral of the State in which a petitioner is located, and 
may include, but is not limited to, local govern-
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mental units, and any recognized Indian tribes and 
unrecognized Indian groups that might be affected 
by an acknowledgment determination. 
(12) LETTER OF INTENT.—The term ‘‘letter of 
intent’’ means an undocumented letter or resolution 
by which an Indian group requests Federal acknowl-
edgment as an Indian tribe and expresses its intent 
to submit a documented petition. 
(13) 
PETITIONER.—The 
term 
‘‘petitioner’’ 
means any entity that has submitted a letter of in-
tent to the Secretary requesting acknowledgment 
that it is an Indian tribe. 
(14) POLITICAL INFLUENCE OR AUTHORITY.— 
The term ‘‘political influence or authority’’ means a 
tribal council, leadership, internal process or other 
mechanism which the group has used as a means of 
influencing or controlling the behavior of its mem-
bers in significant respects, and/or making decisions 
for the group which substantially affect its members, 
and/or representing the group in dealing with out-
siders in matters of consequence. This process is to 
be understood in the context of the history, culture 
and social organization of the group. 
(15) 
PREVIOUS
FEDERAL
ACKNOWLEDG-
MENT.—The term ‘‘previous Federal acknowledg-
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ment’’ means action by the Federal Government 
clearly premised on identification of a tribal political 
entity and indicating clearly the recognition of a re-
lationship between that entity and the United 
States. 
(16) 
SECRETARY.—The 
term 
‘‘Secretary’’ 
means the Secretary of the Interior or that officer’s 
authorized representative. 
(17) SUSTAINED
CONTACT.—The term ‘‘sus-
tained contact’’ means the period of earliest sus-
tained non-Indian settlement and/or governmental 
presence in the local area in which the historical 
tribe or tribes from which the petitioner descends 
was located historically. 
SEC. 4. GROUPS ELIGIBLE TO SUBMIT PETITIONS. 
(a) ELIGIBLE GROUPS.—Indian groups indigenous to 
the continental United States that are not federally recog-
nized Indian tribes on the date of the enactment of this 
Act may submit a petition under this Act. 
(b) INELIGIBLE GROUPS.—The following may not 
submit a petition under this Act: 
(1) Splinter groups, political factions, commu-
nities or groups of any character that separate from 
the main body of a federally recognized Indian tribe, 
unless they can establish clearly that they have func-
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tioned throughout history until the present as an au-
tonomous tribal entity, even if they have been re-
garded by some as part of or have been associated 
in some manner with a federally recognized Indian 
tribe. 
(2) Indian tribes, organized bands, pueblos, 
Alaska native villages, or communities that have 
been lawfully acknowledged to be federally recog-
nized Indian tribes and are receiving services from 
the Bureau of Indian Affairs. 
(3) Groups that petitioned and were denied 
Federal acknowledgment under part 83 of title 25, 
Code of Federal Regulations, including reorganized 
or reconstituted petitioners previously denied, or 
splinter groups, spin-offs, or component groups of 
any type that were once part of petitioners pre-
viously denied. 
(4) Groups for which a documented petition has 
not been filed pursuant to section 9 by the date that 
is five years after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
(c) GROUPS WITH PETITIONS IN PROGRESS.—This 
Act, including the criteria in section 7, shall apply to any 
Indian group whose documented petition was submitted 
and not denied on the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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SEC. 5. FILING A LETTER OF INTENT. 
Any Indian group in the continental United States 
that believes it should be acknowledged as an Indian tribe 
and that it can satisfy the criteria in this Act may submit 
a letter of intent requesting acknowledgment that an In-
dian group exists as an Indian tribe. The letter of intent 
submitted under this section— 
(1) shall be filed with the Assistant Secretary— 
Indian Affairs, Department of the Interior; 
(2) may be filed in advance of, or at the same 
time as, a group’s documented petition; and 
(3) shall be produced, dated and signed by the 
governing body of an Indian group. 
SEC. 6. DUTIES OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 
(a) GUIDELINES.—The Assistant Secretary shall 
make available guidelines for the preparation of docu-
mented petitions. These guidelines shall— 
(1) include an explanation of the criteria, a dis-
cussion of the types of evidence which may be used 
to demonstrate particular criteria, and general sug-
gestions and guidelines on how and where to conduct 
research; 
(2) include an example of a documented peti-
tion format which shall provide guidance, but not 
preclude the use of any other format; and 
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(3) may be supplemented or updated as nec-
essary. 
(b) RESEARCH AND PREPARATION OF PETITION.— 
The Assistant Secretary— 
(1) shall provide petitioners with suggestions 
and advice regarding preparation of the documented 
petition; and 
(2) shall not be responsible for the actual re-
search on behalf of the petitioner. 
SEC. 7. CRITERIA FOR FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 
The criteria for consideration for Federal acknowl-
edgment is, at a minimum, the following: 
(1) The petitioner has been identified as an 
American Indian entity on a substantially contin-
uous basis since 1900. Evidence that the group’s 
character as an Indian entity has from time to time 
been denied shall not be considered to be conclusive 
evidence that this criterion has not been met. Evi-
dence to be relied upon in determining a group’s In-
dian identity may include one or a combination of 
the following, as well as other evidence of identifica-
tion by other than the petitioner itself or its mem-
bers: 
(A) Identification as an Indian entity by 
Federal authorities. 
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(B) Relationships with State governments 
based on identification of the group as Indian. 
(C) Dealings with a county, parish, or 
other local government in a relationship based 
on the group’s Indian identity. 
(D) Identification as an Indian entity by 
anthropologists, historians, and/or other schol-
ars. 
(E) Identification as an Indian entity in 
newspapers and books. 
(F) Identification as an Indian entity in 
relationships with Indian tribes or with na-
tional, regional, or State Indian organizations. 
(2) A predominant portion of the petitioning 
group comprises a distinct community and has ex-
isted as a community from historical times until the 
present. 
(A) This criterion may be demonstrated by 
some combination of the following evidence and/ 
or other evidence that the petitioner meets the 
definition of community: 
(i) Significant rates of marriage with-
in the group, and/or, as may be culturally 
required, patterned out-marriages with 
other Indian populations. 
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(ii) Significant social relationships 
connecting individual members. 
(iii) Significant rates of informal so-
cial interaction which exist broadly among 
the members of a group. 
(iv) A significant degree of shared or 
cooperative labor or other economic activity 
among the membership. 
(v) Evidence of strong patterns of dis-
crimination or other social distinctions by 
nonmembers. 
(vi) Shared sacred or secular ritual 
activity encompassing most of the group. 
(vii) Cultural patterns shared among 
a significant portion of the group that are 
different from those of the non-Indian pop-
ulations with whom it interacts. These pat-
terns must function as more than a sym-
bolic identification of the group as Indian. 
They may include, but are not limited to, 
language, kinship organization, or religious 
beliefs and practices. 
(viii) The persistence of a named, col-
lective Indian identity continuously over a 
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period of more than 50 years, notwith-
standing changes in name. 
(ix) A demonstration of historical po-
litical influence under the criterion in para-
graph (3) shall be evidence for dem-
onstrating historical community. 
(B) A petitioner shall be considered to 
have provided sufficient evidence of community 
at a given point in time if evidence is provided 
to demonstrate any one of the following: 
(i) More than 50 percent of the mem-
bers reside in a geographical area exclu-
sively or almost exclusively composed of 
members of the group, and the balance of 
the group maintains consistent interaction 
with some members of the community. 
(ii) At least 50 percent of the mar-
riages in the group are between members 
of the group. 
(iii) At least 50 percent of the group 
members maintain distinct cultural pat-
terns such as, but not limited to, language, 
kinship organization, or religious beliefs 
and practices. 
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(iv) There are distinct community so-
cial institutions encompassing most of the 
members, such as kinship organizations, 
formal or informal economic cooperation, 
or religious organizations. 
(v) The group has met the criterion in 
paragraph (3) using evidence described in 
paragraph (3)(B). 
(3) The petitioner has maintained political in-
fluence or authority over its members as an autono-
mous entity from historical times until the present. 
(A) This criterion may be demonstrated by 
some combination of the evidence listed below 
and/or by other evidence that the petitioner 
meets the definition of political influence or au-
thority: 
(i) The group is able to mobilize sig-
nificant numbers of members and signifi-
cant resources from its members for group 
purposes. 
(ii) Most of the membership considers 
issues acted upon or actions taken by 
group leaders or governing bodies to be of 
importance. 
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(iii) There is widespread knowledge, 
communication and involvement in political 
processes by most of the group’s members. 
(iv) The group meets the criterion in 
paragraph (2) at more than a minimal 
level. 
(v) There are internal conflicts which 
show controversy over valued group goals, 
properties, policies, processes and/or deci-
sions. 
(B) A petitioning group shall be considered 
to have provided sufficient evidence to dem-
onstrate the exercise of political influence or au-
thority at a given point in time by dem-
onstrating that group leaders and/or other 
mechanisms exist or existed which— 
(i) allocate group resources such as 
land, residence rights and the like on a 
consistent basis; 
(ii) settle disputes between members 
or subgroups by mediation or other means 
on a regular basis; 
(iii) exert strong influence on the be-
havior of individual members, such as the 
establishment or maintenance of norms 
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and the enforcement of sanctions to direct 
or control behavior; and 
(iv) organize or influence economic 
subsistence activities among the members, 
including shared or cooperative labor. 
(C) A group that has met the requirements 
in paragraph (2)(B) at a given point in time 
shall be considered to have provided sufficient 
evidence to meet this criterion at that point in 
time. 
(4) A copy of the group’s present governing 
document including its membership criteria. In the 
absence of a written document, the petitioner must 
provide a statement describing in full its member-
ship criteria and current governing procedures. 
(5) The petitioner’s membership consists of in-
dividuals who descend from a historical Indian tribe 
or from historical Indian tribes which combined and 
functioned as a single autonomous political entity. 
(A) Some types of evidence that can be 
used for this purpose include the following: 
(i) Rolls prepared by the Secretary on 
a descendancy basis for purposes of dis-
tributing claims money, providing allot-
ments, or other purposes. 
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(ii) State, Federal, or other official 
records or evidence identifying present 
members or ancestors of present members 
as being descendants of a historical tribe 
or tribes that combined and functioned as 
a single autonomous political entity. 
(iii) Church, school, and other similar 
enrollment 
records 
identifying 
present 
members or ancestors of present members 
as being descendants of a historical tribe 
or tribes that combined and functioned as 
a single autonomous political entity. 
(iv) Affidavits of recognition by tribal 
elders, leaders, or the tribal governing body 
identifying present members or ancestors 
of present members as being descendants 
of a historical tribe or tribes that combined 
and functioned as a single autonomous po-
litical entity. 
(v) Other records or evidence identi-
fying present members or ancestors of 
present members as being descendants of a 
historical tribe or tribes that combined and 
functioned as a single autonomous political 
entity. 
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(B) The petitioner must provide an official 
membership list, separately certified by the 
group’s governing body, of all known current 
members of the group. This list must include 
each member’s full name (including maiden 
name), date of birth, and current residential ad-
dress. The petitioner must also provide a copy 
of each available former list of members based 
on the group’s own defined criteria, as well as 
a statement describing the circumstances sur-
rounding the preparation of the current list 
and, insofar as possible, the circumstances sur-
rounding the preparation of former lists. 
(6) The membership of the petitioning group is 
composed principally of persons who are not mem-
bers of any acknowledged North American Indian 
tribe. However, under certain conditions a peti-
tioning group may be acknowledged even if its mem-
bership is composed principally of persons whose 
names have appeared on rolls of, or who have been 
otherwise associated with, an acknowledged Indian 
tribe. The conditions are that the group must estab-
lish that it has functioned throughout history until 
the present as a separate and autonomous Indian 
tribal entity, that its members do not maintain a bi-
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lateral political relationship with the acknowledged 
tribe, and that its members have provided written 
confirmation of their membership in the petitioning 
group. 
(7) Neither the petitioner nor its members are 
the subject of congressional legislation that has ex-
pressly terminated or forbidden the Federal relation-
ship. 
SEC. 8. PREVIOUS FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Unambiguous previous Federal 
acknowledgment shall be acceptable evidence of the tribal 
character of a petitioner to the date of the last such pre-
vious acknowledgment. If a petitioner provides substantial 
evidence of unambiguous Federal acknowledgment, the pe-
titioner shall only be required to demonstrate that it meets 
the requirements of section 7 to the extent required by 
this section. A determination of the adequacy of the evi-
dence of previous Federal action acknowledging tribal sta-
tus shall be made during the technical assistance review 
of the documented petition conducted pursuant to section 
10(b). 
(b) EVIDENCE.—Evidence to demonstrate previous 
Federal acknowledgment includes evidence that the 
group— 
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