I 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 9536 
To extend Federal recognition to the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe of North 
Carolina, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 14, 2022 
Mr. BUTTERFIELD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Natural Resources 
A BILL 
To extend Federal recognition to the Haliwa-Saponi Indian 
Tribe of North Carolina, and for other purposes. 
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 ‘‘Haliwa-Saponi Indian 
Tribe of North Carolina Recognition Act’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) The Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe of North 
Carolina is a confederated Tribe that is a political 
successor to the historical Saponi Nation and to the 
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Nansemond and affiliated Tribes that inhabited the 
Piedmont and coastal regions of what are now Vir-
ginia and North Carolina. 
(2) ‘‘Haliwa’’ is a geographical designation that 
is derived from the physical location of the Tribe, 
which is primarily in Halifax and Warren Counties, 
North Carolina. 
(3) In North Carolina, in 1733, the Saponi Na-
tion made peace with the Tuscarora and moved to 
a portion of the Tuscarora reservation in modern 
Bertie County, North Carolina, occupying a village 
known as Sapona Town. 
(4) In 1754, Captain William Hurst observed 
the residence of Saponi warriors and many women 
and children on Colonel William Eaton’s lands in the 
Granville District (modern Granville, Warren, and 
Vance Counties, North Carolina). 
(5) In 1761, the Saponi Indians were living on 
10,000 acres of land in the Granville District on and 
near the Roanoke River (modern-day Warren Coun-
ty, North Carolina), along with the Meherrin and 
Tuscarora. 
(6) In Virginia, as acknowledged by Congress in 
the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia 
Federal Recognition Act of 2017 (Public Law 115– 
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121; 132 Stat. 59 et seq.), there were two sections 
of the Nansemond Tribe, one of which remained in 
Virginia and was accorded Federal recognition in 
2018 concurrently with five other Tribes still resi-
dent in Virginia by that same statute. 
(7) Another section of the Nansemond Tribe 
had migrated to North Carolina due to hostilities in 
Virginia, and today enrolled citizens of the Haliwa- 
Saponi Indian Tribe include lineal descendants of 
those Nansemond. 
(8) After the American Revolution (1775– 
1783), the Nansemond and Saponi merged together 
for mutual protection and survival in Halifax, War-
ren, Nash, and Franklin Counties, in an area known 
as ‘‘The Meadows’’. 
(9) Among the surrounding communities, the 
Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe has often been referred 
to as the ‘‘Meadows Indians’’. 
(10) In 1889, Warren County, North Carolina 
resident G.B. Alston wrote to the Smithsonian Insti-
tution anthropologist James Mooney and confirmed 
the residence of a Tribe of 300–600 Indians in the 
Meadows in Halifax and Warren Counties. 
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(11) The Tribe has continually existed as a sep-
arate community, with leaders exhibiting clear polit-
ical authority. 
(12) While local non-Indians recognized the In-
dian and Tribal identity of the Haliwa-Saponi, oth-
ers insisted on classifying Tribal citizens as ‘‘col-
ored’’ rather than Indian, due to segregation. 
(13) During the era of school segregation, the 
Tribe opened its own school, the Haliwa Indian 
School, operated with the Tribe’s own funds. 
(14) Since 1957 the State of North Carolina 
has had continuous dealings with the recognized po-
litical leaders of the Haliwa-Saponi. 
(15) In 1957, the Tribe opened the Haliwa In-
dian School. 
(16) Between 1960 and 1963, students from 
the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe attended Bacone 
College for Indians in Muscogee, Oklahoma. 
(17) In 1965, the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe 
won a lawsuit against the North Carolina Division 
of Vital Statistics to correct the race of Haliwa- 
Saponi citizens on official records to read ‘‘Indian’’. 
(18) In 1965 the State of North Carolina took 
formal legislative action recognizing the Haliwa- 
Saponi Indian Tribe. 
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(19) In the early 1970s, local public school dis-
tricts started receiving Federal funds from the De-
partment of Education, Office of Indian Education, 
for Haliwa-Saponi Indian students. 
(20) In 1998, the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe 
began receiving a formula allocation from the De-
partment of Housing and Urban Development, Na-
tive American Housing Assistance and Self Deter-
mination Act. 
(21) In 2000, the Tribe opened the Haliwa- 
Saponi Tribal School, a charter school under the 
State of North Carolina, at the location of the origi-
nal Haliwa Indian School, and the school currently 
receives Federal funds from the Department of Edu-
cation, Office of Indian Education for Haliwa- 
Saponi Indian students. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
In this Act: 
(1) MEMBER.—The term ‘‘Member’’ means a 
member of the Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe of North 
Carolina. 
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
(3) TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the 
Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina. 
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SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Federal recognition is extended to 
the Tribe. 
(b) APPLICABILITY OF LAWS.—All laws (including 
regulations) of the United States of general applicability 
to Indians or nations, Indian Tribes, or bands of Indians 
(including the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 5101 et 
seq.)) that are not inconsistent with this Act shall be ap-
plicable to the Tribe and Tribal members. 
SEC. 5. FEDERAL SERVICES AND BENEFIT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Tribe and its members shall 
be eligible for all services and benefits provided by the 
Federal Government to federally recognized Indian Tribes 
without regard to the existence of a reservation for the 
Tribe, including services and benefits under the Act of 
June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.). 
(b) SERVICE AREA.—For the purpose of the delivery 
of Federal services and benefits to members, the service 
area of the Tribe shall include Halifax, Warren, Nash, 
Franklin, Vance, and Granville counties in the State of 
North Carolina. 
(c) SERVICE POPULATION.—For purpose of the deliv-
ery of Federal services and benefits described in sub-
section (a), the Tribal roll in effect on the date of enact-
ment of this Act shall, subject to verification by the Sec-
retary, define the service population of the Tribe. 
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(d) ROLL; GOVERNING DOCUMENTS.—The member-
ship roll and government documents of the Tribe shall be 
the most recent membership roll and governing docu-
ments, respectively, submitted by the Tribe to the Sec-
retary before the date of enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION TO TAKE LAND INTO TRUST. 
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Sec-
retary is authorized to take land into trust for the benefit 
of the Tribe and proclaim a reservation for the Tribe pur-
suant to the authorities granted to the Secretary in the 
Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 5101 et seq.). 
Æ 
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