I
107TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3824
To extend Federal recognition to the Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY 28, 2002
Mrs. BONO introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee
on Resources
A BILL
To extend Federal recognition to the Gabrieleno Band of
Mission Indians, 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 ‘‘Gabrieleno Band of
Mission Indians Federal Recognition Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Gabrieleno Indians, aboriginally known
as the kumi-vit, live within their homelands along
the drainages of the Santa Ana and San Gabriel
Rivers and the San Pedro, Wilmington, and Paso
Robles areas of southern California.
(2) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians
are recognized by anthropologists, historians, and
genealogists, as the lineal, social, and political de-
scendants of Native Americans contacted by Spanish
and Portuguese explorers and settlers in the 16th
and 17th centuries.
(3) In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish
Mission San Gabriel was established on Gabrieleno
Indian homelands causing the loss of their land base
and disruption of the Gabrieleno Band of Mission
Indians.
(4) Today’s Gabrieleno Indians are direct lineal
descendants of enrollees on the 1928 Indian Census
and on the 1933 supplemental roll book pursuant to
the Act of May 8, 1928.
(5) Gabrieleno tribal culture, manifest in life
and burial rites and other social and religious prac-
tices, has been handed down generation-to-genera-
tion to the present day.
(6) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians is
an Indian Tribe which is recognized as eligible for
the special programs and services provided by the
United States to Indians because of their status as
Indians and does in fact receive such services.
(7) The Bureau of Indian Affairs has deter-
mined the Gabrieleno tribal blood quantum of each
of the enrolled members of the Gabrieleno Band of
Mission Indians and, for this and other reasons, the
members of the Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians
receive certain Federal and State services that are
afforded to them only because they are Indians.
(8) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians of
California, Inc., was incorporated as a California
nonprofit corporation on May 16, 2000, for the pur-
pose of administering the business of the Tribe.
(9) The Department of Health and Human
Services has determined that the Gabrieleno Band of
Mission Indians of California, Inc., is eligible for
certain Federal programs because of its tribal and
legal status and has provided grants to it in support
of tribal governance.
(10) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians,
Inc., is recognized by other federally recognized
tribes in San Bernardino and Riverside Counties of
California, as the governing body of the Gabrieleno
Band of Mission Indians.
(11) The Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians is
desirous of securing its cultural and its social and
economic future and land on which to bury the re-
mains of ancestors and for other purposes.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
For the purposes of this Act the following definitions
apply:
(1) MEMBER.—The term ‘‘member’’ means an
enrolled member of the Gabrieleno Band of Mission
Indians, as of the date of the enactment of this Act,
or an individual who has been placed on the mem-
bership roles in accordance with this Act.
(2) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means
the Secretary of the Interior.
(3) TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Tribe’’ means the
Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians.
SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION.
Federal recognition is hereby extended to the
Gabrieleno Band of Mission Indians. All laws and regula-
tions of the United States of general application to Indi-
ans, or nations, tribes, or band of Indians, including the
Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 461 et seq.) which are
not inconsistent with any specific provision of this Act,
shall be applicable to the Tribe and its members.
SEC. 5. FEDERAL SERVICES AND BENEFITS.
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Tribe and its members shall
be eligible, on and after the date of the enactment of this
Act, for all future services and benefits provided by the
Federal Government to federally recognized tribes without
regard to the existence of a reservation for the Tribe or
the location of the residence of any member on or near
any Indian reservation.
(b) SERVICE AREA.—For purposes of the delivery of
Federal services to enrolled members of the Tribe, the
Tribe’s service area shall be coterminous with the Mission
Area of the Southern California Agency of the Sacramento
Area Office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
SEC. 6. MEMBERSHIP.
Not later than 18 months after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act, the Tribe shall submit to the Secretary
a membership roll consisting of all individuals enrolled in
the Tribe. The qualifications for inclusion on the member-
ship roll of the Tribe shall be determined by the member-
ship clauses in the Tribe’s governing document, in con-
sultation with the Secretary. Upon completion of the roll,
the Secretary shall immediately publish notice of the roll
in the Federal Register. The Tribe shall ensure that such
roll is maintained and kept current.
SEC. 7. CONSTITUTION AND GOVERNING BODY.
(a) CONSTITUTION.—