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 ad-
joining counties and other Indian groups in North Caro-
lina, 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. AUTHORITY TO PETITION FOR FEDERAL REC-
OGNITION. 
(a) CONSIDERATION OF LUMBEE PETITION.—The 
Act of June 7, 1956 (70 Stat. 254), shall not be construed 
to constitute a bar to the consideration by the Secretary 
of the Interior of a petition of a group or organization 
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representing the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoin-
ing counties of North Carolina, the Lumbee Regional De-
velopment Association, Inc., the Lumbee Tribe of Cheraw 
Indians, the Hatteras Tuscarora Indians, the Cherokee In-
dians of Robeson and Adjoining Counties, the Cherokee 
Indians of Hoke County, Inc., or the Tuscarora Nation 
of North Carolina. 
(b) RECOGNIZED GROUPS.—The Act of June 7, 
1956, shall not be construed to operate to deny any group 
or organization whose petition is approved by the Sec-
retary on or after the date of the enactment of this Act 
any of the special programs or services provided by the 
United States to Indian tribes and their members because 
of their status as Indians. 
SEC. 2. CONSIDERATION OF PETITION REQUESTING REC-
OGNITION AS AN INDIAN TRIBE. 
(a) PROPOSED FINDING.—The Assistant Secretary of 
the Interior for Indian Affairs shall publish a proposed 
finding with respect to the petition for Federal recognition 
as an Indian tribe by the Secretary of the Interior pursu-
ant to part 83 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations, 
submitted by the Lumbee Regional Development Associa-
tion on December 17, 1987, and subsequently supple-
mented, not later than 18 months after the date on which 
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the petitioner has fully responded to the notice of obvious 
deficiencies regarding that petition. 
(b) NUMBER OF MEMBERS NOT A FACTOR.—The 
number of persons listed on the membership roll contained 
in the petition referred to in subsection (a) shall not be 
taken into account in considering such petition except that 
the Assistant Secretary may review the eligibility of indi-
vidual members or groups listed in such petition in accord-
ance with the provisions of part 83 of title 25, Code of 
Federal Regulations. 
(c) REVIEW.—(1) If the Assistant Secretary fails to 
publish the proposed finding referred to in subsection (a) 
within the 18-month period referred to in such subsection, 
the petitioner may treat such failure as final agency action 
refusing to recognize the petitioner as an Indian tribe and 
seek in Federal district court a determination of whether 
the petitioner should be recognized as an Indian tribe in 
accordance with the criteria specified in section 83.7 of 
title 25, Code of Federal Regulations. 
(2) If the Assistant Secretary publishes a final deci-
sion refusing to recognize the Indians seeking recognition 
under the petition referred to in subsection (a), the peti-
tioner may, not later than one year after the date on which 
the final decision is published, seek in Federal district 
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court a review of the decision, notwithstanding the avail-
ability of other administrative remedies. 
SEC. 3. NO DELAY FOR PETITIONS AWAITING ACTIVE CON-
SIDERATION. 
It is the sense of the Congress that the review of the 
petition referred to in section 2(a) should not unneces-
sarily delay the review of the pending fully documented 
petitions for recognition as an Indian tribe awaiting active 
consideration as of the date of enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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