I 
108TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1408
To provide for the consideration of a petition for Federal Recognition of 
the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoining counties, and for other 
purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MARCH 20, 2003
Mr. TAYLOR of North Carolina (for himself, Mr. CARSON of Oklahoma, and 
Mr. JONES of North Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on 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 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
representing the Lumbee Indians of Robeson and adjoin-
ing counties of North Carolina. 
(b) CONSIDERATION
OF OTHER PETITIONS.—The 
Act of June 7, 1956, shall not be construed to constitute 
a bar to the consideration by the Secretary of a petition 
of a group or organization representing any Indians in 
Robeson or any other county of North Carolina other than 
the Lumbee Indians. 
(c) 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
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
court a review of the decision, notwithstanding the avail-
ability of other administrative remedies. 
SEC. 3. CRIMINAL AND CIVIL JURISDICTION. 
(a) STATE.—In the event that an Indian tribe is rec-
ognized pursuant to the petition referred to in section 
2(a), the State of North Carolina shall exercise jurisdic-
tion over all criminal offenses that are committed and all 
civil causes of action that arise, on lands located within 
the State that are owned by, or held in trust by the United 
States for, such tribe or any member of such tribe, or on 
lands within any dependent community of such tribe, to 
the same extent that the State has jurisdiction over any 
such offense committed elsewhere in the State or over 
other civil causes of action. 
(b) TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES.—The Sec-
retary may accept on behalf of the United States, after 
consultation with the Attorney General of the United 
States, any transfer by the State of North Carolina to the 
United States of any portion of the jurisdiction of the 
State described in subsection (a). 
SEC. 4. 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