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 2018’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds as follows: 
(1) Article I, section 8, clause 3 of the Constitu-
tion (commonly known as the Indian Commerce 
Clause) gives Congress authority over Indian affairs. 
(2) Such authority is plenary and exclusive. 
(3) Such authority may not be exercised by the 
judicial branch or by the executive branch (except to 
the extent that such authority has been expressly dele-
gated to the executive branch by an Act of Congress). 
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 
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context of the history, geography, culture, and social 
organization of the petitioning group. 
(3) 
COMMUNITY.—The 
term 
‘‘Community’’ 
means any group of people who can demonstrate that 
consistent interactions and significant social relation-
ships exist within its membership and that its mem-
bers are differentiated from and identified as distinct 
from nonmembers. Community must be understood in 
the context of the history, geography, culture, and so-
cial 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 substantially with-
out interruption. 
(6) DOCUMENTED PETITION.—The term ‘‘docu-
mented petition’’ means the detailed arguments made 
by a petitioner to substantiate its claim to continuous 
existence as an Indian tribe, together with the factual 
exposition and all documentary evidence necessary to 
demonstrate that these arguments address the manda-
tory criteria. 
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(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 re-
ferred to herein as tribe, means any Indian or Alaska 
Native tribe, band, pueblo, village, or community 
within the continental United States that the Sec-
retary 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 conti-
nental 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 ‘‘interested 
party’’ means any person, organization, or other enti-
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ty who can establish a legal, factual, or property in-
terest in an acknowledgment determination and who 
requests an opportunity to submit comments or evi-
dence or to be kept informed of general actions re-
garding a specific petitioner. ‘‘Interested party’’ in-
cludes the Governor and attorney general of the State 
in which a petitioner is located, and may include, but 
is not limited to, local governmental 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 intent to the 
Secretary requesting acknowledgment that it is an In-
dian 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 members 
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in significant respects, and making decisions for the 
group which substantially affect its members, and 
representing the group in dealing with outsiders in 
matters of consequence. This process is to be under-
stood in the context of the history, culture, and social 
organization of the group. 
(15) PREVIOUS FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT.— 
The term ‘‘previous Federal acknowledgment’’ means 
action by the Federal Government clearly premised on 
identification of a tribal political entity and indi-
cating clearly the recognition of a relationship be-
tween that entity and the United States. 
(16) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior or that officer’s author-
ized representative. 
(17) SUSTAINED CONTACT.—The term ‘‘sustained 
contact’’ means the period of earliest sustained non- 
Indian settlement 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. 
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(b) INELIGIBLE GROUPS.—The following may not sub-
mit 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-
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, Alas-
ka native villages, or communities that have been 
lawfully acknowledged to be federally recognized In-
dian tribes and are receiving services from the Bu-
reau of Indian Affairs. 
(3) Groups that petitioned and were denied Fed-
eral acknowledgment under part 83 of title 25, Code 
of Federal Regulations, including reorganized or re-
constituted petitioners previously denied, or splinter 
groups, spin-offs, or component groups of any type 
that were once part of petitioners previously denied. 
(4) Groups for which a documented petition has 
not been filed pursuant to section 9 by the date that 
is 5 years after the date of the enactment of this Act. 
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(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. 
SEC. 5. FILING A LETTER OF INTENT. 
Any eligible 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 Indian group exists as an Indian tribe. The letter of 
intent submitted under this section— 
(1) shall be filed with the Assistant Secretary; 
(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 documented peti-
tions. These guidelines— 
(1) shall include an explanation of the criteria, 
a discussion of the types of evidence which may be 
used to demonstrate particular criteria, and general 
suggestions and guidelines on how and where to con-
duct research; 
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(2) shall include an example of a documented pe-
tition format which shall provide guidance, but not 
preclude the use of any other format; and 
(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 peti-
tion; 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 acknowledg-
ment are, 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 char-
acter as an Indian entity has from time to time been 
denied shall not be considered to be conclusive evi-
dence that this criterion has not been met. Evidence 
to be relied upon in determining a group’s Indian 
identity may include one or a combination of the fol-
lowing, as well as other evidence of identification by 
other than the petitioner itself or its members: 
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(A) Identification as an Indian entity by 
Federal authorities. 
(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, or other scholars. 
(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 
other evidence that the petitioner meets the defi-
nition of community: 
(i) Significant rates of marriage with-
in the group, or, as may be culturally re-
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quired, patterned out-marriages with other 
Indian populations. 
(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 ac-
tivity 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 popu-
lations 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. 
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(viii) The persistence of a named, col-
lective Indian identity continuously over a 
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, 
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kinship organization, or religious beliefs 
and practices. 
(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 by other evidence that the petitioner meets 
the definition of political influence or authority: 
(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 impor-
tance. 
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(iii) There is widespread knowledge, 
communication, and involvement in polit-
ical processes by most of the group’s mem-
bers. 
(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 decisions. 
(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 other mecha-
nisms 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 and 
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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 docu-
ment including its membership criteria. In the ab-
sence of a written document, the petitioner must pro-
vide a statement describing in full its membership 
criteria and current governing procedures. 
(5) The petitioner’s membership consists of indi-
viduals 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 distrib-
uting claims money, providing allotments, 
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 mem-
bers 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 political 
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 members 
of any acknowledged North American Indian tribe. 
However, under certain conditions a petitioning 
group may be acknowledged even if its membership is 
composed principally of persons whose names have 
appeared on rolls of, or who have been otherwise asso-
ciated with, an acknowledged Indian tribe. The condi-
tions are that the group must establish that it has 
functioned throughout history until the present as a 
separate and autonomous Indian tribal entity, that 
its members do not maintain a bilateral political re-
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lationship 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 an Act of Congress that has expressly 
terminated or forbidden the Federal relationship. 
SEC. 8. PREVIOUS FEDERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Unambiguous previous Federal ac-
knowledgment shall be acceptable evidence of the tribal 
character of a petitioner to the date of the last such previous 
acknowledgment. If a petitioner provides substantial evi-
dence of unambiguous Federal acknowledgment, the peti-
tioner 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 evidence of 
previous Federal action acknowledging tribal status shall 
be made during the technical assistance review of the docu-
mented petition conducted pursuant to section 10(b). 
(b) EVIDENCE.—Evidence to demonstrate previous 
Federal acknowledgment includes evidence that the group— 
(1) has had treaty relations with the United 
States; 
(2) has been denominated a tribe by an Act of 
Congress or Executive order; and 
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(3) has been treated by the Federal Government 
as having collective rights in tribal lands or funds. 
SEC. 9. NOTICE OF RECEIPT OF A PETITION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 30 days after receiv-
ing a letter of intent, or a documented petition if a letter 
of intent has not previously been received and noticed, the 
Assistant Secretary shall acknowledge to the sender such re-
ceipt in writing. Notice under this subsection shall— 
(1) include the name, location, and mailing ad-
dress of the petitioner and such other information to 
identify the entity submitting the letter of intent or 
documented petition and the date it was received; 
(2) serve to announce the opportunity for inter-
ested parties and informed parties to submit factual 
or legal arguments in support of or in opposition to 
the petitioner’s request for acknowledgment or to re-
quest to be kept informed of all general actions affect-
ing the petition; and 
(3) indicate where a copy of the letter of intent 
and the documented petition may be examined. 
(b) NOTICE TO STATE GOVERNMENTS.—The Assistant 
Secretary shall notify, in writing— 
(1) the Governor and attorney general of the 
State or States in which a petitioner is located; and 
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(2) any recognized tribe and any other petitioner 
that— 
(A) appears to have a historical or present 
relationship with the petitioner; or 
(B) may otherwise be considered to have a 
potential interest in the acknowledgment deter-
mination. 
(c) PUBLICATION.—Not later than 60 days after receiv-
ing a letter of intent, or a documented petition if a letter 
of intent has not previously been received and noticed, the 
Assistant Secretary shall have the notice required under this 
section published— 
(1) in the Federal Register; and 
(2) in a major newspaper or newspapers of gen-
eral circulation in the town or city nearest to the pe-
titioner. 
SEC. 10. PROCESSING OF THE DOCUMENTED PETITION. 
(a) REVIEW.—Upon receipt of a documented petition, 
the Assistant Secretary— 
(1) shall cause a review to be conducted to deter-
mine the extent to which the petitioner has met the 
criteria set forth in section 7; 
(2) shall include consideration of the documented 
petition and the factual statements contained therein; 
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(3) may initiate other research for any purpose 
relative to analyzing the documented petition and ob-
taining additional information about the petitioner’s 
status; and 
(4) may consider any evidence which may be 
submitted by interested parties or informed parties. 
(b) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 
(1) Prior to review of the documented petition 
under subsection (a), the Assistant Secretary shall 
conduct a preliminary review of the petition in order 
to provide technical assistance to the petitioner. 
(2) The review under paragraph (1) shall be a 
preliminary review for the purpose of providing the 
petitioner an opportunity to supplement or revise the 
documented petition prior to the review under sub-
section (a). Insofar as possible, technical assistance 
reviews under this paragraph will be conducted in the 
order of receipt of documented petitions. However, 
technical assistance reviews will not have priority 
over active consideration of documented petitions. 
(3) After the technical assistance review, the As-
sistant Secretary shall notify the petitioner by letter 
of any obvious deficiencies or significant omissions 
apparent in the documented petition and provide the 
petitioner with an opportunity to withdraw the docu-
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mented petition for further work or to submit addi-
tional information. 
(4) If a petitioner’s documented petition claims 
previous Federal acknowledgment or includes evidence 
of previous Federal acknowledgment, the technical as-
sistance review shall also include a review to deter-
mine whether that evidence is sufficient to meet the 
requirements of previous Federal acknowledgment. 
(c) RESPONSE TO TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE REVIEW.— 
(1) Petitioners may respond in part or in full to 
the technical assistance review letter or request, in 
writing, that the Assistant Secretary proceed with the 
active consideration of the documented petition using 
the materials already submitted. 
(2) If the petitioner requests that the materials 
submitted in response to the technical assistance re-
view letter be again reviewed for adequacy, the Assist-
ant Secretary shall provide the additional review. 
(3) If the assertion of previous Federal acknowl-
edgment under section 8 cannot be substantiated dur-
ing the technical assistance review, the petitioner may 
respond by providing additional evidence. A peti-
tioner that claims previous Federal acknowledgment 
and fails to respond to a technical assistance review 
letter under this subsection, or whose response fails to 
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establish the claim, shall have its documented petition 
considered on the same basis as documented petitions 
submitted by groups not claiming previous Federal 
acknowledgment. Petitioners that fail to demonstrate 
previous Federal acknowledgment after a review of 
materials submitted in response to the technical as-
sistance review shall be so notified. Such petitioners 
may submit additional materials concerning previous 
acknowledgment during the course of active consider-
ation. 
(d) CONSIDERATION OF DOCUMENTED PETITIONS.— 
The Assistant Secretary shall— 
(1) review documented petitions in the order that 
they are determined ready for review; 
(2) establish and maintain a numbered register 
of documented petitions which have been determined 
ready for active consideration; 
(3) maintain a numbered register of letters of in-
tent or incomplete petitions based on the original date 
the item was received by the Department of the Inte-
rior; and 
(4) use the register of letters of intent or incom-
plete petitions to determine the order of review by the 
Assistant Secretary if two or more documented peti-
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tions are determined ready for review on the same 
date. 
(e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after notifying the 
petitioner that review of the documented petition has begun, 
the Assistant Secretary shall— 
(1) submit a report including a summary of the 
evidence, findings, petition, and supporting docu-
mentation, to the Committee on Natural Resources of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
Indian Affairs of the Senate; 
(2) notify the petitioner and interested parties 
that the review is complete and the report required 
under paragraph (1) has been submitted; 
(3) provide copies of the report to the petitioner 
and interested parties; and 
(4) provide copies of the report to informed par-
ties and others upon written request. 
SEC. 11. CLARIFICATION OF FEDERAL RECOGNITION AU-
THORITY. 
(a) ACT OF CONGRESS REQUIRED.—An Indian group 
may receive Federal acknowledgment (or reacknowledg-
ment) as an Indian tribe only by an Act of Congress. The 
Secretary may not grant Federal acknowledgment (or re-
acknowledgment) to any Indian group. 
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(b) PREVIOUS ACKNOWLEDGMENT.—This Act shall not 
affect the status of any Indian tribe that was federally ac-
knowledged before the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 12. FORCE AND EFFECT OF REGULATIONS. 
Part 83 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations, shall 
have no force or effect, and section 1.2 of title 25, Code of 
Federal Regulations, with respect to any regulation pro-
mulgated by the Secretary pursuant to this Act, shall have 
no force or effect. 
SEC. 13. TRUST LAND REAFFIRMATION. 
All land taken into trust by the United States under 
or pursuant to the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 5101 
et seq.), before February 24, 2009, for the benefit of an In-
dian tribe that was federally recognized on the date that 
the land was taken into trust is hereby reaffirmed as trust 
land. 
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Union Calendar No. 741 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 3744 
[Report No. 115–953] 
A BILL 
To provide that an Indian group may receive Fed-
eral acknowledgment as an Indian tribe only by 
an Act of Congress. 
SEPTEMBER 20, 2018 
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Com-
mittee of the Whole House on the State of the Union, 
and ordered to be printed 
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