Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina Recognition Act
Bill: H.R.9536 | Sponsor: Rep. Butterfield, G. K. (D-NC)
Policy area: Native Americans

Summary:
Haliwa-Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina Recognition Act
This bill extends federal recognition to the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe of North Carolina.
The bill makes the tribe and its members eligible for services and benefits provided to federally recognized tribes, without regard to the existence of a reservation. The service area of the tribe shall include Halifax, Warren, Nash, Franklin, Vance, and Granville Counties in North Carolina.
The tribe must submit the most recent membership roll and governing documents to the Department of the Interior.
The bill also authorizes Interior to take land into trust for the benefit of the tribe and proclaim a reservation for the tribe.

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 Representatives 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 Nansemond and affiliated 
        Tribes that inhabited the Piedmont and coastal regions of what 
        are now Virginia 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 Nation 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 County, 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 115-121; 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 resident 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, Warren, 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 Institution anthropologist 
        James Mooney and confirmed the residence of a Tribe of 300-600 
        Indians in the Meadows in Halifax and Warren Counties.
            (11) The Tribe has continually existed as a separate 
        community, with leaders exhibiting clear political authority.
            (12) While local non-Indians recognized the Indian and 
        Tribal identity of the Haliwa-Saponi, others insisted on 
        classifying Tribal citizens as ``colored'' 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 political leaders of 
        the Haliwa-Saponi.
            (15) In 1957, the Tribe opened the Haliwa Indian 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.
            (19) In the early 1970s, local public school districts 
        started receiving Federal funds from the Department 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 Department of Housing 
        and Urban Development, Native American Housing Assistance and 
        Self Determination 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 original Haliwa Indian School, and the 
        school currently receives Federal funds from the Department of 
        Education, 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.

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 
applicable 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 delivery of Federal 
services and benefits described in subsection (a), the Tribal roll in 
effect on the date of enactment of this Act shall, subject to 
verification by the Secretary, define the service population of the 
Tribe.
    (d) Roll; Governing Documents.--The membership roll and government 
documents of the Tribe shall be the most recent membership roll and 
governing documents, respectively, submitted by the Tribe to the 
Secretary before the date of enactment of this Act.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION TO TAKE LAND INTO TRUST.

    Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Secretary is 
authorized to take land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe and 
proclaim a reservation for the Tribe pursuant to the authorities 
granted to the Secretary in the Act of June 18, 1934 (25 U.S.C. 5101 et 
seq.).
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