Haliwa Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina Act

Bill: 118-hr-5236
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Davis, Donald G. [D-NC-1]
Introduced: 2023-08-18
Policy area: Native Americans
Latest action: action_date: 2023-08-18
text: Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Summaries:
action_date: 2023-08-18
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Haliwa Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina Act</b></p> <p>This bill extends full federal government-to-government relations to the Haliwa Saponi Tribe of North Carolina.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>The tribe must submit the most recent membership roll and governing documents to the Department of the Interior.</p> <p>The bill also authorizes Interior to take land into trust for the benefit of the tribe and proclaim a reservation for the tribe.</p>

tv_txt: I 118th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 5236 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 18, 2023 Mr. Davis of North Carolina (for himself and Ms. Adams ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To extend the full measure of the Federal Government-to-government relationship between the United States and the Haliwa Saponi Tribe of North Carolina.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Haliwa Saponi Indian Tribe of North Carolina Act . 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 Bertie, 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 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) The United States has been providing Federal funding to the Tribe from the Department of Education’s Office of Indian Education for half a century. (20) The United States has been providing Federal funding to the Tribe for housing and related infrastructure development from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development pursuant to the Federal Native American Housing and Self-Determination Act for 25 years. (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. 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. 4. Extension of full Federal Government-to-government relations The United States hereby extends to the Haliwa Saponi Indian Tribe the full measure of the Federal Government-to-government relationship to make 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 applicable to the Tribe and Tribal members. 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. 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. ), and lands acquired in trust for the Tribe and included in the first reservation proclamation for the Tribe shall be treated as an initial reservation that meets the requirements of Public Law 100–497 , section 20(b)(1)(B)(ii).