I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 474
To amend the Lumbee Act of 1956.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
JANUARY16, 2025
Mr. R
OUZER(for himself, Mr. HARRISof North Carolina, Mr. HUDSON, Mrs.
F
OUSHEE, Mr. MURPHY, Ms. ROSS, Mr. DAVISof North Carolina, Mr.
M
CDOWELL, and Mr. MOOREof North Carolina) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To amend the Lumbee Act of 1956.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lumbee Fairness Act’’. 4
SEC. 2. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 5
The Act of June 7, 1956 (70 Stat. 254, chapter 375), 6
is amended— 7
(1) by striking section 2; 8
(2) in the first sentence of the first section, by 9
striking ‘‘That the Indians’’ and inserting the fol-10
lowing: 11
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•HR 474 IH
‘‘SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF LUMBEE INDIANS. 1
‘‘The Indians—’’; 2
(3) in the preamble— 3
(A) by inserting before the first undesig-4
nated clause the following: 5
‘‘SEC. 1. FINDINGS. 6
‘‘Congress finds that—’’; 7
(B) by designating the undesignated 8
clauses as paragraphs (1) through (4), respec-9
tively, and indenting appropriately; 10
(C) by striking ‘‘Whereas’’ each place it 11
appears; 12
(D) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon 13
at the end of each of paragraphs (1) and (2) 14
(as so designated); and 15
(E) in paragraph (4) (as so designated), by 16
striking ‘‘: Now, therefore,’’ and inserting a pe-17
riod; 18
(4) by moving the enacting clause so as to ap-19
pear before section 1 (as so designated); 20
(5) by striking the last sentence of section 3 (as 21
designated by paragraph (2)); 22
(6) by inserting before section 3 (as designated 23
by paragraph (2)) the following: 24
‘‘SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 25
‘‘In this Act: 26
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•HR 474 IH
‘‘(1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 1
the Secretary of the Interior. 2
‘‘(2) T
RIBE.—The term ‘Tribe’ means the 3
Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina or the Lumbee In-4
dians of North Carolina.’’; and 5
(7) by adding at the end the following: 6
‘‘SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 7
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Federal recognition is extended 8
to the Tribe (as designated as petitioner number 65 by 9
the Office of Federal Acknowledgment). 10
‘‘(b) A
PPLICABILITY OFLAWS.—All laws and regula-11
tions of the United States of general application to Indi-12
ans and Indian tribes shall apply to the Tribe and its 13
members. 14
‘‘(c) P
ETITION FORACKNOWLEDGMENT .—Notwith-15
standing section 3, any group of Indians in Robeson and 16
adjoining counties, North Carolina, whose members are 17
not enrolled in the Tribe (as determined under section 18
5(d)) may petition under part 83 of title 25 of the Code 19
of Federal Regulations for acknowledgment of tribal exist-20
ence. 21
‘‘SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL SERVICES. 22
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Tribe and its members shall 23
be eligible for all services and benefits provided by the 24
Federal Government to federally recognized Indian tribes. 25
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•HR 474 IH
‘‘(b) SERVICEAREA.—For the purpose of the delivery 1
of Federal services and benefits described in subsection 2
(a), those members of the Tribe residing in Robeson, Cum-3
berland, Hoke, and Scotland counties in North Carolina 4
shall be deemed to be residing on or near an Indian res-5
ervation. 6
‘‘(c) D
ETERMINATION OF NEEDS.—On verification 7
by the Secretary of a tribal roll under subsection (d), the 8
Secretary and the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-9
ices shall— 10
‘‘(1) develop, in consultation with the Tribe, a 11
determination of needs to provide the services for 12
which members of the Tribe are eligible; and 13
‘‘(2) after the tribal roll is verified, each submit 14
to Congress a written statement of those needs. 15
‘‘(d) T
RIBALROLL.— 16
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—For purpose of the delivery 17
of Federal services and benefits described in sub-18
section (a), the tribal roll in effect on the date of en-19
actment of this section shall, subject to verification 20
by the Secretary, define the service population of the 21
Tribe. 22
‘‘(2) V
ERIFICATION LIMITATION AND DEAD -23
LINE.—The verification by the Secretary under 24
paragraph (1) shall— 25
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•HR 474 IH
‘‘(A) be limited to confirming documentary 1
proof of compliance with the membership cri-2
teria set out in the constitution of the Tribe 3
adopted on November 16, 2001; and 4
‘‘(B) be completed not later than 2 years 5
after the submission of a digitized roll with sup-6
porting documentary proof by the Tribe to the 7
Secretary. 8
‘‘SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION TO TAKE LAND INTO TRUST. 9
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro-10
vision of law, the Secretary is hereby authorized to take 11
land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. 12
‘‘(b) T
REATMENT OF CERTAINLAND.—An applica-13
tion to take into trust land located within Robeson Coun-14
ty, North Carolina, under this section shall be treated by 15
the Secretary as an ‘on reservation’ trust acquisition 16
under part 151 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations 17
(or a successor regulation). 18
‘‘SEC. 7. JURISDICTION OF STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA. 19
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—With respect to land located 20
within the State of North Carolina that is owned by, or 21
held in trust by the United States for the benefit of, the 22
Tribe, or any dependent Indian community of the Tribe, 23
the State of North Carolina shall exercise jurisdiction 24
over— 25
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•HR 474 IH
‘‘(1) all criminal offenses that are committed; 1
and 2
‘‘(2) all civil actions that arise. 3
‘‘(b) T
RANSFER OFJURISDICTION.— 4
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 5
the Secretary may accept on behalf of the United 6
States, after consulting with the Attorney General of 7
the United States, any transfer by the State of 8
North Carolina to the United States of any portion 9
of the jurisdiction of the State of North Carolina de-10
scribed in subsection (a) over Indian country occu-11
pied by the Tribe pursuant to an agreement between 12
the Tribe and the State of North Carolina. 13
‘‘(2) R
ESTRICTION.—A transfer of jurisdiction 14
described in paragraph (1) may not take effect until 15
2 years after the effective date of the agreement de-16
scribed in that paragraph. 17
‘‘(c) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section affects the ap-18
plication of section 109 of the Indian Child Welfare Act 19
of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1919).’’. 20
Æ
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