Us Congress 2025-2026 Regular Session

Us Congress Senate Bill SB107 Compare Versions

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Old	New	Differences
1	1	II
2	2	119THCONGRESS
3	3	1
4	4	STSESSION S. 107
5	5	To amend the Lumbee Act of 1956.
6	6	IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
7	7	JANUARY16, 2025
8	8	Mr. T
9	9	ILLIS(for himself and Mr. BUDD) introduced the following bill; which
10	10	was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs
11	11	A BILL
12	12	To amend the Lumbee Act of 1956.
13	13	Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
14	14	tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
15	15	SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
16	16	This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Lumbee Fairness Act’’. 4
17	17	SEC. 2. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 5
18	18	The Act of June 7, 1956 (70 Stat. 254, chapter 375), 6
19	19	is amended— 7
20	20	(1) by striking section 2; 8
21	21	(2) in the first sentence of the first section, by 9
22	22	striking ‘‘That the Indians’’ and inserting the fol-10
23	23	lowing: 11
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26	26	•S 107 IS
27	27	‘‘SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF LUMBEE INDIANS. 1
28	28	‘‘The Indians’’; 2
29	29	(3) in the preamble— 3
30	30	(A) by inserting before the first undesig-4
31	31	nated clause the following: 5
32	32	‘‘SECTION 1. FINDINGS. 6
33	33	‘‘Congress finds that—’’; 7
34	34	(B) by designating the undesignated 8
35	35	clauses as paragraphs (1) through (4), respec-9
36	36	tively, and indenting appropriately; 10
37	37	(C) by striking ‘‘Whereas’’ each place it 11
38	38	appears; 12
39	39	(D) by striking ‘‘and’’ after the semicolon 13
40	40	at the end of each of paragraphs (1) and (2) 14
41	41	(as so designated); and 15
42	42	(E) in paragraph (4) (as so designated), by 16
43	43	striking ‘‘: Now, therefore,’’ and inserting a pe-17
44	44	riod; 18
45	45	(4) by moving the enacting clause so as to ap-19
46	46	pear before section 1 (as so designated); 20
47	47	(5) by striking the last sentence of section 3 (as 21
48	48	designated by paragraph (2)); 22
49	49	(6) by inserting before section 3 (as designated 23
50	50	by paragraph (2)) the following: 24
51	51	‘‘SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 25
52	52	‘‘In this Act: 26
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55	55	•S 107 IS
56	56	‘‘(1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 1
57	57	the Secretary of the Interior. 2
58	58	‘‘(2) T
59	59	RIBE.—The term ‘Tribe’ means the 3
60	60	Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina or the Lumbee In-4
61	61	dians of North Carolina.’’; and 5
62	62	(7) by adding at the end the following: 6
63	63	‘‘SEC. 4. FEDERAL RECOGNITION. 7
64	64	‘‘(a) I
65	65	NGENERAL.—Federal recognition is extended 8
66	66	to the Tribe (as designated as petitioner number 65 by 9
67	67	the Office of Federal Acknowledgment). 10
68	68	‘‘(b) A
69	69	PPLICABILITY OFLAWS.—All laws and regula-11
70	70	tions of the United States of general application to Indi-12
71	71	ans and Indian tribes shall apply to the Tribe and its 13
72	72	members. 14
73	73	‘‘(c) P
74	74	ETITION FORACKNOWLEDGMENT .—Notwith-15
75	75	standing section 3, any group of Indians in Robeson and 16
76	76	adjoining counties, North Carolina, whose members are 17
77	77	not enrolled in the Tribe (as determined under section 18
78	78	5(d)) may petition under part 83 of title 25 of the Code 19
79	79	of Federal Regulations for acknowledgment of tribal exist-20
80	80	ence. 21
81	81	‘‘SEC. 5. ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL SERVICES. 22
82	82	‘‘(a) I
83	83	NGENERAL.—The Tribe and its members shall 23
84	84	be eligible for all services and benefits provided by the 24
85	85	Federal Government to federally recognized Indian tribes. 25
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88	88	•S 107 IS
89	89	‘‘(b) SERVICEAREA.—For the purpose of the delivery 1
90	90	of Federal services and benefits described in subsection 2
91	91	(a), those members of the Tribe residing in Robeson, Cum-3
92	92	berland, Hoke, and Scotland counties in North Carolina 4
93	93	shall be deemed to be residing on or near an Indian res-5
94	94	ervation. 6
95	95	‘‘(c) D
96	96	ETERMINATION OF NEEDS.—On verification 7
97	97	by the Secretary of a tribal roll under subsection (d), the 8
98	98	Secretary and the Secretary of Health and Human Serv-9
99	99	ices shall— 10
100	100	‘‘(1) develop, in consultation with the Tribe, a 11
101	101	determination of needs to provide the services for 12
102	102	which members of the Tribe are eligible; and 13
103	103	‘‘(2) after the tribal roll is verified, each submit 14
104	104	to Congress a written statement of those needs. 15
105	105	‘‘(d) T
106	106	RIBALROLL.— 16
107	107	‘‘(1) I
108	108	N GENERAL.—For purpose of the delivery 17
109	109	of Federal services and benefits described in sub-18
110	110	section (a), the tribal roll in effect on the date of en-19
111	111	actment of this section shall, subject to verification 20
112	112	by the Secretary, define the service population of the 21
113	113	Tribe. 22
114	114	‘‘(2) V
115	115	ERIFICATION LIMITATION AND DEAD -23
116	116	LINE.—The verification by the Secretary under 24
117	117	paragraph (1) shall— 25
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120	120	•S 107 IS
121	121	‘‘(A) be limited to confirming documentary 1
122	122	proof of compliance with the membership cri-2
123	123	teria set out in the constitution of the Tribe 3
124	124	adopted on November 16, 2001; and 4
125	125	‘‘(B) be completed not later than 2 years 5
126	126	after the submission of a digitized roll with sup-6
127	127	porting documentary proof by the Tribe to the 7
128	128	Secretary. 8
129	129	‘‘SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION TO TAKE LAND INTO TRUST. 9
130	130	‘‘(a) I
131	131	NGENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other pro-10
132	132	vision of law, the Secretary is hereby authorized to take 11
133	133	land into trust for the benefit of the Tribe. 12
134	134	‘‘(b) T
135	135	REATMENT OF CERTAINLAND.—An applica-13
136	136	tion to take into trust land located within Robeson Coun-14
137	137	ty, North Carolina, under this section shall be treated by 15
138	138	the Secretary as an ‘on reservation’ trust acquisition 16
139	139	under part 151 of title 25, Code of Federal Regulations 17
140	140	(or a successor regulation). 18
141	141	‘‘SEC. 7. JURISDICTION OF STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA. 19
142	142	‘‘(a) I
143	143	NGENERAL.—With respect to land located 20
144	144	within the State of North Carolina that is owned by, or 21
145	145	held in trust by the United States for the benefit of, the 22
146	146	Tribe, or any dependent Indian community of the Tribe, 23
147	147	the State of North Carolina shall exercise jurisdiction 24
148	148	over— 25
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151	151	•S 107 IS
152	152	‘‘(1) all criminal offenses that are committed; 1
153	153	and 2
154	154	‘‘(2) all civil actions that arise. 3
155	155	‘‘(b) T
156	156	RANSFER OFJURISDICTION.— 4
157	157	‘‘(1) I
158	158	N GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2), 5
159	159	the Secretary may accept on behalf of the United 6
160	160	States, after consulting with the Attorney General of 7
161	161	the United States, any transfer by the State of 8
162	162	North Carolina to the United States of any portion 9
163	163	of the jurisdiction of the State of North Carolina de-10
164	164	scribed in subsection (a) over Indian country occu-11
165	165	pied by the Tribe pursuant to an agreement between 12
166	166	the Tribe and the State of North Carolina. 13
167	167	‘‘(2) R
168	168	ESTRICTION.—A transfer of jurisdiction 14
169	169	described in paragraph (1) may not take effect until 15
170	170	2 years after the effective date of the agreement de-16
171	171	scribed in that paragraph. 17
172	172	‘‘(c) E
173	173	FFECT.—Nothing in this section affects the ap-18
174	174	plication of section 109 of the Indian Child Welfare Act 19
175	175	of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 1919).’’. 20
176	176	Æ
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