Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that extends federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and makes its members eligible for the services and benefits provided to members of federally recognized tribes.

Highlights:

• Extends federal recognition to the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and makes its members eligible for the services and benefits provided to members of federally recognized tribes (Sec. 2-4).

• Specifies that members of the tribe residing in Robeson, Cumberland, Hoke, and Scotland Counties in North Carolina are deemed to be within the delivery area for such services (Sec. 2-4).

• Requires the Department of the Interior and the Department of Health and Human Services to develop, in consultation with the tribe, a determination of needs to provide the services for which members of the tribe are eligible (Sec. 5).

• Authorizes the Interior Department to take land into trust for the benefit of the tribe (Sec. 6).

• Requires the state of North Carolina to exercise jurisdiction over all criminal offenses committed, and all civil actions that arise, on state lands owned by, or held in trust for, the Lumbee Tribe or any dependent Indian community of the tribe unless jurisdiction is transferred to the United States under an agreement between the tribe and the state (Sec. 7).

Full Bill Text

Full Bill Text