To amend the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMr. Norman introduced the following bill; which was referred to …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill modifies the membership criteria for the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina by amending the Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993. Specifically, it removes a restrictive clause that previously required individuals to be both lineal descendants of persons on the final base membership roll AND to have "continued to maintain political relations with the Tribe."
Who Benefits and How
- Lineal descendants of Catawba tribal members who may have lost connection with the tribe can now potentially qualify for membership
- The Catawba Indian Tribe gains flexibility in determining its own membership criteria
- Families separated from the tribe who can prove lineal descent now have a pathway to membership regardless of their political relationship with the tribe
Who Bears the Burden and How
- Current tribal members may see dilution of per-capita benefits if tribal resources are distributed among more members
- Tribal administration faces additional processing of new membership applications
- Federal agencies that provide services based on tribal enrollment may see increased demand
Key Provisions
- Strikes the clause "however, on no event may an individual be enrolled as a tribal member unless the individual is a lineal descendant of a person on the final base membership roll and has continued to maintain political relations with the Tribe"
- Amends Section 7 subsection (d) of Public Law 103-116 (Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993)
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
This bill amends the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993 to remove the requirement that tribal membership be restricted to lineal descendants who have maintained political relations with the tribe, thereby expanding potential tribal membership eligibility.
Policy Domains
Section 1 - Catawba Tribal Membership Amendment
Likely Beneficiaries
- Lineal descendants of Catawba tribal members
- Catawba Indian Tribe (expanded membership base)
- Native American families seeking to reconnect with tribal heritage
Inferred from context, no direct clause evidence
Likely Burden Bearers
- Current enrolled tribal members (potential benefit dilution)
- Tribal administration (processing burden)
- Federal tribal services (increased demand)
Inferred from context, no direct clause evidence
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_tribe"
- → Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
A person who can trace direct ancestry (parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, etc.) to an individual on the final base membership roll of the Catawba Indian Tribe.
The requirement (being removed by this bill) that tribal members maintain ongoing connection and participation with tribal governance and affairs.
The official list of enrolled members of the Catawba Indian Tribe established under the 1993 Settlement Act, used as the baseline for determining membership eligibility.
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology