To amend the Act of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the authority of the Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes.

Amends the Act commonly known as the Indian Reorganization Act to apply the Act to all federally recognized Indian tribes, regardless of when any tribe became recognized. (This effectively overrules the Supreme Court's decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, which held that the Secretary of the Interior could not take land into trust for a specified tribe because that tribe had not been under federal jurisdiction when the Act was enacted.)

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3742 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3742

  To amend the Act of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the authority of the 
  Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 7, 2009

  Mr. Kildee introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                     Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To amend the Act of June 18, 1934, to reaffirm the authority of the 
  Secretary of the Interior to take land into trust for Indian tribes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. MODIFICATION OF DEFINITION.

    (a) In General.--Section 19 of the Act of June 18, 1934 (commonly 
known as the ``Indian Reorganization Act'') (25 U.S.C. 479), is 
amended--
            (1) in the first sentence--
                    (A) by striking ``The term'' and inserting 
                ``Effective beginning on June 18, 1934, the term''; and
                    (B) by striking ``any recognized Indian tribe now 
                under Federal jurisdiction'' and inserting ``any 
                federally recognized Indian tribe''; and
            (2) by striking the third sentence and inserting the 
        following: ``In this Act, the terms `Indian tribe' and `tribe' 
        mean any Indian or Alaska Native tribe, band, nation, pueblo, 
        village, or community, that the Secretary of the Interior 
        acknowledges to exist as an Indian tribe.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect as if included in the Act of June 18, 1934 (commonly known 
as the ``Indian Reorganization Act'') (25 U.S.C. 479), on the date of 
enactment of that Act.
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