[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 126 (Wednesday, July 1, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 37538-37539]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-16194]
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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Bureau of Indian Affairs
25 CFR Part 83
[156A2100DD/AAKC001030/A0A501010.999900 253G]
Requests for Administrative Acknowledgment of Federal Indian
Tribes
AGENCY: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Interior.
ACTION: Policy guidance.
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SUMMARY: This policy guidance establishes the Department's intent to
make determinations to acknowledge Federal Indian tribes within the
contiguous 48 states only in accordance with the regulations
established for that purpose at 25 CFR part 83. This notice directs any
unrecognized group requesting that the Department acknowledge it as an
Indian tribe, through reaffirmation or any other alternative basis, to
petition under 25 CFR part 83 unless an alternate process is
established by rulemaking following the effective date of this policy
guidance.
DATES: This policy guidance is effective July 1, 2015.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Elizabeth Appel, Director, Office of
Regulatory Affairs & Collaborative
[[Page 37539]]
Action--Indian Affairs, (202) 273-4680; [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Prior to the establishment of the regulatory process for
establishing that an American Indian group exists as an Indian tribe in
1978 (``the Part 83 process''), the Department used an informal process
for the Federal acknowledgment of Indian tribes. The Part 83
regulations formalized the process by which the Department reviewed
requests and the criteria required of groups to obtain Federal
acknowledgment. The Department has resolved over 50 petitions using the
Part 83 process.
However, even after the promulgation of the Part 83 regulations in
1978, there have been a range of requests by unrecognized groups to use
other administrative processes to obtain Federal acknowledgment. The
Department has utilized those processes in limited circumstances. For
example, the Department has ``reaffirmed'' some tribes and reorganized
some half-blood communities as tribes under the Indian Reorganization
Act (IRA).
Over the past couple of years, the Department has undertaken a
comprehensive review and evaluation of the process and criteria by
which it federally acknowledges Indian tribes under 25 CFR part 83. As
part of that review of the proposed revisions to Part 83, we also
received comments related to the other administrative processes that
have occasionally been used by the Department for acknowledgment. For
example, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and Stand Up for
California requested that the Department utilize only the Part 83
process to acknowledge tribes.
We recognize the concerns expressed in comments about the use of
administrative approaches for acknowledgment other than Part 83. Having
worked hard to make the Part 83 process more transparent, timely and
efficient, while maintaining Part 83's fairness, rigor, and integrity,
the Department has decided that, in light of these reforms to improve
the Part 83 process, that process should be the only method utilized by
the Department to acknowledge an Indian tribe in the contiguous 48
states.\1\ The Department has determined that it will no longer accept
requests for acknowledgement outside the Part 83 process. Rather, the
Department intends to rely on the newly reformed Part 83 process as the
sole administrative avenue for acknowledgment as a tribe.
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\1\ With regard to Alaska, under 473a, Congress has specifically
provided: ``that groups of Indians in Alaska not recognized prior to
May 1, 1936, as bands or tribes, but having a common bond of
occupation, or association, or residence within a well-defined
neighborhood, community, or rural district, may organize to adopt
constitutions and bylaws and to receive charters of incorporation
and Federal loans under sections 470, 476, and 477 of this title.''
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Of course, the basis for the policy shift being announced today is
the Department's reform and improvement of the Part 83 process. The
recently revised Part 83 regulations promote fairness, integrity,
efficiency and flexibility. No group should be denied access to other
mechanisms if the only administrative avenue available to them is
widely considered ``broken.'' Thus, this policy guidance is contingent
on the Department's ability to implement Part 83, as reformed. If in
the future the newly reformed Part 83 process is not in effect and
being implemented, this policy guidance is deemed rescinded.
To conclude, any group within the contiguous 48 states seeking
Federal acknowledgment as an Indian tribe administratively must
petition under 25 CFR part 83 from this date forward. The decision to
use only the recently reformed Part 83 process from this point forward
does not affect the validity of any determination made prior to the
institution of this policy guidance; while the Department exercised its
discretionary authority to use those methods of acknowledgment in the
past, it no longer will.
Dated: June 26, 2015.
Kevin K. Washburn,
Assistant Secretary--Indian Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2015-16194 Filed 6-30-15; 8:45 am]
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