SOURCE: 46 FR 1675, Jan. 7, 1981, unless otherwise noted. Redesignated at 47 FR 13327, Mar. 30, 1982.

§ 82.1

Definitions.

As used in this part:

(a) "Area Director" means the Director of the Bureau Area Office having administrative jurisdiction over the petitioners' tribe.

(b) "Bureau" means the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

(c) "Charter" means a charter of incorporation the Secretary may issue to a recognized tribe pursuant to a Federal Statute.

(d) "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Indian Affairs or his/her authorized representative.

(e) "Constitution" or "Constitution and Bylaws" means the written organizational framework of any tribe for the exercise of governmental powers.

(f) "Eligible, entitled, or qualified voter" means the status achieved by a tribal member who meets the requirement of a tribal constitution or election ordinance to vote in a tribal election; provided, that where a tribe has reorganized pursuant to a Federal Statute, to be an entitled or a qualified voter for purposes of this part, the tribal member must be at least 18 years of age and be eligible to register for voting in a Secretarial election (see Part 81 of this chapter).

(g) "Federal Statute" means one of the following: (1) The Act of June 18, 1934, 48 Stat. 984, as amended (Indian Reorganization Act), (2) the Act of June 26, 1936, 49 Stat. 1967 (Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act), or (3) the Act of May 1, 1936, 49 Stat. 1250 (Alaska Native Reorganization Act).

(h) "Local Bureau Official" means the Superintendent, Field Representative, or other line officer of the Bureau of Indian Affairs who has local administrative jurisdiction over the tribe concerned.

(i) "Local Bureau unit" means the Bureau office having local administrative jurisdiction over the tribe concerned.

(j) "Member” means any person who is duly enrolled in a tribe, who meets a tribe's written criteria for membership, or is recognized as belonging to a tribe by the local Indians comprising that tribe.

(k) "Organized tribe" means any tribe that has adopted a constitution outside of a Federal Statute.

(1) "Reorganized tribe" means any tribe that has adopted a constitution pursuant to a Federal Statute.

(m) "Secretarial election" means an election held within a tribe pursuant to regulations prescribed by the Secretary (as distinguished from tribal elections which are conducted under tribal authority (See Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe v. Andrus, 566 F.2d 1085 (8th Cir., 1977), cert. denied 439 U.S. 820 (1978)).

(n) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Interior or his/her authorized representative.

(o) "Spokesman for the petitioners" means the authorized voter of a tribe initiating a petition or designated by the initiators of a petition to speak on their behalf.

(p) "Tribe" means any Indian entity that is listed or is eligible to be listed in the FEDERAL REGISTER pursuant to § 83.6(b) of this chapter as recognized and receiving services from the Bureau that has adopted a constitution approved by the Secretary or the Commissioner.

§ 82.2 Purpose and scope.

The purpose of this part is to provide uniformity and order in the formulation and submission of petitions requesting the Secretary or the Commissioner to call elections to amend tribal constitutions, to issue charters pursuant to a Federal Statute, and for such other purposes where constitutions and charters provide for petitioning to effect action by the Secretary or Commissioner.

§ 82.3 Applicability to tribal groups.

The regulations in this part apply: (a) To any tribe which provides in its constitution for petitioning the Secretary or the Commissioner to call elections to amend the tribal constitution; (b) to any tribe whose constitution or charter provides for petitioning to effect any other action by the Secretary or Commissioner; and (c) to those tribal members at least 18 years of age who, pursuant to a Federal Statute,

may wish to petition the Secretary to issue a charter to their tribe.

§ 82.4 Entitlement to petition.

All members eligible to vote in elections conducted by a tribe shall be entitled to sign petitions to effect actions by the Secretary or Commissioner within the scope of § 82.2; provided, that where a tribe is reorganized pursuant to a Federal Statute, only persons eligible to register for Secretarial elections may petition.

§ 82.5 Sufficiency of a petition.

(a) The numerical sufficiency of any petition submitted pursuant to this part shall be based upon a number determined by the local Bureau official: (1) By consultation with the tribal governing body regarding the current number of tribal voters; or (2) for reorganized tribes, the number of members considered eligible to register for a Secretarial election and who are at least 18 years of age.

(b) The number shall be made available to the spokesman for the petitioners upon request along with a cutoff date when, for purposes of the petition, no further names will be added.

§ 82.6 Petition format.

Petitions may consist of as many pages as are necessary to accommodate the signatures of the petitioners. However, each sheet of a petition must set forth at least a summary of the objectives of the petitioners and must show the date upon which the petition was signed by each individual as well as the current mailing address of each signer.

§ 82.7 Notarization of petition signatures.

(a) Signatures to a petition must be authenticated in one of the following ways: (1) Through having each signer subscribe or acknowledge his/her signature before a notary public; (2) through having the collector of signatures appeal before a notary and sign, in his/her presence, on each sheet of the petition, a statement attesting that the signatures were affixed on the dates shown and by the individuals whose names appear thereon, and that to the best of his/her knowledge

the signatories are eligible, entitled, or qualified voters.

(b) Only an eligible, entitled, or qualified tribal voter shall be recognized as a valid collector of petition signatures.

§ 82.8 Filing of petitions.

All petitions submitted pursuant to this part must be filed with the local Bureau official having administrative jurisdiction over the tribe. No petitions will be accepted until a spokesman for the petitioners declares that he/she wishes to make an official filing. Once a declaration of the official filing is made and the petition is given to the local Bureau official, that official shall immediately enter on the petition the date of receipt (this date becomes the date of official filing) and shall inform the spokesman for the petitioners that no additional signatures may be added and that no withdrawal of signatures will be permitted. The local Bureau official shall also acknowledge, in writing, receipt of the petition, indicating the exact number of signatures which are attached and the official filing date. Upon this written acknowledgment of the petition, the local Bureau official shall publicly post at the local Bureau unit serving the tribe a statement of the matter proposed in the petition. This statement shall remain posted for a period of 30 days from the official filing date. § 82.9 Challenges.

(a) Once an official filing has been made, the local Bureau official shall immediately have copies made of the petition and its signatures. The local Bureau official shall keep these copies at the Agency or field office for 15 days following the date of official filing, during which time they shall be available for examination by authorized voters of the tribe upon request. During this 15-day period, challenges of signatures may be filed with the local Bureau official.

(b) Challenges will be considered on the following grounds: (1) Forgery of signatures; and (2) lack of proper qualifications of a signer. No challenge will be considered which is not accompanied by supporting evidence in writ

ing. In the event that an individual's name appears on a petition more than once, all but one of the names shall be stricken.

§ 82.10 Action on the petition.

(a) Within 30 days after the official filing date, the local Bureau official shall forward to the Ares Director, or when the Area Director is the local Bureau official, directly to the Commissioner, the original of the petition and its accompanying signatures, together with recommendations concerning challenges and conclusions concerning: (1) The validity of the signatures; (2) the adequacy of the number of signatures; and (3) the propriety of the petitioning procedure.

(b) The Area Director or the Commissioner, as the case may be, shall within 45 days after the official filing date decide upon each challenge and the sufficiency of the petition and announce whether the petition shall be acted upon. If a decision is reached that the petitioning action is for any reason insufficient, the spokesman for the petitioners and the governing body of the tribe will be so informed and given the reasons for the decision. If a petitioning action warrants action by the Secretary or Commissioner, the spokesman for the petitioners and the governing body of the tribe concerned will be so informed. The decision in such matters shall be final. The procedures for implementing any action initiated by the acceptance of a petition will be determined in accordance with pertinent directives and regulations.

§ 82.11 Duration of petition.

Any petition submitted under this part, shall be considered only for the purpose stated therein. Once a petition has been acted upon, it shall not be used again.

(a) "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Interior or his authorized representative.

(b) “Assistant Secretary” means the Assistant Secretary-Indian Affairs, or his authorized representative.

(c) "Department" means the Department of the Interior.

(d) "Bureau" means the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

(e) "Area Office" means the Bureau of Indian Affairs Area Office.

(f) "Indian tribe," also referred to herein as "tribe," means any Indian group within the continental United States that the Secretary of Interior acknowledges to be an Indian tribe.

(g) "Indian group" or "group" means any Indian aggregation within the continental United States that the Secretary of the Interior does not acknowledge to be an Indian tribe.

(h) "Petitioner" means any entity which has submitted a petition to the Secretary requesting acknowledgement that it is an Indian tribe.

(i) "Autonomous" means having a separate tribal council, internal process, or other organizational mechanism which the tribe has used as its own means of making tribal decisions independent of the control of any other Indian governing entity. Autonomous must be understood in the context of the Indian culture and social organization of that tribe.

(j) "Member of an Indian group" means an individual who is recognized by an Indian group as meeting its membership criteria and who consents to being listed as a member of that group.

(k) "Member of an Indian tribe" means an individual who meets the membership requirements of the tribe as set forth in its governing document or is recognized collectively by those persons comprising the tribal governing body, and has continuously maintained tribal relations with the tribe or is listed on the tribal rolls of that tribe as a member, if such rolls are kept.

(1) "Historically", "historical" or "history" means dating back to the earliest documented contact between the aboriginal tribe from which the petitioners descended and citizens or officials of the United States, colonial or territorial governments, or if relevant, citizens and officials of foreign governments from which the United States acquired territory.

(m) "Continuously" means extending from generation to generation throughout the tribe's history essentially without interruption.

(n) "Indigenous" means native to the continental United States in that at least part of the tribe's aboriginal range extended into what is now the continental United States.

(o) "Community" or "specific area" means any people living within such a reasonable proximity as to allow group interaction and maintenance of tribal relations.

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(p) "Other party" means any person or organization, other than the petitioner who submits comments or evidence in support of or in opposition to a petition.

§ 83.2 Purpose.

The purpose of this part is to establish a departmental procedure and policy for acknowledging that certain American Indian tribes exist. Such acknowledgment of tribal existence by the Department is a prerequisite to the protection, services, and benefits from the Federal Government available to Indian tribes. Such acknowledgment shall also mean that the tribe is entitled to the immunities and privileges available to other federally acknowledged Indian tribes by virtue of their status as Indian tribes as well as the responsibilities and obligations of such tribes. Acknowledgment shall subject the Indian tribe to the same

authority of Congress and the United States to which other federally acknowledged tribes are subjected.

§ 83.3 Scope.

(a) This part is intended to cover only those American Indian groups indigenous to the continental United States which are ethnically and culturally identifiable, but which are not currently acknowledged as Indian tribes by the Department. It is intended to apply to groups which can establish a substantially continuous tribal existence and which have functioned as autonomous entities throughout history until the present.

(b) This part does not apply to Indian tribes, organized bands, pueblos or communities which are already acknowledged as such and are receiving services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

(c) This part is not intended to apply to associations, organizations, corporations or groups of any character, formed in recent times; provided that a group which meets the criteria in § 83.7 (a) through (g) has recently incorporated or otherwise formalized its existing autonomous process will have no bearing on the Assistant Secretary's final decision.

(d) Nor is this part intended to apply to splinter groups, political factions, communities or groups of any character which separate from the main body of a tribe currently acknowledged as being an Indian tribe by the Department, unless it can be clearly established that the group has functioned throughout history until the present an autonomous Indian tribal entity.

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(e) Further, this part does not apply to groups which are, or the members of which are, subject to congressional legislation terminating or forbidding the Federal relationship.

§ 83.4 Who may file.

Any Indian group in the continental United States which believes it should be acknowledged as an Indian tribe, and can satisfy the criteria in § 83.7, may submit a petition requesting that the Secretary acknowledge the group's existence as an Indian tribe.

(a) The Department shall assume the responsibility to contact, within a twelve-month period following the enactment of these regulations, all Indian groups known to the Department in the continental United States whose existence has not been previously acknowledged by the Department. Included specifically shall be those listed in chapter 11 of the American Indian Policy Review Commission final report, volume one, May 17, 1977. The Department shall in- form all such groups of the opportunity to petition for an acknowledgment of tribal existence by the Federal Government.

(b) The Secretary shall publish in the FEDERAL REGISTER within 90 days after effective date of these regulations, a list of all Indian tribes which are recognized and receiving services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Such list shall be updated and published annually in the FEDERAL REGISTER.

(c) Within 90 days after the effective date of the final regulations, the Secretary will have available suggested guidelines for the format of petitions, including general suggestions and guidelines on where and how to research for required information. The Department's example of petition format, while preferable, shall not preclude the use of any other format.

(d) The Department shall, upon request, provide suggestions and advice to researchers representing a petitioner for their research into the petitioner's historical background and Indian identity. The Department shall not be responsible for the actual research on behalf of the petitioner.

§ 83.7 Form and content of the petition. The petition may be in any readable form which clearly indicates that it is a petition requesting the Secretary to

acknowledge tribal existence. All the criteria in paragraphs (a) through (g) of this section are mandatory in order for tribal existence to be acknowledged and must be included in the petition.

(a) A statement of facts establishing that the petitioner has been identified from historical times until the present on a substantially continuous basis, as "American Indian," or "aboriginal." A petitioner shall not fail to satisfy any criteria herein merely because of fluctuations of tribal activity during various years. Evidence to be relied upon in determining the group's substantically continuous Indian identity shall include one or more of the following:

(1) Repeated identification by Federal authorities;

(2) Longstanding relationships with State governments based on identification of the group as Indian;

(3) Repeated dealings with a county, parish, or other local government in a relationship based on the group's Indian identity;

(4) Identification as an Indian entity by records in courthouses, churches, or schools;

(5) Identification as an Indian entity by anthropologists, historians, or other scholars;

(6) Repeated identification as an Indian entity in newspapers and books;

(7) Repeated identification and dealings as an Indian entity with recognized Indian tribes or national Indian organizations.

(b) Evidence that a substantial portion of the petitioning group inhabits a specific area or lives in a community viewed as American Indian and distinct from other populations in the area, and that its members are descendants of an Indian tribe which historically inhabited a specific area.

(c) A statement of facts which establishes that the petitioner has maintained tribal political influence or other authority over its members as an autonomous entity throughout history until the present.

(d) A copy of the group's present governing document, or in the absence of a written document, a statement describing in full the membership criteria and the procedures through which