GovTrack’s Bill Summary
We don’t have a summary available yet.
H.R. 5811 (111th): To amend the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act to allow the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Tribe to determine blood quantum requirement for membership in that tribe.
- Introduced:
- Jul 21, 2010 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
- Sponsor:
- Rep. Silvestre Reyes [D-TX16]
- Status:
- Died (Passed House)
- See Instead:
- This bill was re-introduced as H.R. 1560 (112th) on Apr 14, 2011.
The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
12/9/2010--Reported to Senate without amendment. (This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Amends the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act to revise tribal membership requirements to provide tribal membership to any person of Tigua Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indian blood enrolled by the tribe.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/2/hr5811.
Background
In 1987, P.L. 100-89 was signed into law in order to grant federal recognition to the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe in Texas. Under the law, tribal membership is determined by a membership role and requires tribal members to have at least one-eighth of Tigua-Pelta del Sur Pueblo blood. Some Members may be concerned that H.R. 5811 would allow the tribe lower its membership threshold and expand its membership roles, and thus expand the number of people eligible for tribal benefits that are made available by the federal government. In addition, according to Congressional Quaterly, “the Tigua tribe of El Paso and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston are both looking to reopen casinos that the state closed in 2002 after a federal court decision.”
Summary
H.R. 5811 would amend the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act (PL 100-89) to allow the tribe to expand membership to “any person of Tigua Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indian blood enrolled by the tribe.” Under current law, members must have at least one-eighth Tigua-Pelta del Sur Pueblo blood.
Cost
A CBO score for H.R. 5811 was not yet available as of press time.
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.
The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:
United States Code
The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)
- Title 25: INDIANS
- Chapter 14: MISCELLANEOUS
- Subchapter LXXVIII: YSLETA DEL SUR PUEBLO: RESTORATION OF FEDERAL SUPERVISION
- Section 1300g: Definitions