S. 3859: A bill to amend the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993 with respect to future membership in the Catawba Indian Nation.

119th Congress · introduced 2026-02-12 · Native Americans · Latest: Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held.

federal

Official title

A bill to amend the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993 with respect to future membership in the Catawba Indian Nation.

Plain summary

This bill revises tribal membership requirements for the Catawba Indian Nation (a tribe in South Carolina). The Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993 explicitly restricted the tribe’s future membership to lineal descendants of people on the final base membership roll who maintained continuous political relations with the tribe. This bill removes these membership criteria and allows the tribe to determine its membership. (The tribe uses three base membership rolls and anyone who wants to be enrolled must prove lineal descent from someone listed on one of these base membership rolls.)

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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A “Nay” vote

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What does this mean? (plain words)

Official text

A bill to amend the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993 with respect to future membership in the Catawba Indian Nation.

Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC] · 2 cosponsors

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Words on this page, explained (1)

Bill: A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).

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Sources

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
Congress.gov
Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-119s3859.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/s>

Record fed-us-cong119-s3859 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong119 · updated 2026-11-03 by psicol fed-bills