Bill Text: IN SR0072 | 2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Study to determine whether the Miami Nation should be recognized as a tribe.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 4-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-04-04 - First reading: referred to Committee on Public Policy [SR0072 Detail]
Download: Indiana-2011-SR0072-Introduced.html
A SENATE RESOLUTION urging the Legislative Council to assign an interim study committee the topic of determining whether the Miami Nation should be recognized as a tribe.
_______________________, read first time and referred to Committee on
MADAM PRESIDENT:
I offer the following resolution and move its adoption:
A SENATE RESOLUTION urging the Legislative Council to
assign an interim study committee the topic of determining whether the
Miami Nation should be recognized as a tribe.
Whereas, The Miami Indians of Indiana number over
5,000 members who are mainly located in north central
Indiana and are governed by the Miami Nation of Indians of
the State of Indiana, Inc.;
Whereas, At the time of the first contact with white
settlers, the Miami tribe occupied lands in Indiana,
Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin;
Whereas, By the early 1700s, the Miamis had established
their principle settlement near present day Fort Wayne,
Indiana;
Whereas, Following a military defeat in 1794, the
Miamis entered into 11 treaties with the United States over
the next 50 years and ceded millions of acres of land to the
federal government while retaining only several small
parcels of land for themselves in central Indiana;
Whereas, A treaty signed in 1840 removed approximately
half of the tribe from Indiana, resettling them in the Kansas
Territory;
Whereas, The two Miami tribes were then considered
separate and negotiated their own separate treaties in 1854,
resulting in the recognition of the Miami Nation of Indians of
Indiana as an Indian tribe;
Whereas, In 1872 communally held lands in Indiana
were given to members of one clan, numbering less than 20
persons, and the members of this clan were made citizens;
Whereas, Based on a decision by an Assistant Attorney
General of the United States regarding the citizenship of
these 20 members of one clan of Miami Indians, the
Department of Interior refused to acknowledge the Miami
Nation of Indians of Indiana as an Indian tribe; and
Whereas, Even though the Miami Nation of Indians of
Indiana is not recognized as a tribe, it continues to maintain
tribal relations and to function as an Indian tribe: Therefore,
SECTION 1. That the Legislative Council is urged to assign an
interim study committee the topic of determining whether the Miami
Nation should be recognized as a tribe.
SECTION 2. That this resolution does not confer upon a state tribe
the right or authority to do the following:
(1) Allow negotiations between a state tribe and the state or
federal government concerning tribal sovereignty.
(2) Allow gaming on tribal land.
SECTION 3. That a state tribe and the state tribe's enrolled
members are not entitled to any special state rights or benefits unless
the right or benefit is specifically conferred to the state tribe by statute.
SECTION 4. That the citizenship criteria to determine the
membership for each state tribe shall be determined solely by the
governing body of the tribe.
