Stolen Heritage Prevention Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 5268 To amend title 18, United States Code, to prevent individuals who are not members of Indian tribes from receiving Indian tribal benefits, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NOVEMBER 26, 2019 Mr. CLAY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend title 18, United States Code, to prevent individuals who are not members of Indian tribes from receiving Indian tribal benefits, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stolen Heritage Pre- 4 vention Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. FRAUDULENT RECEIPT OF TRIBAL BENEFITS; TRIB- 6 AL IDENTIFICATION CARDS. 7 (a) WIRE FRAUD.—Section 1343 of title 18, United 8 States Code, is amended— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5268.IH H5268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 5268 IH (1) by striking ‘‘Whoever, having’’ and inserting 1 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL—Whoever, having’’; 2 (2) by striking ‘‘violation occurs in relation to,’’ 3 and all that follows through ‘‘30 years, or both.’’ 4 and inserting the following: ‘‘violation— 5 ‘‘(1) occurs in relation to, or involving any ben- 6 efit authorized, transported, transmitted, trans- 7 ferred, disbursed, or paid in connection with, a 8 presidentially declared major disaster or emergency 9 (as those terms are defined in section 102 of the 10 Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 11 Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122)); 12 ‘‘(2) affects a financial institution; or 13 ‘‘(3) occurs in relation to, or involving any ben- 14 efit authorized, transported, transmitted, trans- 15 ferred, disbursed, or paid in connection with, special 16 programs and services provided by the United States 17 to Indians because of their status as Indians; 18 shall be fined not more than $1,000,000, imprisoned not 19 more than 30 years, or both.’’; and 20 (3) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—In this section— 22 ‘‘(1) the term ‘Indian’ means any individual 23 who is a member of an Indian tribe; and 24 ‘‘(2) the term ‘Indian tribe’— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5268.IH H5268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 5268 IH ‘‘(A) has the meaning given the term in 1 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 2 Education Assistance Act; and 3 ‘‘(B) includes, for purposes of this section 4 only, an Indian group that has been formally 5 recognized as an Indian tribe by— 6 ‘‘(i) a State legislature; 7 ‘‘(ii) a State commission; or 8 ‘‘(iii) another similar organization 9 vested with State legislative tribal recogni- 10 tion authority.’’. 11 (b) IDENTIFICATION CARDS.—Section 1159 of title 12 18, United States Code, is amended— 13 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘prod- 14 ucts’’ and inserting ‘‘products; misrepresen- 15 tation of membership in an Indian tribe’’; 16 (2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as 17 subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and 18 (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the fol- 19 lowing: 20 ‘‘(c) TRIBAL IDENTIFICATION CARDS.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Whoever knowingly sells an 22 Indian tribal identification card to an individual who 23 is not a member of an Indian tribe without dis- 24 closing on such card that the individual is ineligible 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5268.IH H5268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 5268 IH for any special programs and services provided by 1 the United States to Indians because of their status 2 as Indians shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 3 not more than 5 years, or both. 4 ‘‘(2) AGGRAVATING FACTOR.—Whoever com- 5 mits an offense under paragraph (1), with the intent 6 to defraud the Federal Government for the purpose 7 of receiving as a benefit, or causing another to re- 8 ceive as a benefit, special programs and services pro- 9 vided by the United States to Indians because of 10 their status as Indians and is otherwise ineligible for 11 such a benefit shall be fined under this title, impris- 12 oned not more than 15 years, or both.’’. 13 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Dec 06, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H5268.IH H5268 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS