S3859Referred to Committee

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.

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Introduced
In Committee
3
Passed One Chamber
4
Passed Both
5
Signed into Law
119th
Congress
2026-02-12
Introduced
2
Cosponsors
S
ⓘ
Type

Sponsor

Lindsey Graham
Lindsey Graham
Republican · SC · Senator
Votes with party: 76.8% (836 recorded votes)

Full profile: /officials/G000359

Source: Congress.gov · FEC

Cosponsors (2)

Members who have signed on to support this bill since introduction. Source: Congress.gov.

Latest Action

The most recent step in the bill's legislative path. Committee Activity below shows referrals and reports; the full action-by-action history including floor proceedings lives at Congress.gov →

Committee on Indian Affairs. Hearings held.

2026-09-23

Source: Congress.gov

Committee Activity

Currently in

Previously

Plain-English 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.)

Plain-English rewrite of the Congressional Research Service summary published on Congress.gov. Cached and reviewed.

Subjects

Native Americans

Full Bill Text

Verbatim text published on Congress.gov via GovInfo. Use Cmd+F / Ctrl+F to search within this excerpt.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [S. 3859 Introduced in Senate (IS)] <DOC> 119th CONGRESS 2d Session S. 3859 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. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES February 12, 2026 Mr. Graham (for himself and Mr. Scott of South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs _______________________________________________________________________ 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. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. FUTURE MEMBERSHIP OF THE CATAWBA INDIAN NATION. Section 7(d) of the Catawba Indian Tribe of South Carolina Land Claims Settlement Act of 1993 (Public Law 103-116; 107 Stat. 1125) is amended by striking ``; however, in no event may an individual be enrolled as a tribal member unless the individual is a lineal descendant of a person on the final base membership roll and has continued to maintain political relations with the Tribe''. <all>
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