AN ACT to amend and modernize the law naming the indian tribes in this state by adding clarifying information about references to the lumbee tribe and by adding sections recognizing the meherrin tribe and the occaneechi band of the saponi nation.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 71A‑3 reads as rewritten:
"§ 71A‑3.  Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina; rights, privileges, immunities, obligations and duties.
The Indians now residing in Robeson and adjoining counties of North Carolina, originally found by the first white settlers on the Lumbee River in Robeson County, and claiming joint descent from remnants of early American Colonists and certain tribes of Indians originally inhabiting the coastal regions of North Carolina, who have previously been known as "Croatan Indians," "Indians of Robeson County," and "Cherokee Indians of Robeson County," shall, from and after April 20, 1953, be designated and officially recognized as Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina and shall continue to enjoy all rights, privileges and immunities enjoyed by them as citizens of the State as now provided by law, and shall continue to be subject to all  the obligations and duties of citizens under the law."
SECTION 2.  Chapter 71A of the General Statutes is amended by adding two new sections to read:
"§ 71A-7.1.  Meherrin Tribe of North Carolina; rights, privileges, immunities, obligations and duties.
The Indians now residing in small communities in Hertford, Bertie, Gates, and Northampton Counties, who in 1726 were granted reservational lands at the mouth of the Meherrin River in the vicinity of present-day Parker's Ferry near Winton in Hertford County, and who are of the same linguistic stock as the Cherokee, Tuscarora, and other tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy of New York and Canada, shall, from and after July 20, 1971, be designated and officially recognized as the Meherrin Tribe of North Carolina, and shall continue to enjoy all their rights, privileges, and immunities as citizens of the State as now or hereafter provided by law, and shall continue to be subject to all the obligations and duties of citizens under the law.
"§ 71A-7.2.  Occaneechi Band of Saponi Nation in North Carolina; rights, privileges, immunities, obligations and duties.
The Indians now living primarily in the old settlement of Little Texas in Pleasant Grove Township, Alamance County, who are lineal descendants of the Saponi and related Indians who occupied the Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia in precontact times, and specifically of those Saponi and related Indians who formally became tributary to Virginia under the Treaties of Middle Plantation in 1677 and 1680, and who under the subsequent treaty of 1713 with the Colony of Virginia agreed to join together as a single community, shall, from and after July 20, 1971, be designated and officially recognized as the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation of North Carolina, and shall continue to enjoy all their rights, privileges, and immunities as citizens of the State as now or hereafter provided by law, and shall continue to be subject to all the obligations and duties of citizens under the law."
SECTION 3.  This act is effective when it becomes law.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified this the 19th day of May, 2003.

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		 Marc Basnight
	 President Pro Tempore of the Senate

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		 Richard T. Morgan
	 Speaker of the House of Representatives

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		 Michael F. Easley
	 Governor

Approved __________.m. this ______________ day of ___________________, 2003