Stolen Heritage Prevention Act of 2019

Stolen Heritage Prevention Act of 2019

This bill establishes criminal offenses for (1) using wire, radio, or television communication to fraudulently obtain federal benefits provided to individuals because of their status as Indians; and (2) selling a tribal identification card to an individual who is not a member of an Indian tribe without disclosing on the card that the individual is ineligible for federal benefits afforded to Indians.

[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5268 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Stolen Heritage Prevention Act of 
2019''.

SEC. 2. FRAUDULENT RECEIPT OF TRIBAL BENEFITS; TRIBAL IDENTIFICATION 
              CARDS.

    (a) Wire Fraud.--Section 1343 of title 18, United States Code, is 
amended--
            (1) by striking ``Whoever, having'' and inserting ``(a) In 
        General--Whoever, having'';
            (2) by striking ``violation occurs in relation to,'' and 
        all that follows through ``30 years, or both.'' and inserting 
        the following: ``violation--
            ``(1) occurs in relation to, or involving any benefit 
        authorized, transported, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, 
        or paid in connection with, a presidentially declared major 
        disaster or emergency (as those terms are defined in section 
        102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 
        Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122));
            ``(2) affects a financial institution; or
            ``(3) occurs in relation to, or involving any benefit 
        authorized, transported, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, 
        or paid in connection with, special programs and services 
        provided by the United States to Indians because of their 
        status as Indians;
shall be fined not more than $1,000,000, imprisoned not more than 30 
years, or both.''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(b) Definitions.--In this section--
            ``(1) the term `Indian' means any individual who is a 
        member of an Indian tribe; and
            ``(2) the term `Indian tribe'--
                    ``(A) has the meaning given the term in section 4 
                of the Indian Self-Determination and Education 
                Assistance Act; and
                    ``(B) includes, for purposes of this section only, 
                an Indian group that has been formally recognized as an 
                Indian tribe by--
                            ``(i) a State legislature;
                            ``(ii) a State commission; or
                            ``(iii) another similar organization vested 
                        with State legislative tribal recognition 
                        authority.''.
    (b) Identification Cards.--Section 1159 of title 18, United States 
Code, is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by striking ``products'' and 
        inserting ``products; misrepresentation of membership in an 
        Indian tribe'';
            (2) by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections 
        (d) and (e), respectively; and
            (3) by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
    ``(c) Tribal Identification Cards.--
            ``(1) In general.--Whoever knowingly sells an Indian tribal 
        identification card to an individual who is not a member of an 
        Indian tribe without disclosing on such card that the 
        individual is ineligible for any special programs and services 
        provided by the United States to Indians because of their 
        status as Indians shall be fined under this title, imprisoned 
        not more than 5 years, or both.
            ``(2) Aggravating factor.--Whoever commits an offense under 
        paragraph (1), with the intent to defraud the Federal 
        Government for the purpose of receiving as a benefit, or 
        causing another to receive as a benefit, special programs and 
        services provided by the United States to Indians because of 
        their status as Indians and is otherwise ineligible for such a 
        benefit shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more 
        than 15 years, or both.''.
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