Politicians in Connecticut declared victory after the release of the Part 82 federal recognition reforms. Photo by Max Reiss / Twitter
Connecticut newspaper congratulates state politicians for pressuring the Bureau of Indian Affairs to scale back the Part 83 reforms to the federal recognition process:
Sometimes relentless political pressure can make something good happen in Washington. It did last week, when a ruling by the Bureau of Indian Affairs spared Connecticut the prospect of three more Indian tribes of questionable authenticity. The tribes, in turn, would have sought to build casinos, of which the state has enough, or to file land claims, putting thousands of homeowners or businesses at risk. For a few years, the BIA has been busy trying to streamline the federal tribal recognition process, which has been criticized for being slow and cumbersome. But in the course of doing this, the agency also appeared to be making the standards for recognition much less rigorous. For example, a draft copy of the new rules would have expedited recognition for tribes that had state reservations since 1934. This is illogical; having a state reservation doesn't mean there's been a tribal community continuously living on it. The draft would also have given tribes whose applications had been rejected another chance to apply. Had these rules passed, the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation of North Stonington, the Golden Hill Paugussett Nation of Bridgeport, and the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation of Kent, tribes that have thus far failed to meet federal criteria, would likely have won recognition and all that implies.Get the Story:
Editorial: Tribal Recognition Rules Spare State (The Hartford Courant 7/6) Relevant Documents:
Press Release | Fact Sheet Federal Register Notices:
Federal Acknowledgment of American Indian Tribes (July 1, 2015)
Requests for Administrative Acknowledgment of Federal Indian Tribes (July 1, 2015)
Federal Acknowledgment of American Indian Tribes (July 30, 2014)
Federal Acknowledgment of American Indian Tribes (May 29, 2014)
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