| Sponsor | Rep. Reyes, Silvestre |
| Committee | Natural Resources |
| Date | September 22, 2010 (111th Congress, 2nd Session) |
| Staff Contact | Andy Koenig |
The House is scheduled to consider H.R. 5811 under a suspension of the rules, requiring a two-thirds majority vote for passage, on Wednesday, September 22, 2010. H.R. 5811 was introduced on July 21, 2010, by Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) and referred to the Committee on Natural Resources which took no official action.
H.R. 5811 would amend the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act (PL 100-89) to allow the tribe to expand membership to “any person of Tigua Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indian blood enrolled by the tribe.” Under current law, members must have at least one-eighth Tigua-Pelta del Sur Pueblo blood.
In 1987, P.L. 100-89 was signed into law in order to grant federal recognition to the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo tribe in Texas. Under the law, tribal membership is determined by a membership role and requires tribal members to have at least one-eighth of Tigua-Pelta del Sur Pueblo blood. Some Members may be concerned that H.R. 5811 would allow the tribe lower its membership threshold and expand its membership roles, and thus expand the number of people eligible for tribal benefits that are made available by the federal government. In addition, according to Congressional Quaterly, “the Tigua tribe of El Paso and the Alabama-Coushatta tribe of Livingston are both looking to reopen casinos that the state closed in 2002 after a federal court decision.”
A CBO score for H.R. 5811 was not yet available as of press time.