On Tuesday, December 6, 2011, the House is scheduled to consider H.R. 1560 under a suspension of the rules requiring a two-thirds majority vote for approval. H.R. 1560 was introduced by Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) on April 4, 2011, and was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, which reported the bill on July 20, 2011, by unanimous consent.
H.R. 1560 would amend the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act (P.L. 100-89) to allow the tribe to determine blood quantum requirement for membership in that tribe. Under current law, members must have at least one-eighth Tigua-Pelta del Sur Pueblo blood.
In 1987, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act 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 roll and requires tribal members to have at least one-eighth of Tigua-Pelta del Sur Pueblo blood. H.R. 1560 would allow the tribe to determine the blood quantum threshold and expand its membership rolls. According to CBO, federal agencies currently provide services to all of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indians who would become tribal members under H.R. 1560 because those agencies do not restrict services based on tribal membership established under the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama and Coushatta Indian Tribes of Texas Restoration Act.
According to CBO, the bill would have no significant impact on the federal budget because Federal agencies currently provide services to all of the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo Indians who would become tribal members under H.R. 1560.
