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Stigler Act Amendments of 2018

Floor Speech

By: Tom Cole
By: Tom Cole
Date: Dec. 19, 2018
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Indigenous Peoples Housing and Property

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Mr. COLE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman for yielding, and I certainly want to thank him and Chairman Bishop for their assistance through this whole process.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2606, the Stigler Act Amendments of 2018, and on the Senate amendments to that legislation.

I also speak on behalf of the citizens of the Cherokee Nation, the Chickasaw Nation, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, the Muscogee (Creek) Nation, and the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, commonly known as the Five Civilized Tribes. This bill only addresses and affects those Tribes and lands of their citizens within the State of Oklahoma. The passage of this legislation is critical to maintaining the inherited land of our Native citizens' ancestors.

This legislation seeks to amend the original Stigler Act of 1947 and remove the one-half degree requirement of Native American blood.

The original Stigler Act provides that, upon probate, if the heirs or devisees of an original allottee from the Five Tribes have passed out of one-half degree of Native blood, the allotment loses its restricted fee status.

This bill ends that practice. It provides the opportunity for the heirs and devisees to take title to the land and allow the parcel to maintain its restricted status.

This legislation will also create parity in Federal law in the treatment of Native American-allotted land by removing minimum blood degree requirements. Currently, these minimum requirements apply only to the citizens of the Five Tribes.

The House has already passed this legislation this Congress by voice vote, and it was passed in the Senate with an amendment by unanimous consent. The Senate amendment provides clarifying technical language, which I fully support.

Mr. Speaker, I encourage my colleagues to once again support and pass H.R. 2606 to remove this outdated and discriminatory law and to preserve what Native-held land is left in Oklahoma's Indian Country.

Mr. Speaker, I want to again thank the chairman for his help in this matter. It partially rights an historic wrong.

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