Washington : Government Printing Office
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| Chap. 1085 | Indian tribes of Oregon. Enrollment of descendants. |
| Sec. 2 | Per capita payments. |
| Sec. 2 | 65 Stat. 754. |
| Sec. 3 | 980 |
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior, hereafter referred to as the "Secretary", is hereby authorized and directed to prepare separate rolls of the Indians of the blood of the Molel or Molallalas Tribe of Oregon and of the Confederated Bands of the Umpqua Tribe of Indians and the Calappoias residing in the Umpqua Valley, and of the Tillamook, Coquille, Tootootoney, and Chetco Tribes of Oregon, living on the date of this Act. Applications for enrollment shall be filed within one year of the date of approval of this Act. The determination of the Secretary of the eligibility of an applicant for enrollment shall be final and conclusive. No person shall be entitled to be enrolled on more than one roll.
The Secretary is authorized and directed to withdraw the funds on deposit in the Treasury of the United States to the credit of the respective tribes or bands, including those funds appropriated by Public Law 253 (Eighty-second Congress) approved November 1, 1951, in satisfaction of judgments obtained by the tribes or bands in the cases of Alcea Band of Tillamook, et al., against United States (119 C. Cls. 835), and Rogue River Tribes of Indians, et al., against United States (116 C. Cls. 454), and to make appropriate and equitable per capita payments therefrom to each person whose name appears on said approved rolls: Provided, That any amounts paid to or for individual members, or distributed to or for the legatees or next of kin of any enrollee, as provided in this Act, shall not be subject to Federal tax.
(a) The Secretary shall make payments directly to a living enrollee. The Secretary shall distribute the share of a person determined to be eligible for enrollment, but who dies subsequent to the date of approval of this Act and on whose behalf an application is filed and approved, and the share of a deceased enrollee, directly to his next of kin or legatees as determined by the laws of the domicile of the decedent, upon proof of death and inheritance satisfactory to the Secretary, whose findings upon such proof shall be final and conclusive.
(b) Payments due persons under twenty-one years of age or persons under legal disability shall be made in accordance with laws applicable to such persons in the State of domicile of the payee. The Secretary may apply to any court of competent jurisdiction for the appointment of a guardian to receive and administer payments due a person under twenty-one years of age or under legal disability, and may take such other action as he deems appropriate for the protection of the interests of any such person in connection with payments hereunder.
(c) No part of any payment hereunder shall be subject to any debt or debts created prior to the date of this Act by a beneficiary of Indian blood. Payment to living enrollees, unless under twenty-one years of age, or under legal disability, shall be completed within one year after approval of the tribal rolls. Payment to next of kin and legatees, and payment for the account of persons under twenty-one years of age or under legal disability shall be completed within the same period of time to the maximum extent possible.
All costs incurred by the Secretary in the preparation of such rolls and the payment of such per capita shares shall be paid by appropriate withdrawals out of the fund or funds on deposit in the Treasury of the United States arising out of such judgments.
The Secretary is authorized to prescribe the necessary rules and regulations to carry out the purposes of this Act.
Approved, August 30, 1954.
