Section 1 Short title
This Act may be cited as the “Stolen Heritage Prevention Act of 2019”.
Stolen Heritage Prevention Act of 2019
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prevent individuals who are not members of Indian tribes from receiving Indian tribal benefits, and for other purposes.
Sec. 2 Fraudulent receipt of tribal benefits; tribal identification cards
Wire fraud— Section 1343 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
by striking “Whoever, having” and inserting “(a) In general—Whoever, having”;
by striking “violation occurs in relation to,” and all that follows through “30 years, or both.” and inserting the following:
“(1) occurs in relation to, or involving any benefit authorized, transported, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, or paid in connection with, a presidentially declared major disaster or emergency (as those terms are defined in section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122));
“(2) affects a financial institution; or
“(3) occurs in relation to, or involving any benefit authorized, transported, transmitted, transferred, disbursed, or paid in connection with, special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians;”
by adding at the end the following:
“(b) Definitions—In this section—
“(1) the term Indian means any individual who is a member of an Indian tribe; and
“(2) the term Indian tribe—
“(A) has the meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act; and
“(B) includes, for purposes of this section only, an Indian group that has been formally recognized as an Indian tribe by—
“(i) a State legislature;
“(ii) a State commission; or
“(iii) another similar organization vested with State legislative tribal recognition authority.”
Identification cards— Section 1159 of title 18, United States Code, is amended—
in the section heading, by striking “products” and inserting “products; misrepresentation of membership in an Indian tribe”;
by redesignating subsections (c) and (d) as subsections (d) and (e), respectively; and
by inserting after subsection (b) the following:
“(c) Tribal identification cards
“(1) In general—Whoever knowingly sells an Indian tribal identification card to an individual who is not a member of an Indian tribe without disclosing on such card that the individual is ineligible for any special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.
“(2) Aggravating factor—Whoever commits an offense under paragraph (1), with the intent to defraud the Federal Government for the purpose of receiving as a benefit, or causing another to receive as a benefit, special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians and is otherwise ineligible for such a benefit shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 15 years, or both.”