Under Secretary of the Interior Elmer F. Bennett today announced approval of Federal regulations governing the enrollment of members of the Rincon, San Luiseno Band of Mission Indians of California. Adoption of such regulations was requested by the band.
Under the regulations, which will be published shortly in the Federal Register, anyone who believes that he or a minor or incompetent should be enrolled is given a period of 90 days after publication to file an application with the Area Field Representative of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Riverside, California.
The regulations provide that the membership roll shall include persons alive on July 21, 1957, who were not enrolled with any other Indian tribe or band and who fall in one of the following four categories:
(1) Indians whose names appear as members of the band on the census roll,
(2) Indians who have received allotments on the Rincon Reservations,
(3) persons descended from Indians in category
(1) and having one-eighth or more San Luiseno Indian blood, and
(4) persons descended from Indians in category
(2) and having one-eighth or more San Luiseno Indian blood.
A notice of intention to adopt these membership regulations was published in the Federal Register on February 14, 1959. In the following 30-day period a number of suggestions for amendment were received and these have been incorporated in the regulations as finally approved.
Full details on the procedure to be followed will be included in the forthcoming Federal Register publication.
