25 C.F.R. § 87.1
Definitions.
Cite as 25 C.F.R. § 87.1 (2025)
As used in this part 87, terms shall have the meanings set forth in this section.
(a)
Act
means the Act of October 19, 1973 (Pub. L. 93-134; 87 Stat. 466, 467, 468).
(b)
Secretary
means the Secretary of the Interior or his authorized representative.
(c)
Commissioner
means the Commissioner of Indian Affairs or his authorized representative.
(d)
Area Director
means the Area Director or his equivalent of any one of the Area Offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs or his authorized representative.
(e)
Superintendent
means the Superintendent or Officer in Charge of any one of the Agency Offices or other local offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs or his authorized representative.
(f)
Congressional Committees
means the Committees on Interior and Insular Affairs of the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States.
(g)
Indian tribe or group
means any Indian tribe, nation, band, pueblo, community or identifiable group of Indians, or Alaska Native entity.
(h)
Tribal governing body
means, as recognized by the Secretary, the governing body of a formally organized or recognized tribe or group; the governing body of any informally organized tribe or group, the governing body of a formally organized Alaska Native entity or recognized tribe in Oklahoma, and for the purposes of the Act the recognized spokesmen or representatives of any descendant group.
(i)
Plan
means the document submitted by the Secretary, together with all pertinent records, for the use or distribution of judgment funds, to the Congressional Committees.
(j)
Enrollment
means that aspect of a plan which pertains to making or bringing current a roll of members of an organized, reservation-based tribe with membership criteria approved or accepted by the Secretary, a roll of members of an organized or recognized entity in Oklahoma, or Alaska or elsewhere, or a roll prepared for the purpose of making per capita payments for judgments awarded by the Indian Claims Commission or United States Court of Claims; or which pertains to using an historical roll or records of names, including tribal rolls closed and made final, for research or other purposes.
(k)
Program
means that aspect of a plan which pertains to using part or all of the judgment funds for tribal social and economic development projects.
(l)
Per capita payment
means that aspect of a plan which pertains to the individualization of the judgment funds in the form of shares to tribal members or to individual descendants.
(m)
Use or distribution
means any utilization or disposition of the judgment funds, including programming, per capita payments, or a combination thereof.
(n)
Individual beneficiary
means a tribal member or any individual descendant, found by the Secretary to be eligible to participate in a plan, who was born on or prior to, and is living on, the approval date of the plan.
(o)
Approval date
means the date that a plan is approved by the Congress. Except for a plan disapproved by either House, the approval date of a plan shall be the sixtieth (60) day after formal submittal of a plan by the Secretary to the Congressional Committees, excluding days on which either the House of Representatives or the Senate is not in session because of an adjournment of more than three (3) calendar days to a day certain. In the event a proposed plan is disapproved by either House, or in the event the Secretary is unable to submit a plan and therefore proposes legislation, the approval date shall be the date of the enabling legislation for the disposition of the judgment funds.
(p)
Minor
is an individual beneficiary who is eligible to participate in a per capita payment and who has not reached the age of eighteen (18) years.
(q)
Legal incompetent
is an individual beneficiary eligible to participate in a per capita payment and who has been declared to be under a legal disability, other than being a minor, by a court of competent jurisdiction, including tribal courts.
(r)
Attorney fees and litigation expenses
means all fees and expenses incurred in litigating and processing tribal claims before the Indian Claims Commission or the United States Court of Claims.