RI S2507

Rhode Island would officially recognize the Seaconke Wampanoag tribe as a Native American Indian tribe for limited purposes including eligibility for federal education, job training, and housing benefits

Recognition would allow the tribe to qualify for public and private grants, protect traditional religious practices and ceremonies, preserve burial sites and artifacts, and sell handicrafts as "Indian made"

Recognition explicitly excludes any approval for gaming under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, rights to conduct gambling, or authority to sell motor fuels or tobacco

State recognition would not affect any federal recognition case or constitute acknowledgment of land claims to ancestral, tribal, or other public or private lands

Act would take effect immediately upon passage