Len George
Membership Services Director

Contact Information:
Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribal Membership/Enrollment
8955 Mission Road, Fallon, Nevada 89406
Phone: 775-423-6075
Fax: 775-423-3503

For a long time, Indian tribes have required people who want to become members of the tribe to meet certain qualifications. The requirements generally include people who are alike because they share history, homeland, language. Indian and/or tribal blood, and customs - and exclude people who are different from character of each tribe an the tribal life style might have disappeared.

Today, in many tribes written tribal law determines the right to tribal membership. There are several kinds of requirements for membership stated in tribal constitutions. They serve the same purpose that qualifications have always served: to preserve a community of people who share common things. Because the qualifications are law, however, they are stronger then ever before. Those who make membership decisions are bound by tribal law to apply the requirements as they are written.

There are only 3 basic types or classes of members based on these written requirements:
Base enrollees
Automatic eligible
ICWA-Cases

Tribal constitutions usually cite a list of people who are recognnized as the basic membership of the tribe. The Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe has set in the Constitution and Bylaws of the tribe. "The membership of the Paiute-Shoshone Tribe shall consist of all living persons in the following categories, provided such persons are not members of some other tribe or band:

1. All persons whos names appear on the Fallon Allotment Schedules as approved by the Secretary of the Interior.

2. All persons of Indian Blood whose names appear on the Census of the Fallon Reservation as of January 1, 1940.

3. All persons of Indian Blood whose names appear on the Census of the Fallon Colony as of January 1, 1940.

4. Direct descendants of persons in the above categories, provided that such descendants possess one-fourth or more Paiute and/or Shoshone Indian Blood.

Section 2 - The official membership roll shall be prepared in accordance with an ordinance adopted by the Business Council and approved by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs or his duly authorized representative. Such ordinance shall contain procedures for enrollment, application form, approval or disapproval of application, disapproval notice, appeal procedures, and provisions for keeping the roll on a current basis.

Section 3 - The Business Council shall have the power to promulgate ordinances, subject to the approval of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, on his duly authorized representative, governing future membership, loss of membership and the adoptions of new members.

AUTOMATIC ELIGIBLITY-

This right to tribal membership is a right that people are born with. The tribe cannot legally deny membership to anyone who can prove that he/she was born with the right and meets the conditions as they are stated in the tribal constitution. Membership requirements relating to automatic eligible are based on birth: where you were born, who your parents are, and how much Indian blood you have because of them. ("The term "Indian Blood," when used in a tribal constitution, means the blood of various Indian tribes combined.) As termed in the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribes', Constitution & By-Laws Article II, Section 1-d.

ICWA CASES-

This is the only way the applicant can seek adoption into the Fallon Paiute-Shoshone Tribe. That is to say, the child was born to a tribal member and was adopted.

In the Fall of 1978, Congress passed the Indian Child Welfare Act(P.L. 95-608). This legislation provides for many reforms that Indian people have sought for years. If a person can prove that he/she is the child of a member and meets other requirements, the tribe can safeguard the parents' privacy by processing the applicant through a procedure that will protect all persons involved. The tribe does not have to indicate the parents' name on the roll. Membership Services confer with the Fallon Business Council-Secretary and the documents are sealed. The documents can only be opened by a court order.