1. A. In this chapter, the following terms have the meanings indicated:

2. B. Terms Defined.

   1. (1) “Access to Public Records Act” means State Government Article, §§10-611—10-630, Annotated Code of Maryland.
   2. (2) “Ancestor” means an individual from whom a person is descended.
   3. (3) “Ancestry” means having an ancestor.
   4. (4) “Band” means a sociopolitical division of a tribe, separated from the tribe by historical events or geographical, political, or similar causes.
   5. (5) “Clan” means a group of Native Americans related by blood line descent.
   6. (6) “Commission” means the Commission on Indian Affairs in the Governor’s Office of Community Initiatives.
   7. (7) “Community” means a group of persons with common cultural ties and interests which differentiate members from nonmembers.
   8. (8) “County” means the City of Baltimore or any of the 23 counties in the State.
   9. (9) “Derived from a tribe” means a group having members who are descended from a tribe, band, or clan.

   10. (10) “Descendant from a tribe” or “descendants from a tribe” means descended by blood line from a member or members of a tribe, band, or clan who:

       1. (a) Are identified as Native American in historical records;
       2. (b) Have family names identified by anthropologists or ethnohistorians as Native American in historical records; or
       3. (c) Are identified by anthropologists or ethnohistorians in historical records through one or more terms recognized as synonymous with “Indian”.
   11. (11) “Historical” or “historically” means before 1790.
   12. (12) “Indigenous to Maryland” means having inhabited one or more specific areas within the State before 1790.
   13. (13) “Inhabit” means to dwell in a location.
   14. (14) “Members” means those individuals who have been determined by a tribe, band, group, or clan to be its members, according to criteria established by the tribe, band, group, or clan.
   15. (15) “Native American”, “North American Indian”, “American Indian”, “Indian”, or “aboriginal” means an individual or tribe, band, group, community, or clan that is, or whose members are, descended from a tribe that inhabited North America before European contact.
   16. (16) “Person” means an individual, receiver, trustee, guardian, personal representative, fiduciary, or representative of any kind and any partnership, firm, association, corporation, or other entity.
   17. (17) “Recognition” or “formal recognition” means the process by which the Maryland Indian status of a Native American tribe, band, group, or clan is acknowledged under the Act and these regulations.
   18. (18) “Secretary of the Interior” means the United States Secretary of the Interior.
   19. (19) “State” or “Maryland” means the State of Maryland as described by the present physical boundaries of the State.
   20. (20) “Tribe” means a separate and distinct community of Native Americans generally related by blood, marriage, or adoption.

Authority: State Government Article, §§9.5-309—9.5-312; Article 41, §6-911; Annotated Code of Maryland;
Executive Order 01.01.07.2007.25

Effective date: May 11, 1992 (19:9 Md. R. 878)

Regulation .13A amended effective July 1, 1996 (23:13 Md. R. 940)

Transferred from COMAR 05.08.06 to COMAR 07.08.01 effective April 7, 2007

Chapter revised and transferred from COMAR 07.08.01 to COMAR 01.06.01 effective November 15, 2010 (37:23 Md. R. 1609)