D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen introduced two bills on Tuesday that would grant new rights and privileges to members of Native American tribes, particularly those indigenous to the D.C. area. One bill would allow people to include their tribal identity on their birth certificate, and another would grant free fishing licenses to Native Americans whose ancestral lands include the waterways in the District.

They come on the heels of other recent legislation recognizing native communities, including newly passed laws recognizing November 2019 as D.C.’s first ever Native American Indian Heritage Month and another replacing Columbus Day with Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Allen, who represents Ward 6, said on the dais Tuesday that he had been working with Native American leaders in the area to draft his legislation, including the chief of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe, Chief Jesse James Swann. The modern Piscataway Indian Nation and Piscataway Conoy Tribe are descendants of the Anacostan people, who lived for thousands of years along the eastern banks of the Anacostia river, which now bears their name.

The first of Allen’s new bills would allow anyone enrolled in a Native American tribe recognized by a federal or state government to include that tribal affiliation on their D.C. birth certificate. Anyone born before the bill’s passage would be allowed to request a replacement birth certificate listing their tribal affiliation.

“Currently, Native Americans who are or were born in D.C. cannot record their tribal identity on a birth certificate, effectively erasing their identity,” Allen said in a prepared statement while introducing the bill. “The Piscataway Indian Nation and the Piscataway Conoy Tribe are not recognized by the federal government, but they have recently been recognized by Maryland, and the tribes issue tribal identity cards. As drafted, the bill would allow the tribes to make their own determination of who can claim tribal identity—which will give potential members an incentive to go through the enrollment process.”

An increase in enrollment might also lead to a more accurate count in next year’s census, Allen said.

The bill was co-introduced with At-large Councilmember David Grosso, Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne Nadeau, Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, and Ward 2 Councilmember Jack Evans, and it was referred to the council’s Committee on Health.

The second bill would grant members of the Piscataway Conoy Tribe and the Piscataway Indian Nation free fishing licenses in D.C. in accordance with a 1666 treaty between the Maryland colony and the Piscataway Chiefdom. The treaty guaranteed that the Piscataway would be allowed to fish, hunt, and crab on their ancestral lands.

“The District is part of their traditional land, and the native peoples have always fished along the Anacostia River—and all of the District’s waterways,” Allen said in his statement. “This would still allow [the city] to track how many people are fishing in the District, insofar as anyone who fishes recreationally in the District actually gets a license, while reducing barriers for the native peoples.”

Currently, anyone over 16 years old who wants to fish in the District’s waterways has to apply for a license, which is $10 per year for D.C. residents. People can fish in both the Anacostia and Potomac rivers, though the D.C. Department of Health recommends that people limit their consumption of fish from either river. Here are the most updated recommendations from DOH.

That bill was co-introduced by Nadeau, Todd, At-large Councilmember Anita Bonds, At-large Councilmember Robert White, and Ward 8 Councilmember Trayon White. The Council Chairman Phil Mendelson referred the bill the Committee on Energy and the Environment.