89–010 

Calendar No. 715 

115TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! SENATE 2d Session 115–411 

TO DIRECT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO REVIEW, REVISE, AND DEVELOP 

LAW ENFORCEMENT AND JUSTICE PROTOCOLS APPROPRIATE TO ADDRESS MISSING AND MURDERED INDIANS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES 

DECEMBER 4, 2018.—Ordered to be printed 

Mr. HOEVEN, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, 

submitted the following 

R E P O R T 

[To accompany S. 1942] 

[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office] 

The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the bill 

(S. 1942) to direct the Attorney General to review, revise, and develop law enforcement and justice protocols appropriate to address 

missing and murdered Indians, and for other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably thereon, with an amendment in 

the nature of a substitute and recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass. 

PURPOSE

This bill is intended to improve law enforcement response to address missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives 

by (1) improving tribal access to federal criminal databases, (2) improving data collection on cases of missing and murdered American 

Indians and Alaska Natives for reports to Congress, and (3) directing the Attorney General to review, revise, and develop law enforcement and justice guidelines with local level input. 

BACKGROUND

The bill, S. 1942, is named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind 

from North Dakota. On August 19, 2017, Savanna, a pregnant 22- 

year-old member of the Spirit Lake Tribe, disappeared from her 

home near Fargo, North Dakota. Eight days later, Savanna’s body 

was found wrapped in plastic in the Red River. While Savanna’s 

tragic death became widespread news, many other Native women 

and men go missing or are murdered each year, very few of those 

cases are resolved. 

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In 2016, the National Congress of American Indians passed a 

resolution, Addressing Crisis of Missing and Murdered Native 

Women, which called for the creation of law enforcement and justice protocols appropriate to the disappearance of Native women 

and girls. These recommendations included addressing inter-jurisdictional issues and improving coordination of efforts between Federal departments, Indian tribes, and States. 

NEED FOR LEGISLATION

Data is limited on the number of missing Native women in the 

United States. Recent data from the Department of Justice shows 

that violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives is higher than other racial and ethnic categories. According to that data, 

more than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native women and 

men have experienced violence in their lifetime. Some tribal communities find that Native women experience murder rates ten 

times higher than the national average. Native women are also two 

times more likely than other groups to experience rape or sexual 

assault and two and a half times more likely than others to experience violent crimes in their lifetimes. Increased coordination and 

communication among Federal, State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies—including medical examiner and coroner offices— 

will positively impact the response to cases of missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives. 

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

On October 5, 2017, Senator Heitkamp introduced S. 1942, a bill 

to direct the Attorney General to review, revise, and develop law 

enforcement and justice protocols appropriate to address missing 

and murdered Indians, and for other purposes. This bill, S. 1942, 

is also known as the Savanna’s Act. The original cosponsors include 

Senators Franken, Heinrich, Merkley, Tester, and Warren. 

On October 25, 2017, the Committee held a legislative hearing 

on the bill. Senators Cortez Masto, Wyden, and Murkowski joined 

as cosponsors prior to the Committee’s legislative hearing. At this 

hearing, The Honorable R. Trent Shores, U.S. Attorney for the 

Northern District of Oklahoma, U.S. Department of Justice, testified in support of the goals of S. 1942. The Honorable Dave Flute, 

Chairman, Sissteon Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation and Ms. Carmen O’Leary, Director, Native Women’s Society of 

the Great Plains, both testified in support of S. 1942. 

On November 14, 2018, the Committee held a duly called business meeting to consider S. 1942. Senators Collins, Klobuchar, 

Tillis, Smith, Cantwell, Schatz, and Udall joined S. 1942 as cosponsors before the Committee convened the business meeting. Senator 

Heitkamp submitted a timely amendment in the nature of a substitute for consideration. At the business meeting, the Committee 

passed both amendment and bill, as amended, by voice vote. After 

the Committee ordered, with amendment, reported favorably, Senator Murray joined as a co-sponsor on November 15, 2018. 

On November 29, 2017, Representative Torres introduced the 

House companion bill (H.R. 4485) to S. 1942 with seven original cosponsors, including Representatives Cole, Grijalva, Hanabusa, 

Jayapal, Khanna, Moore, and Radewagen. The bill, H.R. 4485, was 

referred to the House of Representatives Committees on Judiciary 

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Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations, and on Natural Resources Subcommittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs. No further action has been taken 

on H.R. 4485. Between the dates of December 1, 2017 to November 

29, 2018, Representatives Evans, Dingell, O’Halleran, Kind, McCollum, Norton, Clark, Pallone, Demings, Pocan, Luja ́n, Poliquin, Pingree, Lujan Grisham, Gallego, DeLauro, and Vela ́zquez have joined 

as cosponsors to H.R. 4485. 

SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS FOR S. 1942, AS AMENDED

Section 1. Short title 

This Act may be cited as ‘‘Savanna’s Act’’. 

Sec. 2. Findings and purposes 

This section provides several statistics on violence against and 

the disappearance of Native men and women. 

Sec. 3. Definitions 

• The term ‘‘databases’’ means the National Crime Information 

Center database; the Combined DNA Index System; the Next Generation Identification System; and other relevant datasets such as 

those under the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program and the 

National Missing and Unidentified Persons System. 

• The term ‘‘Indian’’ means a member of an Indian Tribe. 

• The term ‘‘Indian country’’ has the meaning given the term in 

section 1151 of title 18, United States Code. 

• The term ‘‘Indian lands’’ has the same meaning given the term 

in section 4302 of title 25, United States Code. 

• The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ has the meaning given the term in 

section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

• The term ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means a Tribal, Federal, 

State, or local law enforcement agency. 

Sec. 4. Improving tribal access to databases 

This section requires the Department of Justice to provide training to law enforcement agencies on the importance of and how to 

record tribal enrollment information or affiliation of a victim in relevant databases. It also requires the Attorney General to consult 

with tribes on how to further improve these databases and tribal 

access to them. 

This section also amends the Violence Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (VAWA) to include 

the topic of homicide and improving access to local, regional, State, 

and Federal crime information databases and criminal justice information systems in the annual consultations mandated under 

VAWA. 

It also calls for the Attorney General to raise awareness about 

the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, including 

conducting specific outreach to Indian tribes. 

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Sec. 5. Guidelines for responding to cases of missing and murdered 

Indians 

This section requires United States attorneys with jurisdiction to 

prosecute crimes in Indian Country to develop guidelines to respond to cases of missing and murdered Indians during the VAWAmandated annual consultations on sexual violence with Indian 

tribes and Federal partners. Each United States attorney should 

use these consultations to work with stakeholders in his or her own 

region to develop guidelines on inter-law enforcement agency coordination; missing person response best practices; improving access to culturally appropriate victim services; and, missing persons 

data collection, reporting, and analysis. 

This section provides affirmative preference for Department of 

Justice grants that help implement the guidelines or assist in addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indians generally to 

incentivize Tribal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to incorporate these guidelines into their existing regime of protocols. 

The Attorney General will provide Indian Tribes and law enforcement agencies with training and technical assistance relating to 

implementation of the guidelines developed under this section and 

any additional locally specific guidelines developed to respond to 

cases of missing and murdered Indians. 

Sec. 6. Annual reporting requirements 

This section requires the Department of Justice to include known 

statistics on missing and murdered Indians in the United States in 

its annual Indian Country Investigations and Prosecutions report 

to Congress. The Department of Justice should base these statistics 

on relevant data submitted by all Tribal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. The report will also include recommendations 

on how to improve data collection on missing and murdered Indians. 

To incentivize Tribal, State, and local law enforcement agencies 

to submit this data, they shall be given preference for all Department of Justice discretionary grants that would aid in the implementation of the guidelines under Section 5 or help them address 

the issue of missing and murdered Indians. 

The section also calls for gender information to be included in the 

Federal Bureau of Investigation’s annual statistics on missing and 

unidentified persons published on its public website. 

COST BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

The following cost estimate, as provided by the Congressional 

Budget Office, dated November 28, 2018, was prepared for S. 1942: 

U.S. CONGRESS, CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, Washington, DC, November 28, 2018. 

Hon. JOHN HOEVEN, Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs, 

U.S. Senate, Washington, DC. 

DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The Congressional Budget Office has prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1942, Savanna’s Act. 

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If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be pleased 

to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Robert Reese. 

Sincerely, 

KEITH HALL, 

Director. 

Enclosure. 

S. 1942—Savanna’s Act 

Summary: S. 1942 would direct the Department of Justice (DOJ) 

to provide training on recording tribal affiliation in federal databases and to create guidelines for law enforcement and criminal investigations in Indian Country, or all Indian reservations under 

the jurisdiction of the United States government. CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $15 million 

over the 2019–2023 period. Such spending would be subject to appropriation. 

Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or revenues; 

therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO estimates 

that enacting S. 1942 would not increase net direct spending or onbudget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods beginning in 2029. 

S. 1942 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). 

Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated budgetary effect of S. 1942 is shown in the following table. The costs 

of the legislation fall within budget function 750 (administration of 

justice). 

By fiscal year, in millions of dollars— 

2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2019– 

2023 

INCREASES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION 

Estimated Authorization Level ................................................................ 10 4 1 * * 15 

Estimated Outlays .................................................................................. 9 4 1 * * 15 

* = between zero and $500,000. 

Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that S. 1942 

will be enacted near the end of 2018 and that the necessary 

amounts will be appropriated each year beginning in 2019. Estimated outlays are based on historical spending for similar programs. 

S. 1942 would require DOJ to provide training to law enforcement agencies on how to properly record tribal enrollment information of crime victims into federal databases. DOJ also would need 

to consult the Department of the Interior and Indian tribes on how 

to improve tribal access to and the usefulness of such databases. 

The bill also would direct the United States Attorneys to develop 

guidelines for state and local law enforcement agencies on how best 

to respond to cases of missing and murdered Indians. DOJ would 

then be required to annually review and report on the compliance 

of such law enforcement agencies with those guidelines. 

Using information from DOJ, CBO expects that visits to law enforcement agencies around the country for additional outreach and 

training required under S. 1942 would create substantial personnel 

and travel costs. Furthermore, CBO expects DOJ would need to 

contract with outside law enforcement experts to assist the U.S. AtVerDate Sep 11 2014 01:08 Dec 11, 2018 Jkt 089010 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\SR411.XXX SR411
6 

torneys in creating the proposed law enforcement guidelines. CBO 

estimates that implementing those provisions would cost $15 million over the 2019–2023 period, assuming appropriation of the necessary amounts. 

Pay-As-You-Go considerations: None. 

Increase in long-term direct spending and deficits: CBO estimates that enacting S. 1942 would not increase net direct spending 

or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 10-year periods 

beginning in 2029. 

Mandates: S. 1942 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in UMRA. 

Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Robert Reese, Mandates: 

Rachel Austin. 

Estimate reviewed by: Kim P. Cawley, Chief, Natural and Physical Resources Cost Estimates Unit; H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy 

Assistant Director for Budget Analysis. 

REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT

Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the Senate requires each report accompanying a bill to evaluate the regulatory and paperwork impact that would be incurred in carrying 

out the bill. The Committee believes that S. 1942 will have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork requirements. 

EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

The Committee has received no communications from the Executive Branch regarding S. 1942. 

CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

On February 8, 2017, the Committee unanimously approved a 

motion by Chairman Hoeven to waive subsection 12 of rule XXVI 

of the Standing Rules of the Senate. In the opinion of the Committee, it is necessary to dispense with this rule to expedite the 

business of the Senate. 

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