II

103D CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1149

To establish in the Department of the Interior the Office of Indian Women

and Families, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 23 (legislative day, JUNE 22), 1993

Mr. DOMENICI (for himself and Mr. INOUYE) introduced the following bill;

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

A BILL

To establish in the Department of the Interior the Office

of Indian Women and Families, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Office of Indian

5 Women and Families Act of 1993’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that:

8 (1) The primary responsibilities of the Bureau

9 of Indian Affairs are to encourage and assist Indian

10 people to manage their own affairs under the trust
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1 relationship between Indians and the Federal Gov2 ernment, and to facilitate, with maximum involve3 ment of Indian people, full development of their

4 human and natural resource potential.

5 (2) The Bureau of Indian Affairs coordinates

6 its activities with Indian tribal governments, Federal

7 agencies and departments, and other organizations

8 and groups who share similar interests and pro9 grams related to Indians.

10 (3) Bureau of Indian Affairs policies, programs

11 and projects impact directly and significantly on the

12 lives of America’s Indian people.

13 (4) The unique roles and responsibilities of In14 dian women contribute culturally, socially, and eco15 nomically to the well-being of Indian people, but

16 these contributions are often not fully realized and

17 are undervalued and overlooked within the policies,

18 program, and projects of the Bureau of Indian

19 Affairs.

20 (5) Indian children have special educational and

21 social service needs to prepare them for traditional

22 tribal responsibilities and nontribal social and em23 ployment opportunities.

24 (6) The particular responsibilities, contribu25 tions, and needs of Indian women and families can
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1 and should be taken into account to improve Bureau

2 of Indian Affairs policy formulation and program op3 erations for the direct benefit of Indian women and

4 families and Indian people as a whole.

5 (7) Bureau of Indian Affairs policies, programs

6 and projects, including its coordination and liaison

7 with other Federal, State, and local entities, can be

8 more responsive and enhanced when Indian women

9 and families are considered an integral element of

10 the process as well as contributors to the success of

11 these policies, programs, and projects.

12 (8) There is a need for an Office of Indian

13 Women and Families in the Bureau of Indian Af14 fairs for the purpose of encouraging and promoting

15 the participation and integration of Indian women

16 and families into Bureau of Indian Affairs policies,

17 programs, projects, and activities, thereby improving

18 the effectiveness of its mandate and the status and

19 lives of Indian women and families.

20 SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

21 The purposes of this Act are:

22 (1) To identify and integrate the issues related

23 to Indian women and families into all Bureau of

24 Indian Affairs policies, programs, projects, and

25 activities.
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1 (2) To establish an office to serve as a focal

2 point for all Federal Government policy issues af3 fecting Indian women and families for purposes of

4 both economic and social development.

5 (3) To collect data related to the specific roles,

6 concerns, and needs of Indian women, and Indian

7 families, and use such data to support policy, pro8 gram, and project implementation throughout all of9 fices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other Fed10 eral agencies, and to monitor the impacts of these

11 policies, programs and projects.

12 (4) To enhance the economic and social partici13 pation of Indian women and families in all levels of

14 planning, decisionmaking, and policy development

15 within the Bureau of Indian Affairs, its area offices,

16 and tribal governments and reservations.

17 (5) To conduct research and collect relevant

18 studies relating to special needs of Indian women

19 and families.

20 (6) To develop pilot programs and projects to

21 strengthen activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

22 involving Indian women and families, and serve as

23 models for future endeavors and planning.

24 (7) To ensure a liaison with other Federal de25 partments and agencies, State and local govern-
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1 ments, tribally controlled community colleges, other

2 academic institutions, any public or private organi3 zations, and tribal governments that serve Indian

4 peoples.

5 (8) To ensure training endeavors for Bureau of

6 Indian Affairs offices and agencies at the national,

7 area, and local levels to ensure Bureau personnel

8 and any other beneficiaries of Bureau and other gov9 ernmental programs understand the purposes and

10 policies of the office established by this Act.

11 (9) To develop policy-level programs, with the

12 assistance of the Assistant Secretary and other

13 senior-level personnel of the Bureau of Indian Af14 fairs, to ensure that systems, directives, manage15 ment strategies and other related methodologies are

16 implemented to meet the purposes of this Act.

17 (10) To strengthen the role of Indian women

18 and families by developing and ensuring culturally

19 appropriate policies and programs.

20 (11) To encourage other actions that serve to

21 more fully integrate Indian women and families as

22 participants in and agents for change in the Federal

23 policy and program activities of the Bureau of In24 dian Affairs.
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1 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

2 As used in this Act:

3 (1) The term ‘‘Indian woman’’ means a woman

4 who is a member of an Indian tribe.

5 (2) The term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ means any Indian

6 tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or com7 munity, any Alaska Native village or regional or vil8 lage corporation as defined in or established pursu9 ant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85

10 Stat. 688), which is recognized as eligible for special

11 programs and services provided by the United States

12 to Indians because of their status as Indians.

13 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF INDIAN WOMEN

14 AND INDIAN FAMILIES.

15 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established in the

16 Department of the Interior the ‘‘Office of Indian Women

17 and Families’’ (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Office’’).

18 (b) DIRECTOR.—The Office shall be under the man19 agement of a director (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Di20 rector’’), who shall be appointed by the Assistant Sec21 retary of Indian Affairs. The Director shall report directly

22 to the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.

23 (c) COMPENSATION.—The Director shall be com24 pensated at the rate prescribed for level IV of the Execu25 tive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States

26 Code.
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1 (d) TENURE.—The Director shall serve at the discre2 tion of the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.

3 (e) VACANCY.—A vacancy in the position of Director

4 shall be filled in the same manner as the original appoint5 ment was made.

6 (f) DUTIES.—The Director shall administer the Of7 fice and carry out the purposes and functions of this Act.

8 The Director shall take such action as may be necessary

9 in order to integrate Indian women and family issues into

10 the Bureau of Indian Affairs policies, programs, projects

11 and activities.

12 SEC. 6. FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE.

13 It shall be the function of the Office to develop a Pol14 icy Paper for Indian women and families to articulate the

15 objectives of the Office, to serve as a guideline for system16 atically integrating Indian women and families issues into

17 the Bureau of Indian Affairs policies, programs, projects,

18 and activities, and to establish and detail indicators and

19 benchmarks for measuring the success of the Office.

20 SEC. 7. POLICY TASK FORCE.

21 (a) ESTABLISHMENT OF A POLICY TASK FORCE.—

22 The Director, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary

23 of Indian Affairs, shall establish a temporary policy task

24 force on Indian women and families.
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1 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Members of the task force shall

2 be appointed by the Director. The task force shall include

3 representatives from Federal agencies and departments,

4 relevant Indian organizations, State agencies and organi5 zations, Indian tribal governments, institutions of higher

6 education, and nongovernmental and private sector orga7 nizations and institutions.

8 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The policy task force shall:

9 (1) Ensure that the Policy Paper for Indian

10 women and families prepared by the Bureau of In11 dian Affairs articulates a set of goals, objectives,

12 management strategies, and monitoring systems for

13 the improvement of all Federal programs, including

14 programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, designed

15 to improve the quality of life of Indian women and

16 families.

17 (2) Recommend a permanent policy mechanism

18 to be established in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for

19 the continuous monitoring and refinement of policy

20 and programs designed to improve the quality of life

21 of Indian women and families.

22 (3) Recommend a permanent policy mechanism

23 to be established in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for

24 the purpose of collecting and disseminating to Con25 gress and the public information and other data rel-
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1 evant to the progress of the policy and programs de2 signed to improve the quality of life of Indian

3 women and families.

4 (d) TERMINATION.—The task force shall terminate

5 upon the expiration of 14 months following the date of

6 the enactment of this Act.

7 SEC. 8. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.

8 The Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs shall:

9 (1) Ensure that the Office receives adequate re10 sources to carry out the purposes of this Act.

11 (2) Ensure that senior-level staff members and

12 other employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs are

13 participants in and responsible for assisting in carry14 ing out the purposes of this Act relating to the im15 provement of policies and programs of the Bureau of

16 Indian Affairs.

17 SEC. 9. REPORTING.

18 The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bu19 reau of Indian Affairs, shall, on or before March 15 of

20 each of the 2 calendar years next following the calendar

21 year in which this Act is enacted, and biennially there22 after, report to Congress on the progress of achieving the

23 purposes of this Act. Such report shall include, but not

24 be limited to, information relative to the current status

25 of progress of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ policy on In-
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1 dian women and Indian families in fulfilling its objectives,

2 programs and projects, including how well the Bureau of

3 Indian Affairs has operationally integrated the issue of In4 dian women and families into its overall policies, pro5 grams, projects and activities. Such report shall include

6 a review of data gathered to assess and improve the qual7 ity of life of Indian women and families, including specific

8 recommendations to improve the education, health, em9 ployment, economic, housing, social, and other services

10 within the Bureau of Indian Affairs relating to Indian

11 women and families.

12 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATIONS.

13 Commencing with fiscal year 1994, and each fiscal

14 year thereafter, there are authorized to be appropriated

15 for carrying out the provisions of this Act, $2,000,000.

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