II

104TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 346

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

FEBRUARY 2 (legislative day, JANUARY 30), 1995

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 1995’’.

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
2

S 346 IS

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 its

6 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 Af19 fairs;

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, contributions,

25 and needs of Indian women and families can and
3

S 346 IS

1 should be taken into account to improve Bureau of

2 Indian Affairs policy formulation and program oper3 ations 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; and

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 In24 dian Affairs policies, programs, projects, and activi25 ties. There will be a special emphasis on the eco-
4

S 346 IS

1 nomic well-being of Indian women and families in2 cluding employment and business opportunities;

3 (2) to establish an office to serve as a focal

4 point for all Federal Government policy issues af5 fecting Indian women and families for purposes of

6 both economic and social development;

7 (3) to collect data related to the specific roles,

8 concerns, and needs of Indian women, and Indian

9 families, and use such data to support policy, pro10 gram, and project implementation throughout all of11 fices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and other Fed12 eral agencies, and to monitor the impacts of these

13 policies, programs and projects;

14 (4) to enhance the economic and social partici15 pation of Indian women and families in all levels of

16 planning, decisionmaking, and policy development

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

18 and tribal governments and reservations;

19 (5) to conduct research and collect relevant

20 studies relating to special needs of Indian women

21 and families;

22 (6) to develop pilot programs and projects to

23 strengthen activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs

24 involving Indian women and families, and serve as

25 models for future endeavors and planning;
5

S 346 IS

1 (7) to ensure a liaison with other Federal de2 partments and agencies, State and local govern3 ments, tribally controlled community colleges, other

4 academic institutions, any public or private organi5 zations, and tribal governments that serve Indian

6 peoples;

7 (8) to ensure training endeavors for Bureau of

8 Indian Affairs offices and agencies at the national,

9 area, and local levels to ensure Bureau personnel

10 and any other beneficiaries of Bureau and other gov11 ernmental programs understand the purposes and

12 policies of the office established by this Act;

13 (9) to develop policy-level programs, with the

14 assistance of the Assistant Secretary and other sen15 ior-level personnel of the Bureau of Indian Affairs,

16 to ensure that systems, directives, management

17 strategies and other related methodologies are imple18 mented to meet the purposes of this Act;

19 (10) to strengthen the role of Indian women

20 and families by developing and ensuring culturally

21 appropriate policies and programs; and

22 (11) to encourage other actions that serve to

23 more fully integrate Indian women and families as

24 participants in and agents for change in the Federal
6

S 346 IS

1 policy and program activities of the Bureau of In2 dian Affairs.

3 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.

4 As used in this Act:

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

6 who is a member of an Indian tribe.

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

8 tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or com9 munity, any Alaska Native village or regional or vil10 lage corporation as defined in or established pursu11 ant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85

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

13 programs and services provided by the United States

14 to Indians because of their status as Indians.

15 SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF INDIAN WOMEN

16 AND INDIAN FAMILIES.

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

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

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

20 (b) DIRECTOR.—The Office shall be under the man21 agement of a director (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Di22 rector’’), who shall be appointed by the Assistant Sec23 retary of Indian Affairs. The Director shall report directly

24 to the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.
7

S 346 IS

1 (c) COMPENSATION.—The Director shall be com2 pensated at the rate prescribed for level IV of the Execu3 tive Schedule under section 5313 of title 5, United States

4 Code.

5 (d) TENURE.—The Director shall serve at the discre6 tion of the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.

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

8 shall be filled in the same manner as the original appoint9 ment was made.

10 (f) DUTIES.—The Director shall administer the Of11 fice and carry out the purposes and functions of this Act.

12 The Director shall take such action as may be necessary

13 in order to integrate Indian women and family issues into

14 the Bureau of Indian Affairs policies, programs, projects

15 and activities.

16 SEC. 6. FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE.

17 It shall be the function of the Office to develop a pol18 icy paper for Indian women and families to articulate the

19 objectives of the Office, to serve as a guideline for system20 atically integrating Indian women and families issues into

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

22 and activities, and to establish and detail indicators and

23 benchmarks for measuring the success of the Office.
8

S 346 IS

1 SEC. 7. POLICY TASK FORCE.

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

3 The Director, in consultation with the Assistant Secretary

4 of Indian Affairs, shall establish a temporary policy task

5 force on Indian women and families.

6 (b) MEMBERSHIP.—Members of the task force shall

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

8 representatives from Federal agencies and departments,

9 relevant Indian organizations, State agencies and organi10 zations, Indian tribal governments, institutions of higher

11 education, and nongovernmental and private sector orga12 nizations and institutions.

13 (c) FUNCTIONS.—The policy task force shall—

14 (1) ensure that the Policy Paper for Indian

15 women and families prepared by the Bureau of In16 dian Affairs articulates a set of goals, objectives,

17 management strategies, and monitoring systems for

18 the improvement of all Federal programs, including

19 programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, designed

20 to improve the quality of life of Indian women and

21 families;

22 (2) recommend a permanent policy mechanism

23 to be established in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for

24 the continuous monitoring and refinement of policy

25 and programs designed to improve the quality of life

26 of Indian women and families; and
9

S 346 IS

1 (3) recommend a permanent policy mechanism

2 to be established in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for

3 the purpose of collecting and disseminating to Con4 gress and the public information and other data rel5 evant to the progress of the policy and programs de6 signed to improve the quality of life of Indian

7 women and families.

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

9 upon the expiration of fourteen months following the date

10 of the enactment of this Act.

11 SEC. 8. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.

12 The Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs shall—

13 (1) ensure that the Office receives adequate re14 sources to carry out the purposes of this Act; and

15 (2) ensure that senior-level staff members and

16 other employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs are

17 participants in and responsible for assisting in carry18 ing out the purposes of this Act relating to the im19 provement of policies and programs of the Bureau of

20 Indian Affairs.

21 SEC. 9. REPORTING.

22 The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bu23 reau of Indian Affairs, shall, on or before March 15 of

24 each of the two calendar years next following the calendar

25 year in which this Act is enacted, and biennially there-
10

S 346 IS

1 after, report to Congress on the progress of achieving the

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

3 be limited to, information relative to the current status

4 of progress of the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ policy on In5 dian women and Indian families in fulfilling its objectives,

6 programs and projects, including how well the Bureau of

7 Indian Affairs has operationally integrated the issue of In8 dian women and families into its overall policies, pro9 grams, projects, and activities. Such report shall include

10 a review of data gathered to assess and improve the qual11 ity of life of Indian women and families, including specific

12 recommendations to improve the education, health, em13 ployment, economic, housing, social, and other services

14 within the Bureau of Indian Affairs relating to Indian

15 women and families.

16 SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATIONS.

17 Commencing with fiscal year 1994, and each fiscal

18 year thereafter, there are authorized to be appropriated

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

Æ