II 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2233 

To protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

DECEMBER 14, 2017 

Mr. UDALL (for himself, Ms. MURKOWSKI, and Ms. CORTEZ MASTO) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

A BILL 

To protect Native children and promote public safety in 

Indian country. 

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 ‘‘Native Youth and 

5 Tribal Officer Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) Native women face some of the highest lev9 els of violence of any group; 


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1 (2) more than half of American Indian and 

2 Alaska Native women have experienced physical vio3 lence by an intimate partner in their lifetimes, and 

4 90 percent of these women have experienced that vi5 olence at the hands of a non-Indian intimate part6 ner; 

7 (3) Indian tribes report that children are usu8 ally involved in domestic violence and dating violence 

9 incidents that occur on Indian lands, either as wit10 nesses or as victims themselves; 

11 (4) American Indian children and Alaska Na12 tive children experience post-traumatic stress dis13 order (referred to in this Act as ‘‘PTSD’’) at much 

14 higher rates than non-Indian children; 

15 (5) American Indian children and Alaska Na16 tive children experience PTSD at a rate of 22 per17 cent, which is the same rate at which Afghanistan 

18 and Iraq war veterans experience PTSD; 

19 (6) children in Indian country should be pro20 tected from violence; 

21 (7) violence against children and crime associ22 ated with dating violence and domestic violence in23 crease the number of instances of trauma in tribal 

24 communities, which— 

25 (A) affects health outcomes; 


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1 (B) reduces educational attainment; 

2 (C) hinders economic growth; and 

3 (D) undermines public safety; 

4 (8) the Uniform Crime Report of the Federal 

5 Bureau of Investigation shows that police officers, 

6 including tribal police officers, are assaulted when 

7 responding to disturbance calls more often than 

8 under any other circumstances; 

9 (9) Congress established the Indian Law and 

10 Order Commission to advise the Federal Govern11 ment on how to improve criminal justice in Indian 

12 country; 

13 (10) the Indian Law and Order Commission 

14 issued a report entitled ‘‘A Roadmap for Making 

15 Native America Safer’’, which recommends the res16 toration of the inherent authority of tribal courts; 

17 and 

18 (11) tribal communities should be able to pro19 tect themselves from dating violence, domestic vio20 lence, and child violence, and from violence com21 mitted against members of the tribal justice system. 

22 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF NATIVE CHILDREN AND TRIBAL 

23 COMMUNITIES. 

24 Section 204 of Public Law 90–284 (25 U.S.C. 1304) 

25 is amended— 


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1 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘DO2 MESTIC VIOLENCE’’ and inserting ‘‘DOMESTIC

3 VIOLENCE, CHILD VIOLENCE, AND VIOLENCE

4 AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS’’; 

5 (2) in subsection (a)— 

6 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘means 

7 violence’’ and inserting ‘‘means covered con8 duct’’; 

9 (B) in paragraph (2)— 

10 (i) by striking ‘‘means violence’’ and 

11 inserting ‘‘means covered conduct’’; and 

12 (ii) by striking ‘‘where the violence oc13 curs’’ and inserting ‘‘where the covered 

14 conduct occurs’’; 

15 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘domes16 tic violence’’ and inserting ‘‘tribal’’; 

17 (D) in paragraph (6)— 

18 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik19 ing ‘‘DOMESTIC VIOLENCE’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘TRIBAL’’; and 

21 (ii) by striking ‘‘domestic violence’’ 

22 and inserting ‘‘tribal’’; 

23 (E) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and 

24 (7) as paragraphs (12) and (13), respectively; 


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1 (F) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 

2 through (5) as paragraphs (6) through (10), re3 spectively; 

4 (G) by inserting before paragraph (6) (as 

5 redesignated by subparagraph (F)) the fol6 lowing: 

7 ‘‘(1) CAREGIVER.—The term ‘caregiver’ 

8 means— 

9 ‘‘(A) the parent, guardian, or legal custo10 dian of the child; 

11 ‘‘(B) the spouse or intimate partner of a 

12 parent, guardian, or legal custodian of the 

13 child; 

14 ‘‘(C) any relative of the child, including a 

15 parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, step16 parent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, 

17 half-brother, or half-sister; 

18 ‘‘(D) a person who resides or has resided 

19 regularly or intermittently in the same dwelling 

20 as the child; 

21 ‘‘(E) a person who provides or has pro22 vided care for the child in or out of the home 

23 of the child; 


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1 ‘‘(F) any person who exercises or has exer2 cised temporary or permanent control over the 

3 child; or 

4 ‘‘(G) any person who temporarily or per5 manently supervises or has supervised the child. 

6 ‘‘(2) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means a person 

7 who has not attained the lesser of— 

8 ‘‘(A) the age of 18; or 

9 ‘‘(B) except in the case of sexual abuse, 

10 the age specified by the child protection law of 

11 the participating tribe that has jurisdiction over 

12 the Indian country where the child resides. 

13 ‘‘(3) CHILD VIOLENCE.—The term ‘child vio14 lence’ means covered conduct committed against a 

15 child by a caregiver of the child. 

16 ‘‘(4) COVERED CONDUCT.—The term ‘covered 

17 conduct’ means conduct that— 

18 ‘‘(A) involves the use, attempted use, or 

19 threatened use of physical force against the per20 son or property of another; and 

21 ‘‘(B) violates the criminal law of the In22 dian tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian 

23 country where the conduct occurs. 

24 ‘‘(5) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘cov25 ered individual’ means an officer or employee of an 


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1 Indian tribe, or an individual authorized to act for 

2 or on behalf of an Indian tribe or serving an Indian 

3 tribe, who is— 

4 ‘‘(A) authorized under law to— 

5 ‘‘(i) engage in or supervise the preven6 tion, detection, investigation, arrest, pre7 trial detention, prosecution, or adjudication 

8 of an offense or the sentencing, including 

9 the probation, parole, incarceration, or re10 habilitation, of an individual; or 

11 ‘‘(ii) serve as a probation or pretrial 

12 services officer; and 

13 ‘‘(B) carrying out an activity described in 

14 paragraph (11)(C).’’; and 

15 (H) by inserting after paragraph (10) (as 

16 redesignated by subparagraph (F)) the fol17 lowing: 

18 ‘‘(11) RELATED CONDUCT.—The term ‘related 

19 conduct’ means a violation of the criminal law of an 

20 Indian tribe that is committed— 

21 ‘‘(A) against a covered individual; 

22 ‘‘(B) by a person— 

23 ‘‘(i) who is subject to special tribal 

24 criminal jurisdiction; and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) has committed criminal conduct 

2 that falls into one or more of the cat3 egories described in paragraphs (1) and 

4 (2) of subsection (c); and 

5 ‘‘(C) in the course of resisting or inter6 fering with the prevention, detection, investiga7 tion, arrest, pretrial detention, prosecution, ad8 judication, or sentencing, including the proba9 tion, parole, incarceration, or rehabilitation, of 

10 that person relating to that criminal conduct.’’; 

11 (3) in subsection (b)— 

12 (A) by striking ‘‘domestic violence’’ each 

13 place it appears and inserting ‘‘tribal’’; and 

14 (B) in paragraph (4)(B)(iii), in the matter 

15 preceding subclause (I), by striking ‘‘, or dating 

16 partner’’ and inserting ‘‘, dating partner, or 

17 caregiver’’; 

18 (4) in subsection (c)— 

19 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 

20 by striking ‘‘domestic violence’’ and inserting 

21 ‘‘tribal’’; 

22 (B) in paragraph (1)— 

23 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik24 ing ‘‘AND DATING VIOLENCE’’ and insertVerDate Sep 11 2014 19:48 Dec 18, 2017 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2233.IS S2233

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1 ing ‘‘, DATING VIOLENCE, AND CHILD VIO2 LENCE’’; and 

3 (ii) by striking ‘‘or dating violence’’ 

4 and inserting ‘‘, dating violence, or child 

5 violence’’; and 

6 (C) by adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(3) RELATED CONDUCT.—An act of related 

8 conduct that occurs in the Indian country of the 

9 participating tribe.’’; 

10 (5) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘domestic vio11 lence’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘tribal’’; 

12 (6) in subsection (f)— 

13 (A) by striking ‘‘special domestic violence’’ 

14 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘special 

15 tribal’’; 

16 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘pros17 ecutes’’ and all that follows through the semi18 colon at the end and inserting the following: 

19 ‘‘prosecutes— 

20 ‘‘(A) a crime of domestic violence; 

21 ‘‘(B) a crime of dating violence; 

22 ‘‘(C) a crime of child violence; 

23 ‘‘(D) a criminal violation of a protection 

24 order; or 

25 ‘‘(E) a crime of related conduct;’’; and 


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1 (C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘child 

2 violence, related conduct,’’ after ‘‘dating vio3 lence,’’; and 

4 (7) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘2014 

5 through 2018’’ and inserting ‘‘2018 through 2022’’. 

6 SEC. 4. INCREASED INTERAGENCY COORDINATION. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior and 

8 the Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred to 

9 in this section as the ‘‘Secretaries’’) shall coordinate with 

10 the Attorney General to ensure, to the maximum extent 

11 practicable, that Federal programs to support tribal jus12 tice systems and to support provision of victim services 

13 for Indians are working effectively together to serve the 

14 needs of Indian tribes and Indians (as such terms are de15 fined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 

16 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)). 

17 (b) COORDINATION OF FEDERAL INDIAN FACILITIES

18 WITH NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE GRANT19 EES.—The Secretaries shall ensure that information for 

20 contacting any toll-free telephone hotline operated by re21 cipients of a grant authorized by section 313 of the Family 

22 Violence Protective Services Act (42 U.S.C. 10413), is 

23 posted and readily visible in each publicly accessible Fed24 eral facility utilized by— 

25 (1) the Indian Health Services; 


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1 (2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; or 

2 (3) the Bureau of Indian Education. 

3 (c) COORDINATION ON TRAINING FEDERAL INDIAN

4 PROGRAM EMPLOYEES TO RECOGNIZE AND RESPOND TO

5 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The Secretaries (acting through 

6 the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, the Director 

7 of the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Director of 

8 the Indian Health Service) shall coordinate with the Direc9 tor of the Office on Violence Against Women of the De10 partment of Justice and the Associate Commissioner for 

11 the Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Department 

12 of Health and Human Services to ensure that training ma13 terials on recognizing and responding to domestic violence 

14 are available to tribal and Federal employees of— 

15 (1) the Indian Health Services; 

16 (2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and 

17 (3) the Bureau of Indian Education. 

18 SEC. 5. REPORT. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior 

20 (acting through the Assistant Secretary for Indian Af21 fairs) and the Secretary of Health and Human Services 

22 (acting through the Director of the Indian Health Service) 

23 shall jointly submit a report to— 

24 (1) the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Sen25 ate; and 


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1 (2) the Committee on Natural Resources of the 

2 House of Representatives. 

3 (b) CONTENTS OF THE REPORT.—The report re4 quired under subsection (a) shall include a description of 

5 the degree of effectiveness of— 

6 (1) Federal programs that are intended to build 

7 the capacity of criminal justice systems of Indian 

8 tribes to investigate and prosecute offenses relating 

9 to dating violence, domestic violence, child violence, 

10 and related conduct (as defined in section 204 of 

11 Public Law 90–284 (25 U.S.C. 1304), as amended 

12 by section 3(2)); 

13 (2) the required coordination activities required 

14 under section 4, including compliance with the post15 ing of domestic violence victim service access infor16 mation required under section 4(b); and 

17 (3) the interagency employee training material 

18 development required under section 4(c). 

19 (c) TIMING.—The Secretary of the Interior and the 

20 Secretary of Health and Human Services shall submit the 

21 report required under subsection (a) by not later than 4 

22 years after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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