I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2733 

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. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 14, 2019 

Mrs. TORRES of California (for herself, Ms. HAALAND, Mr. NEWHOUSE, Mr. 

GALLEGO, Ms. DAVIDS of Kansas, Mr. GIANFORTE, Mr. COLE, Mr. ARMSTRONG, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MULLIN, Mr. YOUNG, Ms. KUSTER of New 

Hampshire, Ms. BASS, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. 

BONAMICI, Ms. MOORE, Mr. RUIZ, Ms. DELBENE, Mr. STANTON, Mr. 

COOK, and Ms. SEWELL of Alabama) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the 

Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

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. 

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 ‘‘Savanna’s Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) On some reservations, Indian women are 

4 murdered at more than 10 times the national aver5 age. 

6 (2) American Indians and Alaska Natives are 

7 2.5 times as likely to experience violent crimes—and 

8 at least 2 times more likely to experience rape or 

9 sexual assault crimes—compared to all other races, 

10 according to the National Congress of American In11 dians. 

12 (3) More than 4 in 5 American Indian and 

13 Alaska Native women, or 84.3 percent, have experi14 enced violence in their lifetime, according to the Na15 tional Institute of Justice. 

16 (4) More than 4 in 5 American Indian and 

17 Alaska Native men, or 81.6 percent, have experi18 enced violence in their lifetime, according to the Na19 tional Institute of Justice. 

20 (5) According to the Centers for Disease Con21 trol and Prevention, homicide is the third leading 

22 cause of death among American Indian and Alaska 

23 Native women and girls between 10 and 24 years of 

24 age and the fifth leading cause of death for Amer25 ican Indian and Alaska Native women between 25 

26 and 34 years of age. 


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1 (6) Investigation into cases of missing and mur2 dered Indian women is made difficult for Tribal law 

3 enforcement agencies due to a lack of resources, 

4 such as— 

5 (A) necessary training, equipment, or 

6 funding; 

7 (B) a lack of interagency cooperation; and 

8 (C) a lack of appropriate laws in place. 

9 (7) The complicated jurisdictional scheme that 

10 exists in Indian country— 

11 (A) has a significant negative impact on 

12 the ability to provide public safety to Indian 

13 communities; 

14 (B) has been increasingly exploited by 

15 criminals; and 

16 (C) requires a high degree of commitment 

17 and cooperation among Tribal, Federal, and 

18 State law enforcement officials. 

19 (8) In states with restrictive land settlement 

20 acts such as Maine and Alaska, ‘‘Indian country’’ is 

21 limited, resources for local tribal responses either 

22 nonexistent or insufficient to meet the needs, and ju23 risdiction is unnecessarily complicated and increases 

24 the already high levels of victimization of American 

25 Indian and Alaska Native women. According to the 


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1 Indian Law and Order Commission Report, Alaska 

2 Native women are over-represented in the domestic 

3 violence victim population by 250 percent; they com4 prise 19 percent of the state population, but are 47 

5 percent of reported rape victims. These issues are 

6 further complicated as the Indian Law and Order 

7 Commission Report noted that at least 30 percent of 

8 villages lack any law enforcement at all. 

9 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

10 (1) to clarify the responsibilities of Federal, 

11 State, Tribal, and local governments and law en12 forcement agencies with respect to responding to 

13 cases of missing and murdered Indians; 

14 (2) to increase coordination and communication 

15 among Federal, State, Tribal, and local law enforce16 ment agencies, including medical examiner and cor17 oner offices; 

18 (3) to empower Tribal governments with the re19 sources and information necessary to effectively re20 spond to cases of missing and murdered Indians, in21 cluding Tribes located in any State known as a 

22 ‘‘PL–280 State’’; and 

23 (4) to increase the collection of data related to 

24 missing and murdered Indian men, women, and chil25 dren and the sharing of information among Federal, 


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1 State, and Tribal officials responsible for responding 

2 to and investigating cases of missing and murdered 

3 Indians by clarifying and correcting limitation in the 

4 Federal database. 

5 SEC. 3. IMPROVING TRIBAL ACCESS TO DATABASES. 

6 (a) TRIBAL ENROLLMENT INFORMATION.—The At7 torney General shall provide training to law enforcement 

8 agencies regarding how to record the Tribal enrollment in9 formation or affiliation, as appropriate, of a victim in Fed10 eral databases. 

11 (b) CONSULTATION.— 

12 (1) INITIAL CONSULTATION.—Not later than 

13 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the 

14 Attorney General, in cooperation with the Secretary 

15 of the Interior, shall complete a formal consultation 

16 with Indian Tribes on how to further improve Tribal 

17 data relevance and access to databases. 

18 (2) ANNUAL CONSULTATION.—Section 903(b) 

19 of the Violence Against Women and Department of 

20 Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (34 U.S.C. 

21 20126) is amended— 

22 (A) by striking paragraph (2) and insert23 ing the following: 

24 ‘‘(2) enhancing the safety of Indian women 

25 from domestic violence, dating violence, obstruction 


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1 of justice, sexual assault, homicide, stalking, and sex 

2 trafficking;’’; 

3 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe4 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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

6 ‘‘(4) improving access to local, regional, State, 

7 and Federal crime information databases and crimi8 nal justice information systems.’’. 

9 (c) NOTIFICATION.—Not later than 180 days after 

10 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General 

11 shall— 

12 (1) develop and implement a dissemination 

13 strategy to notify the public of the National Missing 

14 and Unidentified Persons System; and 

15 (2) conduct specific outreach to Indian Tribes 

16 regarding the ability to publicly enter information, 

17 through the National Missing and Unidentified Per18 sons System or other non-law enforcement sensitive 

19 portal, regarding missing persons, which may in20 clude family members and other known acquaint21 ances. 

22 SEC. 4. GUIDELINES FOR RESPONDING TO CASES OF MISS23 ING AND MURDERED INDIANS. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after the 

25 date on which the consultation described in section 


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1 902(c)(1) is completed, the Attorney General shall direct 

2 United States attorneys to develop regionally appropriate 

3 guidelines to respond to cases of missing and murdered 

4 Indians that shall include— 

5 (1) guidelines on inter-jurisdictional cooperation 

6 among law enforcement agencies at the Tribal, Fed7 eral, State, and local levels, including inter-jurisdic8 tional enforcement of protection orders and detailing 

9 specific responsibilities of each law enforcement 

10 agency; 

11 (2) best practices in conducting searches for 

12 missing persons on Indian lands; 

13 (3) standards on the collection, reporting, and 

14 analysis of data and information on missing persons 

15 and unidentified human remains, and information on 

16 culturally appropriate identification and handling of 

17 human remains identified as Indian, including guid18 ance stating that all appropriate information related 

19 to missing and murdered Indians be entered in a 

20 timely manner into applicable databases; 

21 (4) guidance on which law enforcement agency 

22 is responsible for inputting information into appro23 priate databases under paragraph (3) if the Tribal 

24 law enforcement agency does not have access to 

25 those appropriate databases; 


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1 (5) guidelines on improving law enforcement 

2 agency response rates and follow-up responses to 

3 cases of missing and murdered Indians on and off 

4 Indian lands; 

5 (6) guidelines on ensuring access to culturally 

6 appropriate victim services for victims and their 

7 families; and 

8 (7) guidelines on improving law enforcement 

9 agency communication with families of victims to en10 sure timely notification and dissemination of appro11 priate information in the cases of missing and mur12 dered Indians on and off Tribal lands. 

13 (b) CONSULTATION.—United States attorney shall 

14 develop the guidelines required under subsection (a) in 

15 consultation with Indian Tribes and other partners, in16 cluding— 

17 (1) the Department of Justice; 

18 (2) the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 

19 (3) the Department of the Interior; 

20 (4) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; 

21 (5) Tribal, State, and local law enforcement 

22 agencies; 

23 (6) medical examiners; 

24 (7) coroners; 


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1 (8) Tribal, State, and local organizations that 

2 provide victim services; and 

3 (9) national or regional tribal organizations 

4 with relevant expertise. 

5 (c) COMPLIANCE.— 

6 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

7 the date of enactment of this Act, the United States 

8 attorneys shall incorporate the guidelines developed 

9 under subsection (a) into existing policies and proce10 dures, and implement such guidelines. 

11 (2) MODIFICATION.—Each Federal law enforce12 ment agency shall modify the guidelines, policies, 

13 and protocols of the agency to incorporate the guide14 lines developed under subsection (a). 

15 (3) DETERMINATION.—Not later than the end 

16 of each fiscal year beginning after the date the 

17 guidelines are established under this section and in18 corporated under this subsection, the Attorney Gen19 eral shall determine whether each Tribal, State, and 

20 local law enforcement agency has incorporated 

21 guidelines into their respective guidelines, policies, 

22 and protocols, and any barriers the agency reported 

23 in collecting and providing the information. 

24 (4) ACCOUNTABILITY.—Not later than 30 days 

25 after compliance determinations are made each fiscal 


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1 year in accordance with paragraph (3), the Attorney 

2 General shall— 

3 (A) disclose and publish, including on the 

4 website of the Department of Justice, the name 

5 of each Tribal, State, or local law enforcement 

6 agency that the Attorney General has deter7 mined has incorporated guidelines in accord8 ance with paragraph (3); 

9 (B) if a law enforcement agency described 

10 in subparagraph (A) subsequently receives a de11 termination of compliance in accordance with 

12 paragraph (3), the Attorney General shall— 

13 (i) immediately correct the applicable 

14 record; and 

15 (ii) not later than 3 days after the de16 termination, add the record to the website 

17 of the Department of Justice and any 

18 other location where the record was pub19 lished; and 

20 (C) collect guidelines of each agency into a 

21 resource of examples and best practices that 

22 can be used by other law enforcement agencies 

23 seeking to create and implement such guide24 lines. 

25 (d) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

2 use the National Indian Country Training Initiative 

3 to provide training and technical assistance to In4 dian Tribes and law enforcement agencies on— 

5 (A) implementing the guidelines developed 

6 under subsection (a) or developing and imple7 menting locally specific guidelines or protocols 

8 for responding to cases of missing and mur9 dered Indians; and 

10 (B) using the National Missing and Un11 identified Persons System and accessing pro12 gram services that will assist Indian Tribes 

13 with responding to cases of missing and mur14 dered Indians. 

15 (2) EXCEPTION.—the Attorney General may 

16 provide the training described in paragraph (1) 

17 through local state law enforcement academies if— 

18 (A) the Attorney General determines that 

19 the such academies will provide trainings that 

20 meet the same standards and utilize the cur21 riculum as trainings provided by the National 

22 Indian Country Training Initiative; and 

23 (B) that relevant state, tribal, and local 

24 law enforcement agencies have consented to the 

25 training being provided by such academies, 


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1 rather than the National Indian Country Train2 ing Initiative. 

3 SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION AND INCENTIVES. 

4 (a) IMPLEMENTATION.— 

5 (1) GRANTS TO IMPROVE THE CRIMINAL JUS6 TICE RESPONSE.—Section 2101(b) of part U of title 

7 I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

8 Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10461(b)), as amended by 

9 this Act, is further amended by adding at the end 

10 the following: 

11 ‘‘(26) To develop, strengthen, and implement 

12 policies, protocols, and training for law enforcement 

13 regarding cases of missing and murdered Indians, as 

14 described in section 4 of Savanna’s Act. 

15 ‘‘(27) To compile and annually report data to 

16 the Attorney General related to missing and mur17 dered Indians, as described in section 6 of Savanna’s 

18 Act.’’. 

19 (2) GRANTS TO INDIAN TRIBAL GOVERN20 MENTS.—Section 2015(a) of part T of title I of the 

21 Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 

22 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10452(a)) is amended— 

23 (A) in paragraph (9), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 

24 the end; 


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1 (B) in paragraph (10), by striking the pe2 riod at the end and inserting a semicolon; and 

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

4 ‘‘(11) to develop, strengthen, and implement 

5 policies, protocols, and training for law enforcement 

6 regarding cases of missing and murdered Indians, as 

7 described in section 4 of Savanna’s Act; and 

8 ‘‘(12) to compile and annually report data to 

9 the Attorney General related to missing and mur10 dered Indians, as described in section 6 of Savanna’s 

11 Act.’’. 

12 (b) INCENTIVES.— 

13 (1) GUIDELINES.—For law enforcement agen14 cies that the Attorney General determines to have 

15 incorporated guidelines in accordance with section 4, 

16 the Attorney General shall increase the amount pro17 vided to that government through the grants under 

18 parts T and U of title I of the Omnibus Crime Con19 trol and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and by no more 

20 than five percent for two years following the finding 

21 of compliance. 

22 (2) DATA REPORTING.—For law enforcement 

23 agencies that the Attorney General has determined 

24 submitted the information requested under para25 graph (1) for the fiscal year in which the report was 


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1 published, the Attorney General shall increase the 

2 amount provided to that government through grants 

3 under parts T and U of title I of the Omnibus 

4 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 by no 

5 more than five percent over the previous year for not 

6 more than 2 fiscal years after the determination 

7 under this paragraph. 

8 SEC. 6. ADDITIONAL ANNUAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

9 (a) ANNUAL REPORTING.—Beginning in the first fis10 cal year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attor11 ney General shall include in its annual Indian Country In12 vestigations and Prosecutions report to Congress informa13 tion that— 

14 (1) includes known statistics on missing Indians 

15 in the United States, available to the Department of 

16 Justice, including— 

17 (A) age; 

18 (B) gender; 

19 (C) Tribal enrollment information or affili20 ation, if available; 

21 (D) the current number of open cases per 

22 State; 

23 (E) the total number of closed cases per 

24 State each calendar year, from the most recent 

25 10 calendar years; and 


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1 (F) other relevant information the Attor2 ney General determines is appropriate; 

3 (2) includes known statistics on murdered Indi4 ans in the United States, available to the Depart5 ment of Justice, including— 

6 (A) age; 

7 (B) gender; 

8 (C) Tribal enrollment information or affili9 ation, if available; 

10 (D) the current number of open cases per 

11 State; 

12 (E) the total number of closed cases per 

13 State each calendar year, from the most recent 

14 10 calendar years; and 

15 (F) other relevant information the Attor16 ney General determines is appropriate; 

17 (3) maintains victim privacy to the greatest ex18 tent possible by excluding information that can be 

19 used on its own or with other information to iden20 tify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify 

21 an individual in context; and 

22 (4) includes— 

23 (A) an explanation of why the statistics de24 scribed in paragraph (1) may not be com25 prehensive; and 


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1 (B) recommendations on how data collec2 tion on missing and murdered Indians may be 

3 improved, including by addressing cross-juris4 dictional barriers at the State, local, and tribal 

5 law enforcement level. 

6 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 

7 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning in the first fiscal 

8 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and an9 nually thereafter, for the purpose of compiling accu10 rate data for the annual report required under sub11 section (a), the Attorney General shall request all 

12 Tribal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to 

13 submit to the Department of Justice, to the fullest 

14 extent possible, all relevant information collected by 

15 the agency, as determined by the Attorney General 

16 in consultation with Indian Tribes. 

17 (2) DISCLOSURE.—The Attorney General shall 

18 disclose and publish annually, including on the 

19 website of the Department of Justice, the name of 

20 each Tribal, State, or local law enforcement agency 

21 that the Attorney General has determined has sub22 mitted the information requested under paragraph 

23 (1) for the fiscal year in which the report was pub24 lished. 


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1 (c) INCLUSION OF GENDER IN MISSING AND UN2 IDENTIFIED PERSONS STATISTICS.—Beginning in the 

3 first calendar year after the date of enactment of this Act, 

4 and annually thereafter, the Federal Bureau of Investiga5 tion shall include gender in its annual statistics on missing 

6 and unidentified persons published on its public website. 

7 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

8 In this Act: 

9 (1) DATABASES.—The term ‘‘databases’’ 

10 means— 

11 (A) the National Crime Information Center 

12 database; 

13 (B) the Combined DNA Index System; 

14 (C) the Next Generation Identification 

15 System; and 

16 (D) any other database relevant to re17 sponding to cases of missing and murdered In18 dians, including that under the Violent Criminal 

19 Apprehension Program and the National Miss20 ing and Unidentified Persons System. 

21 (2) INDIAN.—The term ‘‘Indian’’ means a 

22 member of an Indian Tribe. 

23 (3) INDIAN COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘Indian coun24 try’’ has the meaning given the term in section 1151 

25 of title 18, United States Code. 


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1 (4) INDIAN LAND.—The term ‘‘Indian land’’ 

2 means Indian lands, as defined in section 3 of the 

3 Native American Business Development, Trade Pro4 motion, and Tourism Act of 2000 (25 U.S.C. 4302). 

5 (5) INDIAN TRIBE.—The term ‘‘Indian Tribe’’ 

6 has the meaning given the term ‘‘Indian tribe’’ in 

7 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu8 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

9 (6) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The term 

10 ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means a Tribal, Federal, 

11 State, or local law enforcement agency. 

Æ 


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