II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 227 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JANUARY 25 (legislative day, JANUARY 24), 2019 

Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself, Ms. CORTEZ MASTO, Ms. CANTWELL, Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. COONS, Mr. CRAMER, Mr. UDALL, Mr. TESTER, Mr. HEINRICH, Mr. TILLIS, Mr. MERKLEY, and Mr. HOEVEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs 

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’’. 

5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

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


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1 (1) On some reservations, Indian women are 

2 murdered at more than 10 times the national aver3 age. 

4 (2) American Indians and Alaska Natives are 

5 2.5 times as likely to experience violent crimes—and 

6 at least 2 times more likely to experience rape or 

7 sexual assault crimes—compared to all other races 

8 according to the National Congress of American In9 dians. 

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

11 Alaska Native women, or 84.3 percent, have experi12 enced violence in their lifetime according to the Na13 tional Institute of Justice. 

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

15 Alaska Native men, or 81.6 percent, have experi16 enced violence in their lifetime according to the Na17 tional Institute of Justice. 

18 (5) According to the Centers for Disease Con19 trol and Prevention, homicide is the third leading 

20 cause of death among American Indian and Alaska 

21 Native women between 10 and 24 years of age and 

22 the fifth leading cause of death for American Indian 

23 and Alaska Native women between 25 and 34 years 

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

20 (1) to clarify the responsibilities of Federal, 

21 State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies 

22 with respect to responding to cases of missing and 

23 murdered Indians; 

24 (2) to increase coordination and communication 

25 among Federal, State, Tribal, and local law enforceVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:04 Feb 01, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S227.IS S227

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1 ment agencies, including medical examiner and cor2 oner offices; 

3 (3) to empower Tribal governments with the re4 sources and information necessary to effectively re5 spond to cases of missing and murdered Indians; 

6 and 

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

8 missing and murdered Indian men and women and 

9 the sharing of information among Federal, State, 

10 and Tribal officials responsible for responding to 

11 and investigating cases of missing and murdered In12 dians. 

13 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

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

16 means— 

17 (A) the National Crime Information Center 

18 database; 

19 (B) the Combined DNA Index System; 

20 (C) the Next Generation Identification 

21 System; and 

22 (D) any other database relevant to re23 sponding to cases of missing and murdered In24 dians, including that under the Violent Criminal 


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1 Apprehension Program and the National Miss2 ing and Unidentified Persons System. 

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

4 member of an Indian Tribe. 

5 (3) INDIAN COUNTRY.—The term ‘‘Indian coun6 try’’ has the meaning given the term in section 1151 

7 of title 18, United States Code. 

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

9 means— 

10 (A) Indian lands, as defined in section 3 of 

11 the Native American Business Development, 

12 Trade Promotion, and Tourism Act of 2000 (25 

13 U.S.C. 4302); and 

14 (B) land owned by a Regional Corporation 

15 or Village Corporation, as such terms are de16 fined in section 3 of the Alaska Native Claims 

17 Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1602). 

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

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

20 section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Edu21 cation Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304). 

22 (6) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The term 

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

24 State, or local law enforcement agency. 


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1 SEC. 4. IMPROVING TRIBAL ACCESS TO DATABASES. 

2 (a) TRIBAL ENROLLMENT INFORMATION.—The At3 torney General shall provide training to law enforcement 

4 agencies regarding how to record the Tribal enrollment in5 formation or affiliation, as appropriate, of a victim in Fed6 eral databases. 

7 (b) CONSULTATION.— 

8 (1) CONSULTATION.—Not later than 180 days 

9 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney 

10 General, in cooperation with the Secretary of the In11 terior, shall complete a formal consultation with In12 dian Tribes on how to further improve Tribal data 

13 relevance and access to databases. 

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

15 of the Violence Against Women and Department of 

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

17 20126) is amended— 

18 (A) by striking paragraph (2) and insert19 ing the following: 

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

21 from domestic violence, dating violence, sexual as22 sault, homicide, stalking, and sex trafficking;’’; 

23 (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the pe24 riod at the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 

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


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

2 and Federal crime information databases and crimi3 nal justice information systems.’’. 

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

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

6 shall— 

7 (1) develop and implement a dissemination 

8 strategy to notify United States citizens of the Na9 tional Missing and Unidentified Persons System; 

10 and 

11 (2) conduct specific outreach to Indian Tribes 

12 regarding the ability to publicly enter information, 

13 through the National Missing and Unidentified Per14 sons System or other non-law enforcement sensitive 

15 portal, regarding missing persons, which may in16 clude family members and other known acquaint17 ances. 

18 SEC. 5. GUIDELINES FOR RESPONDING TO CASES OF MISS19 ING AND MURDERED INDIANS. 

20 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 

21 date on which the consultation described in section 4(b)(1) 

22 is completed, the Attorney General shall direct United 

23 States attorneys with jurisdiction to prosecute crimes in 

24 Indian country under sections 1152 and 1153 of title 18, 

25 United States Code, or any other provision of law, as part 


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1 of the annual consultations on sexual violence by United 

2 States attorneys with Indian Tribes and Federal partners, 

3 to develop guidelines to respond to cases of missing and 

4 murdered 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 land; 

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; and 

4 (6) guidelines on ensuring access to culturally 

5 appropriate victim services for victims and their 

6 families. 

7 (b) CONSULTATION.—United States attorneys shall 

8 develop the guidelines required under subsection (a) in 

9 consultation with Indian Tribes and other Federal part10 ners, including— 

11 (1) the Department of Justice; 

12 (2) the Federal Bureau of Investigation; 

13 (3) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; 

14 (4) Tribal, State, and local law enforcement 

15 agencies; 

16 (5) medical examiners; 

17 (6) coroners; and 

18 (7) Tribal, State, and local organizations that 

19 provide victim services. 

20 (c) COMPLIANCE.— 

21 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 60 days after 

22 the next sexual violence response annual consultation 

23 occurs in each region after the date of enactment of 

24 this Act, the United States attorneys shall modify 

25 the sexual violence response guidelines to incorporate 


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1 the guidelines developed under subsection (a) and 

2 implement such modified guidelines. 

3 (2) MODIFICATION.—Each Federal law enforce4 ment agency shall modify the guidelines, policies, 

5 and protocols of the agency to incorporate the guide6 lines developed under subsection (a). 

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

8 of each fiscal year beginning after the date the 

9 guidelines are established under this section and in10 corporated under this subsection, the Attorney Gen11 eral shall determine whether each Tribal, State, and 

12 local law enforcement agency has incorporated 

13 guidelines into their respective guidelines, policies, 

14 and protocols. 

15 (4) PREFERENCE.—For each of fiscal years 

16 2019 through 2023, for the fiscal year in which a 

17 grant was solicited, the Attorney General shall give 

18 affirmative preference to all National Institute of 

19 Justice and Office for Victims of Crime discre20 tionary grant applications of a Tribal, State, or local 

21 law enforcement agency, or applications submitted 

22 on behalf of such law enforcement agencies by a 

23 local, State, or Tribal government, if the Attorney 

24 General has determined under paragraph (3) that 

25 the agency has incorporated the guidelines. 


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1 (d) ACCOUNTABILITY.—Not later than 30 days after 

2 compliance determinations are made each fiscal year in 

3 accordance with subsection (c)(3), the Attorney General 

4 shall— 

5 (1) disclose and publish, including on the 

6 website of the Department of Justice, the name of 

7 each Tribal, State, or local law enforcement agency 

8 that the Attorney General has determined has not 

9 incorporated guidelines in accordance with sub10 section (c)(3); and 

11 (2) if a law enforcement agency described in 

12 paragraph (1) subsequently receives a determination 

13 of compliance, the Attorney General shall— 

14 (A) immediately correct the applicable 

15 record; and 

16 (B) not later than 3 days after the deter17 mination, remove the record from the website of 

18 the Department of Justice and any other loca19 tion where the record was published. 

20 (e) TRAINING AND TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The 

21 Attorney General shall use the National Indian Country 

22 Training Initiative to provide training and technical as23 sistance to Indian Tribes and law enforcement agencies 

24 on— 


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1 (1) implementing the guidelines developed 

2 under subsection (a) or developing and implementing 

3 locally specific guidelines or protocols for responding 

4 to cases of missing and murdered Indians; and 

5 (2) using the National Missing and Unidenti6 fied Persons System and accessing program services 

7 that will assist Indian Tribes with responding to 

8 cases of missing and murdered Indians. 

9 SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS. 

10 (a) ANNUAL REPORTING.—Beginning in the first fis11 cal year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Attor12 ney General shall include in its annual Indian Country In13 vestigations and Prosecutions report to Congress informa14 tion that— 

15 (1) includes known statistics on missing Indians 

16 in the United States, available to the Department of 

17 Justice, including— 

18 (A) age; 

19 (B) gender; 

20 (C) Tribal enrollment information or affili21 ation, if available; 

22 (D) the current number of open cases per 

23 State; 


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1 (E) the total number of closed cases per 

2 State each calendar year, from the most recent 

3 10 calendar years; and 

4 (F) other relevant information the Attor5 ney General determines is appropriate; 

6 (2) includes known statistics on murdered Indi7 ans in the United States, available to the Depart8 ment of Justice, including— 

9 (A) age; 

10 (B) gender; 

11 (C) Tribal enrollment information or affili12 ation, if available; 

13 (D) the current number of open cases per 

14 State; 

15 (E) the total number of closed cases per 

16 State each calendar year, from the most recent 

17 10 calendar years; and 

18 (F) other relevant information the Attor19 ney General determines is appropriate; 

20 (3) maintains victim privacy to the greatest ex21 tent possible by excluding information that can be 

22 used on its own or with other information to iden23 tify, contact, or locate a single person, or to identify 

24 an individual in context; and 

25 (4) includes— 


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1 (A) an explanation of why the statistics de2 scribed in paragraph (1) may not be com3 prehensive; and 

4 (B) recommendations on how data collec5 tion on missing and murdered Indians may be 

6 improved. 

7 (b) COMPLIANCE.— 

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

9 year after the date of enactment of this Act, and an10 nually thereafter, for the purpose of compiling accu11 rate data for the annual report required under sub12 section (a), the Attorney General shall request all 

13 Tribal, State, and local law enforcement agencies to 

14 submit to the Department of Justice, to the fullest 

15 extent possible, all relevant information required, as 

16 determined by the Attorney General. 

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 not 

22 submitted the information requested under para23 graph (1) for the fiscal year in which the report was 

24 published. 


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1 (3) PREFERENCE.—For each of fiscal years 

2 2019 through 2023, for the fiscal year in which a 

3 grant was solicited, the Attorney General shall give 

4 affirmative preference to all Department of Justice 

5 discretionary grant applications of a Tribal, State, 

6 or local law enforcement agency, or applications sub7 mitted on behalf of such law enforcement agencies 

8 by a local, State, or Tribal government, that would 

9 aid in the implementation of the guidelines devel10 oped under section 5 or help address the issue of 

11 missing and murdered Indians, if the Attorney Gen12 eral has determined the agency has submitted the 

13 information requested under paragraph (1) for the 

14 fiscal year in which the report was published. 

15 (c) INCLUSION OF GENDER IN MISSING AND UN16 IDENTIFIED PERSONS STATISTICS.—Beginning in the 

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

18 and annually thereafter, the Federal Bureau of Investiga19 tion shall include gender in its annual statistics on missing 

20 and unidentified persons published on its public website. 

Æ 


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