H. R. 1167—17
an agreement negotiated under the Tribal Self-Governance Dem-
onstration Project established under title III, as in effect before
the enactment of the Tribal Self-Governance Amendments of 2000,
upon the request of an Indian tribe, the Secretary—
‘‘(1) shall permit an Indian tribe to use existing school
buildings, hospitals, and other facilities and all equipment
therein or appertaining thereto and other personal property
owned by the Government within the Secretary’s jurisdiction
under such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by
the Secretary and the Indian tribe for their use and mainte-
nance;
‘‘(2) may donate to an Indian tribe title to any personal
or real property found to be excess to the needs of any agency
of the Department, or the General Services Administration,
except that—
‘‘(A) subject to the provisions of subparagraph (B), title
to property and equipment furnished by the Federal
Government for use in the performance of the compact
or funding agreement or purchased with funds under any
compact or funding agreement shall, unless otherwise
requested by the Indian tribe, vest in the appropriate
Indian tribe;
‘‘(B) if property described in subparagraph (A) has
a value in excess of $5,000 at the time of retrocession,
withdrawal, or reassumption, at the option of the Secretary
upon the retrocession, withdrawal, or reassumption, title
to such property and equipment shall revert to the Depart-
ment of Health and Human Services; and
‘‘(C) all property referred to in subparagraph (A) shall
remain eligible for replacement, maintenance, and improve-
ment on the same basis as if title to such property were
vested in the United States; and
‘‘(3) shall acquire excess or surplus Government personal
or real property for donation to an Indian tribe if the Secretary
determines the property is appropriate for use by the Indian
tribe for any purpose for which a compact or funding agreement
is authorized under this title.
‘‘(d) MATCHING
OR
COST-PARTICIPATION
REQUIREMENT.—All
funds provided under compacts, funding agreements, or grants made
pursuant to this Act, shall be treated as non-Federal funds for
purposes of meeting matching or cost participation requirements
under any other Federal or non-Federal program.
‘‘(e) STATE FACILITATION.—States are hereby authorized and
encouraged to enact legislation, and to enter into agreements with
Indian tribes to facilitate and supplement the initiatives, programs,
and policies authorized by this title and other Federal laws bene-
fiting Indians and Indian tribes.
‘‘(f ) RULES OF CONSTRUCTION.—Each provision of this title and
each provision of a compact or funding agreement shall be liberally
construed for the benefit of the Indian tribe participating in self-
governance and any ambiguity shall be resolved in favor of the
Indian tribe.
‘‘SEC. 513. BUDGET REQUEST.
‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT OF ANNUAL BUDGET REQUEST.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The President shall identify in the
annual budget request submitted to Congress under section
H. R. 1167—18
1105 of title 31, United States Code, all funds necessary to
fully fund all funding agreements authorized under this title,
including funds specifically identified to fund tribal base
budgets. All funds so appropriated shall be apportioned to
the Indian Health Service. Such funds shall be provided to
the Office of Tribal Self-Governance which shall be responsible
for distribution of all funds provided under section 505.
‘‘(2) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this subsection
shall be construed to authorize the Indian Health Service to
reduce the amount of funds that a self-governance tribe is
otherwise entitled to receive under its funding agreement or
other applicable law, whether or not such funds are apportioned
to the Office of Tribal Self-Governance under this section.
‘‘(b) PRESENT FUNDING; SHORTFALLS.—In such budget request,
the President shall identify the level of need presently funded
and any shortfall in funding (including direct program and contract
support costs) for each Indian tribe, either directly by the Secretary
of Health and Human Services, under self-determination contracts,
or under compacts and funding agreements authorized under this
title.
‘‘SEC. 514. REPORTS.
‘‘(a) ANNUAL REPORT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than January 1 of each year
after the date of the enactment of the Tribal Self-Governance
Amendments of 2000, the Secretary shall submit to the Com-
mittee on Indian Affairs of the Senate and the Committee
on Resources of the House of Representatives a written report
regarding the administration of this title.
‘‘(2) ANALYSIS.—The report under paragraph (1) shall
include a detailed analysis of the level of need being presently
funded or unfunded for each Indian tribe, either directly by
the Secretary, under self-determination contracts under title
I, or under compacts and funding agreements authorized under
this Act. In compiling reports pursuant to this section, the
Secretary may not impose any reporting requirements on
participating Indian tribes or tribal organizations, not otherwise
provided in this Act.
‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—The report under subsection (a) shall—
‘‘(1) be compiled from information contained in funding
agreements, annual audit reports, and data of the Secretary
regarding the disposition of Federal funds; and
‘‘(2) identify—
‘‘(A) the relative costs and benefits of self-governance;
‘‘(B) with particularity, all funds that are specifically
or functionally related to the provision by the Secretary
of services and benefits to self-governance Indian tribes
and their members;
‘‘(C) the funds transferred to each self-governance
Indian tribe and the corresponding reduction in the Federal
bureaucracy;
‘‘(D) the funding formula for individual tribal shares
of all headquarters funds, together with the comments
of affected Indian tribes or tribal organizations, developed
under subsection (c); and
H. R. 1167—19
‘‘(E) amounts expended in the preceding fiscal year
to carry out inherent Federal functions, including an identi-
fication of those functions by type and location;
‘‘(3) contain a description of the method or methods (or
any revisions thereof ) used to determine the individual tribal
share of funds controlled by all components of the Indian Health
Service (including funds assessed by any other Federal agency)
for inclusion in self-governance compacts or funding agree-
ments;
‘‘(4) before being submitted to Congress, be distributed
to the Indian tribes for comment (with a comment period of
no less than 30 days, beginning on the date of distribution);
and
‘‘(5) include the separate views and comments of the Indian
tribes or tribal organizations.
‘‘(c) REPORT ON FUND DISTRIBUTION METHOD.—Not later than
180 days after the date of the enactment of the Tribal Self-Govern-
ance Amendments of 2000, the Secretary shall, after consultation
with Indian tribes, submit a written report to the Committee on
Resources of the House of Representatives and the Committee on
Indian Affairs of the Senate that describes the method or methods
used to determine the individual tribal share of funds controlled
by all components of the Indian Health Service (including funds
assessed by any other Federal agency) for inclusion in self-govern-
ance compacts or funding agreements.
‘‘SEC. 515. DISCLAIMERS.
‘‘(a) NO FUNDING REDUCTION.—Nothing in this title shall be
construed to limit or reduce in any way the funding for any program,
project, or activity serving an Indian tribe under this or other
applicable Federal law. Any Indian tribe that alleges that a compact
or funding agreement is in violation of this section may apply
the provisions of section 110.
‘‘(b) FEDERAL TRUST AND TREATY RESPONSIBILITIES.—Nothing
in this Act shall be construed to diminish in any way the trust
responsibility of the United States to Indian tribes and individual
Indians that exists under treaties, Executive orders, or other laws
and court decisions.
‘‘(c) OBLIGATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES.—The Indian Health
Service under this Act shall neither bill nor charge those Indians
who may have the economic means to pay for services, nor require
any Indian tribe to do so.
‘‘SEC. 516. APPLICATION OF OTHER SECTIONS OF THE ACT.
‘‘(a) MANDATORY APPLICATION.—All provisions of sections 5(b),
6, 7, 102(c) and (d), 104, 105(k) and (l), 106(a) through (k), and
111 of this Act and section 314 of Public Law 101–512 (coverage
under chapter 171 of title 28, United States Code, commonly known
as the ‘Federal Tort Claims Act’), to the extent not in conflict
with this title, shall apply to compacts and funding agreements
authorized by this title.
‘‘(b) DISCRETIONARY APPLICATION.—At the request of a partici-
pating Indian tribe, any other provision of title I, to the extent
such provision is not in conflict with this title, shall be made
a part of a funding agreement or compact entered into under
this title. The Secretary is obligated to include such provision at
the option of the participating Indian tribe or tribes. If such provi-
sion is incorporated it shall have the same force and effect as
H. R. 1167—20
if it were set out in full in this title. In the event an Indian
tribe requests such incorporation at the negotiation stage of a
compact or funding agreement, such incorporation shall be deemed
effective immediately and shall control the negotiation and resulting
compact and funding agreement.
‘‘SEC. 517. REGULATIONS.
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—
‘‘(1) PROMULGATION.—Not later than 90 days after the date
of the enactment of the Tribal Self-Governance Amendments
of 2000, the Secretary shall initiate procedures under sub-
chapter III of chapter 5 of title 5, United States Code, to
negotiate and promulgate such regulations as are necessary
to carry out this title.
‘‘(2) PUBLICATION
OF
PROPOSED
REGULATIONS.—Proposed
regulations to implement this title shall be published in the
Federal Register by the Secretary no later than 1 year after
the date of the enactment of the Tribal Self-Governance Amend-
ments of 2000.
‘‘(3) EXPIRATION OF AUTHORITY.—The authority to promul-
gate regulations under paragraph (1) shall expire 21 months
after the date of the enactment of the Tribal Self-Governance
Amendments of 2000.
‘‘(b) COMMITTEE.—
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—A negotiated rulemaking committee
established pursuant to section 565 of title 5, United States
Code, to carry out this section shall have as its members
only Federal and tribal government representatives, a majority
of whom shall be nominated by and be representatives of Indian
tribes with funding agreements under this Act.
‘‘(2) REQUIREMENTS.—The committee shall confer with, and
accommodate participation by, representatives of Indian tribes,
inter-tribal consortia, tribal organizations, and individual tribal
members.
‘‘(c) ADAPTATION OF PROCEDURES.—The Secretary shall adapt
the negotiated rulemaking procedures to the unique context of
self-governance and the government-to-government relationship
between the United States and Indian tribes.
‘‘(d) EFFECT.—The lack of promulgated regulations shall not
limit the effect of this title.
‘‘(e) EFFECT OF CIRCULARS, POLICIES, MANUALS, GUIDANCES,
AND RULES.—Unless expressly agreed to by the participating Indian
tribe in the compact or funding agreement, the participating Indian
tribe shall not be subject to any agency circular, policy, manual,
guidance, or rule adopted by the Indian Health Service, except
for the eligibility provisions of section 105(g) and regulations
promulgated under section 517.
‘‘SEC. 518. APPEALS.
‘‘In any appeal (including civil actions) involving decisions made
by the Secretary under this title, the Secretary shall have the
burden of proof of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence—
‘‘(1) the validity of the grounds for the decision made;
and
‘‘(2) that the decision is fully consistent with provisions
and policies of this title.