Title: Savanna's Act
Policy area: Native Americans

Summary:
Savanna's Act
This bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to update the online data entry format for federal databases relevant to cases of missing and murdered Indians to include a new data field for users to input the victim's tribal enrollment information or affiliation.
In addition, DOJ must:
Federal law enforcement agencies that investigate and prosecute crimes related to missing and murdered Indians must modify their law enforcement and justice protocols to comply with the standardized protocols.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1942 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1942

   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

                            October 5, 2017

 Ms. Heitkamp (for herself, Mr. Tester, Mr. Franken, Mr. Heinrich, Mr. 
Merkley, and Ms. Warren) 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.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as ``Savanna's Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) On some reservations, Indian women are murdered at more 
        than 10 times the national average.
            (2) American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times as 
        likely to experience violent crimes--and at least 2 times more 
        likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes--compared to 
        all other races.
            (3) More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native 
        women, or 84.3 percent, have experienced violence in their 
        lifetime.
            (4) According to the Centers for Disease Control and 
        Prevention, homicide is the third leading cause of death among 
        American Indian and Alaska Native women between 10 and 24 years 
        of age and the fifth leading cause of death for American Indian 
        and Alaska Native women between 25 and 34 years of age.
            (5) According to a 2010 Government Accountability Office 
        report, United States Attorneys declined to prosecute nearly 52 
        percent of violent crimes that occur in Indian country.
            (6) Investigation into cases of missing and murdered Indian 
        women is made difficult for Tribal law enforcement agencies due 
        to a lack of resources, such as--
                    (A) necessary training, equipment, or funding;
                    (B) a lack of interagency cooperation; and
                    (C) a lack of appropriate laws in place.
            (7) The complicated jurisdictional scheme that exists in 
        Indian country--
                    (A) has a significant negative impact on the 
                ability to provide public safety to Indian communities;
                    (B) has been increasingly exploited by criminals; 
                and
                    (C) requires a high degree of commitment and 
                cooperation among Tribal, Federal, and State law 
                enforcement officials.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to clarify the responsibilities of Federal, State, 
        Tribal, and local governments with respect to responding to 
        cases of missing and murdered Indians;
            (2) to increase coordination and communication among 
        Federal, State, Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies;
            (3) to empower Tribal governments with the resources and 
        information necessary to effectively respond to cases of 
        missing and murdered Indians; and
            (4) to increase the collection of data related to missing 
        and murdered Indian women and the sharing of information among 
        Federal, State, and Tribal officials responsible for responding 
        to and investigating cases of missing and murdered Indians.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Federal databases.--The term ``Federal databases'' 
        means--
                    (A) the National Crime Information Center database;
                    (B) the Combined DNA Index System;
                    (C) the Integrated Automated Fingerprint 
                Identification System;
                    (D) the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program;
                    (E) the National Missing and Unidentified Persons 
                System; and
                    (F) other Federal databases relevant to responding 
                to cases of missing and murdered Indians.
            (2) Indian.--The term ``Indian'' means a member of an 
        Indian Tribe.
            (3) Indian country.--The term ``Indian country'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 1151 of title 18, United 
        States Code.
            (4) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian Tribe'' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 4 of the Indian Self-
        Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304).
            (5) Law enforcement agency.--The term ``law enforcement 
        agency'' means a Tribal, Federal, State, or local law 
        enforcement agency.

SEC. 4. IMPROVING TRIBAL ACCESS TO FEDERAL CRIME INFORMATION DATABASES.

    (a) Tribal Enrollment Information.--Not later than 30 days after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall update 
the online data entry format for Federal databases to include a new 
data field for users to input the victim's Tribal enrollment 
information or affiliation, as appropriate.
    (b) Consultation.--
            (1) Initial consultation.--Not later than 120 days after 
        the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, in 
        cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior, shall complete 
        a formal consultation with Indian Tribes on how to further 
        improve Tribal data relevance and access to Federal databases, 
        which shall also inform the development of law enforcement and 
        justice protocols under section 5(a).
            (2) Annual consultation.--Section 903(b) of the Violence 
        Against Women and Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 
        2005 (34 U.S.C. 20126) is amended--
                    (A) by striking paragraph (2) and inserting the 
                following:
            ``(2) enhancing the safety of Indian women from domestic 
        violence, dating violence, sexual assault, homicide, stalking, 
        and sex trafficking;'';
                    (B) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the 
                end and inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(4) improving access to local, regional, State, and 
        Federal crime information databases and criminal justice 
        information systems.''.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
this Act, the Attorney General shall prepare and submit a report to the 
Committee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on the 
Judiciary of the House of Representatives that includes--
            (1) the results of the formal consultation described in 
        subsection (b)(1);
            (2) a description of the outstanding barriers Indian Tribes 
        face in acquiring full access to Federal databases and related 
        national crime information systems; and
            (3) the plan of action of the Department of Justice to--
                    (A) implement suggestions received from Indian 
                Tribes through the consultation process; and
                    (B) resolve the outstanding barriers described 
                under paragraph (2).

SEC. 5. STANDARDIZED PROTOCOLS FOR RESPONDING TO CASES OF MISSING AND 
              MURDERED INDIANS.

    (a) Standardized Protocols for Missing and Murdered Indians.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 90 days after the 
        consultation process described in section 4(b)(1), the Attorney 
        General, in cooperation with the Secretary of the Interior and 
        in consultation with Indian Tribes, shall--
                    (A) review existing (as of the date of the review) 
                law enforcement and justice protocols appropriate to 
                missing and murdered Indians; and
                    (B) recommend such existing protocols, revise such 
                existing protocols, or develop new protocols, as 
                necessary, to establish protocols to serve as 
                guidelines for law enforcement agencies with respect to 
                missing and murdered Indians.
            (2) Public availability.--The Attorney General shall make 
        the protocols under paragraph (1) publicly available and shall 
        distribute them to law enforcement agencies.
    (b) Requirements.--The standardized protocols under subsection (a) 
shall include the following:
            (1) Guidance on inter-jurisdictional cooperation among law 
        enforcement agencies at the Tribal, Federal, State, and local 
        levels.
            (2) Standards on the collection, reporting, and analysis of 
        data and information on missing persons and unidentified human 
        remains appropriate to Indians, including standards on entering 
        information to Federal databases on missing persons within a 
        certain timeframe after receiving the missing persons report.
            (3) Guidance on improving law enforcement response rates 
        and follow-up to cases of missing and murdered Indians.
            (4) Methods to ensure access to victim services for Indian 
        victims and their families.
    (c) Directions to United States Attorneys.--
            (1) Directions.--Not later than 240 days after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall direct United 
        States attorneys with jurisdiction to prosecute crimes in 
        Indian country under sections 1152 and 1153 of title 18, United 
        States Code, to develop written standard protocols to 
        investigate cases of missing and murdered Indians that--
                    (A) are guided by the standardized protocols under 
                subsection (a);
                    (B) are developed in consultation with Indian 
                Tribes and other Federal partners, including--
                            (i) the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
                            (ii) the Department of the Interior;
                            (iii) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and
                            (iv) the Indian Health Service;
                    (C) detail specific responsibilities of each 
                Federal partner; and
                    (D) shall be implemented not later than 60 days 
                after the direction is issued.
            (2) Additional directions.--Not later than 240 days after 
        the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 
        direct United States attorneys with jurisdiction to prosecute 
        crimes in Indian Country from an authority other than section 
        1152 or 1153 of title 18, United States Code, to discuss the 
        Federal response to cases of missing and murdered Indians with 
        their Tribal partners and Federal partners as appropriate 
        during annual consultations.
    (d) Training and Technical Assistance.--The Attorney General shall 
provide Indian Tribes and law enforcement agencies with training and 
technical assistance relating to the development and implementation of 
the law enforcement and justice protocols of the Indian Tribes and 
agencies, respectively, in accordance with the standardized protocols 
under subsection (a).
    (e) Compliance.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
enactment of this Act, Federal law enforcement agencies with 
jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes relating to missing 
and murdered Indians shall modify the law enforcement and justice 
protocols of the agency to satisfactorily comply with the standardized 
protocols under subsection (a).

SEC. 6. ANNUAL REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Beginning in the first fiscal year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Attorney General and the 
Secretary of the Interior shall jointly prepare and submit a report, to 
the Committee on Indian Affairs and the Committee on the Judiciary of 
the Senate and the Committee on Natural Resources and the Committee on 
the Judiciary of the House of Representatives, that--
            (1) includes known statistics on missing and murdered 
        Indian women in the United States;
            (2) provides recommendations regarding how to improve data 
        collection on missing and murdered Indian women; and
            (3) includes information relevant to the implementation of 
        the standardized protocols developed under section 5(a).
                                 <all>