FILE s346.is
S 346 IS
104th CONGRESS
1st Session
To establish in the Department of the Interior the Office of Indian
Women and Families, and for other purposes.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 2 (legislative day, January 30), 1995
Mr. Domenici (for himself and Mr. Inouye) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Indian Affairs
A BILL
To establish in the Department of the Interior the Office of Indian
Women and Families, 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 the `Office of Indian Women and Families
Act of 1995'.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) the primary responsibilities of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs are to encourage and assist Indian people to manage
their own affairs under the trust relationship between Indians
and the Federal Government, and to facilitate, with maximum
involvement of Indian people, full development of their human
and natural resource potential;
(2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs coordinates its activities
with Indian tribal governments, Federal agencies and
departments, and other organizations and groups who share
similar interests and programs related to Indians;
(3) Bureau of Indian Affairs policies, programs and projects
impact directly and significantly on the lives of America's
Indian people;
(4) the unique roles and responsibilities of Indian women
contribute culturally, socially, and economically to the
well-being of Indian people, but these contributions are often
not fully realized and are undervalued and overlooked within
the policies, program, and projects of the Bureau of Indian
Affairs;
(5) Indian children have special educational and social
service needs to prepare them for traditional tribal
responsibilities and nontribal social and employment
opportunities;
(6) the particular responsibilities, contributions, and needs
of Indian women and families can and should be taken into
account to improve Bureau of Indian Affairs policy formulation
and program operations for the direct benefit of Indian women
and families and Indian people as a whole;
(7) Bureau of Indian Affairs policies, programs and projects,
including its coordination and liaison with other Federal,
State, and local entities, can be more responsive and enhanced
when Indian women and families are considered an integral
element of the process as well as contributors to the success
of these policies, programs, and projects; and
(8) there is a need for an Office of Indian Women and
Families in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the purpose of
encouraging and promoting the participation and integration of
Indian women and families into Bureau of Indian Affairs
policies, programs, projects, and activities, thereby improving
the effectiveness of its mandate and the status and lives of
Indian women and families.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to identify and integrate the issues related to Indian
women and families into all Bureau of Indian Affairs policies,
programs, projects, and activities. There will be a special
emphasis on the economic well-being of Indian women and
families including employment and business opportunities;
(2) to establish an office to serve as a focal point for all
Federal Government policy issues affecting Indian women and
families for purposes of both economic and social development;
(3) to collect data related to the specific roles, concerns,
and needs of Indian women, and Indian families, and use such
data to support policy, program, and project implementation
throughout all offices of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and
other Federal agencies, and to monitor the impacts of these
policies, programs and projects;
(4) to enhance the economic and social participation of
Indian women and families in all levels of planning,
decisionmaking, and policy development within the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, its area offices, and tribal governments and
reservations;
(5) to conduct research and collect relevant studies relating
to special needs of Indian women and families;
(6) to develop pilot programs and projects to strengthen
activities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs involving Indian
women and families, and serve as models for future endeavors
and planning;
(7) to ensure a liaison with other Federal departments and
agencies, State and local governments, tribally controlled
community colleges, other academic institutions, any public or
private organizations, and tribal governments that serve Indian
peoples;
(8) to ensure training endeavors for Bureau of Indian Affairs
offices and agencies at the national, area, and local levels to
ensure Bureau personnel and any other beneficiaries of Bureau
and other governmental programs understand the purposes and
policies of the office established by this Act;
(9) to develop policy-level programs, with the assistance of
the Assistant Secretary and other senior-level personnel of the
Bureau of Indian Affairs, to ensure that systems, directives,
management strategies and other related methodologies are
implemented to meet the purposes of this Act;
(10) to strengthen the role of Indian women and families by
developing and ensuring culturally appropriate policies and
programs; and
(11) to encourage other actions that serve to more fully
integrate Indian women and families as participants in and
agents for change in the Federal policy and program activities
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
As used in this Act:
(1) The term `Indian woman' means a woman who is a member of
an Indian tribe.
(2) The term `Indian tribe' means any Indian tribe, band,
nation, or other organized group or community, any Alaska
Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in
or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement
Act (85 Stat. 688), which is recognized as eligible for special
programs and services provided by the United States to Indians
because of their status as Indians.
SEC. 5. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF INDIAN WOMEN AND INDIAN FAMILIES.
(a) Establishment: There is established in the Department of the
Interior the `Office of Indian Women and Families' (hereinafter
referred to as the `Office').
(b) Director: The Office shall be under the management of a
director (hereinafter referred to as the `Director'), who shall be
appointed by the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs. The
Director shall report directly to the Assistant Secretary of Indian
Affairs.
(c) Compensation: The Director shall be compensated at the rate
prescribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule under section
5313 of title 5, United States Code.
(d) Tenure: The Director shall serve at the discretion of the
Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs.
(e) Vacancy: A vacancy in the position of Director shall be
filled in the same manner as the original appointment was made.
(f) Duties: The Director shall administer the Office and carry
out the purposes and functions of this Act. The Director shall take
such action as may be necessary in order to integrate Indian women
and family issues into the Bureau of Indian Affairs policies,
programs, projects and activities.
SEC. 6. FUNCTIONS OF OFFICE.
It shall be the function of the Office to develop a policy paper
for Indian women and families to articulate the objectives of the
Office, to serve as a guideline for systematically integrating
Indian women and families issues into the Bureau of Indian Affairs
policies, programs, projects, and activities, and to establish and
detail indicators and benchmarks for measuring the success of the
Office.
SEC. 7. POLICY TASK FORCE.
(a) Establishment of a Policy Task Force: The Director, in
consultation with the Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs, shall
establish a temporary policy task force on Indian women and families.
(b) Membership: Members of the task force shall be appointed by
the Director. The task force shall include representatives from
Federal agencies and departments, relevant Indian organizations,
State agencies and organizations, Indian tribal governments,
institutions of higher education, and nongovernmental and private
sector organizations and institutions.
(c) Functions: The policy task force shall--
(1) ensure that the Policy Paper for Indian women and
families prepared by the Bureau of Indian Affairs articulates a
set of goals, objectives, management strategies, and monitoring
systems for the improvement of all Federal programs, including
programs of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, designed to improve
the quality of life of Indian women and families;
(2) recommend a permanent policy mechanism to be established
in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the continuous monitoring
and refinement of policy and programs designed to improve the
quality of life of Indian women and families; and
(3) recommend a permanent policy mechanism to be established
in the Bureau of Indian Affairs for the purpose of collecting
and disseminating to Congress and the public information and
other data relevant to the progress of the policy and programs
designed to improve the quality of life of Indian women and
families.
(d) Termination: The task force shall terminate upon the
expiration of fourteen months following the date of the enactment
of this Act.
SEC. 8. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF INDIAN AFFAIRS.
The Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs shall--
(1) ensure that the Office receives adequate resources to
carry out the purposes of this Act; and
(2) ensure that senior-level staff members and other
employees of the Bureau of Indian Affairs are participants in
and responsible for assisting in carrying out the purposes of
this Act relating to the improvement of policies and programs
of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
SEC. 9. REPORTING.
The Secretary of the Interior, acting through the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, shall, on or before March 15 of each of the two
calendar years next following the calendar year in which this Act
is enacted, and biennially thereafter, report to Congress on the
progress of achieving the purposes of this Act. Such report shall
include, but not be limited to, information relative to the current
status of progress of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' policy on
Indian women and Indian families in fulfilling its objectives,
programs and projects, including how well the Bureau of Indian
Affairs has operationally integrated the issue of Indian women and
families into its overall policies, programs, projects, and
activities. Such report shall include a review of data gathered to
assess and improve the quality of life of Indian women and
families, including specific recommendations to improve the
education, health, employment, economic, housing, social, and other
services within the Bureau of Indian Affairs relating to Indian
women and families.
SEC. 10. AUTHORIZATIONS.
Commencing with fiscal year 1994, and each fiscal year
thereafter, there are authorized to be appropriated for carrying
out the provisions of this Act, $2,000,000.
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