U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, and U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawaiʻi), Vice Chairman of the Committee, led a business meeting of the Senate Committee of Indian Affairs in Washington, DC, to consider 25 bills before the Committee.
“Thank you to each of the sponsors for your work on these important measures for Tribes across the nation. These bills cover important issues for Native people: public health and safety, forestry, addressing the missing and murdered crisis, promoting homeownership, the legacy of Federal Indian boarding school policies, restoration of Tribal lands, and water issues,” said Chairman Murkowski. “I am proud to be the lead on three of the bills that passed out of Committee today. My first bill will further the opportunities to achieve cross-boundary forest objectives with the Forest Service and the BLM while strengthening self-determination by allowing Tribes and ANCs to perform administrative, management, and other functions of TFPA projects using ‘638 contracts.’ My next bill will bring spaying and neutering to Native villages to get a handle on rabies and other diseases that are endemic in communities in Alaska and on some reservations. And lastly, I’ve reintroduced legislation to establish a Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies. It is long past time that we bring truth and healing to our Native people and help end the intergenerational trauma associated with this terrible legacy. These bills passing Committee this early in Congress is a reminder of all the good work ahead.”
“These bills deliver justice and strengthen support for Native communities’ natural, cultural, and economic resources,” said Vice Chairman Schatz. “Thank you, Chairman Murkowski, for your partnership in advancing our bill to strengthen existing federal resources in the NATIVE Act. Our support for Native-led tourism will empower communities to share their own stories, cultures, and traditions with visitors—boosting local economies.”
The Committee passed the following bills:
- S. 105, a bill to direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions necessary for certain lands to be held in restricted fee status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and for other purposes. (Rounds)
- S. 240, a bill to amend the Crow Tribal Water Rights Settlement Act of 2010 to make improvements to that Act, and for other purposes (Daines)
- S. 241, a bill to provide for the settlement of the water rights claims of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and for other purposes. (Daines)
- S. 390, a bill to require Federal law enforcement agencies to report on cases of missing or murdered Indians, and for other purposes. (Cortez Masto)
- S. 546, a bill to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to make a technical correction to the water rights settlement for the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation, and for other purposes. (Cortez Masto)
- S. 550, a bill to provide for the equitable settlement of certain Indian land disputes regarding land in Illinois, and for other purposes. (Mullin)
- S. 562, a bill to approve the settlement of water rights claims of the Pueblos of Acoma and Laguna in the Rio San José Stream System and the Pueblos of Jemez and Zia in the Rio Jemez Stream System in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes. (Heinrich)
- S. 563, a bill to approve the settlement of water rights claims of Ohkay Owingeh in the Rio Chama Stream System, to restore the Bosque on Pueblo Land in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes. (Heinrich)
- S. 564, a bill to approve the settlement of water rights claims of the Zuni Indian Tribe in the Zuni River Stream System in the State of New Mexico, to protect the Zuni Salt Lake, and for other purposes. (Heinrich)
- S. 565, a bill to approve the settlement of water rights claims of the Navajo Nation in the Rio San José Stream System in the State of New Mexico, and for other purposes. (Heinrich)
- S. 612, a bill to amend the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act to authorize grants to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations, and for other purposes. (Schatz)
- S. 620, a bill to provide public health veterinary services to Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations for rabies prevention and other purposes. (Murkowski)
- S. 621, a bill to accept the request to revoke the charter of incorporation of the Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota at the request of that Community, and for other purposes. (Smith)
- S. 622, a bill to amend the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Reservation Restoration Act to provide for the transfer of additional Federal land to the Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and for other purposes (Smith)
- S. 632, a bill to amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to allow Indian Health Service scholarship and loan recipients to fulfill service obligations through half time clinical practice, and for other purposes. (Cortez Masto)
- S. 637, a bill to amend the Northwestern New Mexico Rural Water Projects Act to make improvements to that Act, and for other purposes. (Lujan)
- S. 640, a bill to amend the Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 to make a technical correction to the Navajo Nation Water Resources Development Trust Fund, to amend the Claims Resolution Act of 2010 to make technical corrections to the Taos Pueblo Water Development Fund and Aamodt Settlement Pueblos’ Fund, and for other purposes. (Lujan)
- S. 642, a bill to provide compensation to the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community for the taking without just compensation of land by the United States inside the exterior boundaries of the L’Anse Indian Reservation that were guaranteed to the Community under a treaty signed in 1854, and for other purposes. (Peters)
- S. 673, a bill to amend the Miccosukee Reserved Area Act to authorize the expansion of the Miccosukee Reserved Area and to carry out activities to protect structures within the Osceola Camp from flooding, and for other purposes. (Scott)
- S. 689, a bill to approve the settlement of the water right claims of the Tule River Tribe, and for other purposes. (Padilla)
- S. 719, a bill to amend the Tribal Forest Protection Act of 2004 to improve that Act, and for other purposes. (Murkowski)
- S. 723, a bill to require the Bureau of Indian Affairs to process and complete all mortgage packages associated with residential and business mortgages on Indian land by certain deadlines, and for other purposes. (Thune)
- S. 748, a bill to reaffirm the applicability of the Indian Reorganization Act to the Lytton Rancheria of California, and for other purposes. (Padilla)
- S. 761, a bill to establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States, and for other purposes. (Murkowski)
- H.R. 165, an act to direct the Secretary of the Interior to complete all actions necessary for certain lands to be held in restricted fee status by the Oglala Sioux Tribe and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, and for other purposes. (Johnson- SD-At Large)
Video of the full business can be found here.
- Senate Committee of Indian Affairs release
