[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1587 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1587

 To amend the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 
to establish within the Department of the Interior an Office of Special 
             Trustee for Data Cleanup and Internal Control.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 15, 1999

 Mr. Campbell introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
              referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 
to establish within the Department of the Interior an Office of Special 
             Trustee for Data Cleanup and Internal Control.

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

SECTION 1. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Numerous studies by the Office of the Inspector General 
        of the Department of the Interior, the General Accounting 
        Office, and independent auditors have criticized the absence of 
        independent oversight or other forms of internal control over 
        the Department's management of Indian trust assets and trust 
        funds.
            (2) Indian and tribal account holders have indicated that 
        they will have little or no confidence in the reform of the 
        trust management system if the reform is carried out by the 
        same entities that are responsible for the management of the 
        system on the date of enactment of this Act.
            (3) It would constitute an inherent conflict of interest or 
        at least the appearance of a conflict of interest if the entity 
        establishing internal controls for a trust management system 
        were to be appointed, supervised, and subject to removal by the 
        entity that such internal controls are written for.
            (4) Account holder confidence will be improved if the same 
        official is not simultaneously responsible for the immediate 
        supervision of the fiduciary and financial reporting activities 
        of both the trust fund accounting system and the trust asset 
        and accounting management system.
            (5) To the extent practicable, the reform of activities and 
        creation of internal controls as described in the Department of 
        the Interior's Trust Management Improvement Project, High Level 
        Implementation Plan dated July 1998, and any amendments or 
        modifications to that plan, should be carried out by private 
        contractors.

SEC. 2. SPECIAL TRUSTEE FOR DATA CLEANUP AND INTERNAL CONTROL.

    The American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994 (25 
U.S.C. 4001 et seq.) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating title IV as title V;
            (2) by redesignating section 401 as section 501; and
            (3) by inserting after title III, the following:

                  ``TITLE IV--MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS

``SEC. 401. SPECIAL TRUSTEE FOR DATA CLEANUP AND INTERNAL CONTROL.

    ``(a) Establishment.--There is hereby established within the 
Department of Interior the Office of Special Trustee for Data Cleanup 
and Internal Control. The Office shall be headed by the Special Trustee 
for Data Cleanup and Internal Control (referred to in this section as 
the `Special Trustee') who shall report directly to the Secretary.
    ``(b) Special Trustee.--
            ``(1) Appointment.--The Special Trustee shall be appointed 
        by the Inspector General of the Department of the Interior from 
        among individuals who possess demonstrated ability in the--
                    ``(A) development and implementation of internal 
                controls;
                    ``(B) development and implementation of trust 
                management procedures; and
                    ``(C) conversion or rehabilitation of trust 
                management systems.
            ``(2) Compensation.--The Special Trustee shall be paid at a 
        rate determined by the Secretary to be appropriate for the 
        position, but not less than the basic pay payable at Level III 
        of the Executive Schedule under Section 5313 of Title 5.
            ``(3) Term of office.--The Special Trustee shall serve for 
        a term of 2 years and may only be removed for good cause by the 
        Secretary.
    ``(c) Duties.--
            ``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding title III, the Special 
        Trustee shall oversee the following subprojects as identified 
        in the Draft Trust Management Improvement Project Subproject 
        Task Updates, dated April 1999:
                    ``(A) Subproject #1, OST Data Cleanup.
                    ``(B) Subproject #5, Trust Funds Accounting System.
                    ``(C) Subproject #9, Policies and Procedures.
                    ``(D) Subproject #10, Training.
                    ``(E) Subproject #11, Internal Controls.
            ``(2) Oversight.--The Special Trustee shall oversee the 
        expenditure of funds appropriated by Congress for each of the 
        subprojects described in paragraph (1), including the approval 
        or modification of contracts, and make employment decisions for 
        each of the positions funded for each of such projects.
            ``(3) Contracting.--To the maximum extent practicable, the 
        Special Trustee shall ensure that activities are carried out 
        under this subsection through contracts entered into with 
        private entities or through the retention of the temporary 
        services of trust management specialists.
    ``(d) Modification of Implementation Plan.--To the extent that the 
activities to be carried out under subsection (c) are altered or 
amended as a result of any modification made after the date of 
enactment of this Act to the Department of the Interior's Trust 
Management Improvement Project, High Level Implementation Plan (dated 
July 1998), the Special Trustee shall continue to be responsible for 
overseeing such activities.''.
                                 <all>