[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1600 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1600

 To provide for periodic Indian needs assessments, to require Federal 
          Indian program evaluations, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           September 9, 2003

  Mr. Campbell (for himself and Mr. Inouye) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To provide for periodic Indian needs assessments, to require Federal 
          Indian program evaluations, 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 ``Indian Needs Assessment and Program 
Evaluation Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds that--
            (1) the United States and the Indian tribes have a unique 
        legal and political government-to-government relationship;
            (2) under the Constitution, treaties, statutes, Executive 
        orders, court decisions, and course of conduct of the United 
        States, the United States has a trust obligation to provide 
        certain services to Indian tribes and members of Indian tribes;
            (3) Federal agencies charged with administering programs 
        and providing services to or for the benefit of Indian tribes 
        and members of Indian tribes have not provided Congress 
        adequate information necessary to assess the adequacy of the 
        programs and services meeting the needs of Indian tribes and 
        members of Indian tribes, hampering the ability of Congress to 
        determine the nature, type, and magnitude of those needs or the 
        ability of the United States to respond to those needs; and
            (4) Congress cannot properly fulfill its obligation to 
        Indian tribes and Indian people unless it has an adequate store 
        of information concerning the needs of Indian tribes and 
        members of Indian tribes nationwide.
    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this Act are--
            (1) to ensure that Indian needs for Federal programs and 
        services are known in a more certain and predictable fashion;
            (2) to require that Federal agencies carefully review and 
        monitor the effectiveness of programs and services provided to 
        Indian tribes and members of Indian tribes;
            (3) to provide for more efficient and effective cooperation 
        and coordination of, and accountability from, the agencies 
        providing programs and services, including technical and 
        business development assistance, to Indian tribes and members 
        of Indian tribes; and
            (4) to provide to Congress reliable information regarding 
        both Indian needs and the evaluation of Federal programs and 
        services provided to Indian tribes and members of Indian tribes 
        nationwide.

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) 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. 450b).
            (2) Needs assessment.--The term ``needs assessment'' means 
        an assessment of the program and service needs of Indian tribes 
        and members of Indian tribes, that includes, at a minimum, 
        consideration of--
                    (A) the population of each Indian tribe (including 
                the population of tribal members located in the service 
                area of an Indian tribe, where applicable);
                    (B) the size of the service area;
                    (C) the location of the service area;
                    (D) the availability of similar programs within the 
                geographical area to Indian tribes or tribal members; 
                and
                    (E) socioeconomic conditions that exist within the 
                service area.
            (3) Program evaluation.--The term ``program evaluation'' 
        means an evaluation report developed in accordance with section 
        4(b).
            (4) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.

SEC. 4. NEEDS ASSESSMENTS AND PROGRAM EVALUATIONS.

    (a) Needs Assessments.--
            (1) Development of method, criteria, and procedures.--Not 
        later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
        the Secretary, in consultation and coordination with tribal 
        governments and with the Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of 
        Commerce, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Energy, Secretary 
        of Labor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Treasury, 
        Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, 
        Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Secretary 
        of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of Health and Human 
        Services, and heads of other agencies responsible for providing 
        programs or services to or for the benefit of Indian tribes or 
        members of Indian tribes, shall develop a uniform method, 
        criteria, and procedures for determining, analyzing, and 
        compiling a needs assessment.
            (2) Needs assessments.--Not later than 1 year after the 
        date of enactment of this Act, and every 5 years thereafter, 
        each Federal agency, in coordination with the Secretary, 
        shall--
                    (A) conduct a needs assessment to determine the 
                needs of Indian tribes and members of Indian tribes 
                eligible for programs and services administered by the 
                agency; and
                    (B) submit to the Committee on Appropriations and 
                Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate and the 
                Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on 
                Resources of the House of Representatives a report that 
                describes the results of the needs assessment.
    (b) Program Evaluations.--
            (1) Development of method, criteria, and procedures.--Not 
        later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
        the Secretary shall develop a uniform method, criteria, and 
        procedures for compiling, maintaining, updating, and reporting 
        to Congress a program evaluation containing all information 
        concerning--
                    (A) the annual expenditure by a Federal agency for 
                programs and services for which Indian tribes and 
                members of Indian tribes are eligible, with specific 
                information including--
                            (i) the names of Indian tribes that are 
                        participating in or receiving each service;
                            (ii) the names of Indian tribes that have 
                        applied for and not received programs or 
                        services; and
                            (iii) the names of Indian tribes for which 
                        programs or services were terminated within the 
                        preceding fiscal year;
                    (B) programs or services specifically for the 
                benefit of Indian tribes and members of Indian tribes, 
                with specific information including--
                            (i) the names of Indian tribes that are 
                        currently participating in or receiving each 
                        program or service;
                            (ii) the names of Indian tribes that have 
                        applied for and not received programs or 
                        services; and
                            (iii) the names of Indian tribes for which 
                        programs or services were terminated within the 
                        preceding fiscal year; and
                    (C) the methods of delivery of the programs and 
                services, including a detailed explanation of the 
                outreach efforts of each agency to Indian tribes.
            (2) Program evaluations.--Not later than 1 year after the 
        date of enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, each 
        Federal agency responsible for providing programs or services 
        for the benefit of Indian tribes or members of Indian tribes 
        shall submit to the Committee on Appropriations and the 
        Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate and the Committee on 
        Appropriations and the Committee on Resources of the House of 
        Representatives a report that describes the results of the 
        program evaluation.
    (c) Annual Listing of Tribal Eligible Programs.--On or before 
February 1 of each year, each Federal agency described in subsection 
(b)(2) shall publish in the Federal Register--
            (1) a list of all programs and services offered by the 
        agency for which Indian tribes or members of Indian tribes are 
        or may be eligible; and
            (2) a brief explanation of the program or service.

SEC. 5. REPORT ON COORDINATION OF PROGRAMS AND SERVICES.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee on 
Appropriations and the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate and 
the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on Resources of the 
House of Representatives a report detailing the coordination of Federal 
programs and service assistance for which Indian tribes and members of 
Indian tribes are eligible.
    (b) Strategic Plan.--
            (1) In general.--Not later than 18 months after the date of 
        enactment of this Act, after consultation and coordination with 
        the Indian tribes, the Secretary shall submit to the Committee 
        on Appropriations and the Committee on Indian Affairs of the 
        Senate and the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee on 
        Resources of the House of Representatives a strategic plan for 
        the coordination of Federal assistance for Indian tribes and 
        members of Indian tribes.
            (2) Contents of strategic plan.--The strategic plan under 
        paragraph (1) shall contain--
                    (A) an identification of reforms necessary to the 
                laws (including regulations), policies, procedures, 
                practices, and systems of the agencies responsible for 
                providing programs or services for the benefit of 
                Indian tribes or members of Indian tribes;
                    (B) proposals for remedying the reforms identified 
                in the plan; and
                    (C) other recommendations consistent with the 
                purposes of this Act.

SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated for each fiscal year such 
sums as are necessary to carry out this Act.
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