[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2740 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2740

To protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             April 21, 2021

  Mr. O'Halleran (for himself and Mr. Cole) introduced the following 
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in 
   addition to the Committees on Education and Labor, and Energy and 
Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in 
   each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the 
                jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country.

    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 ``Native Youth and Tribal Officer 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) American Indians and Alaska Natives are 2.5 times more 
        likely to experience violent crimes and at least 2 times more 
        likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes than people 
        who are not American Indians or Alaskan Natives.
            (2) The vast majority of American Indian and Alaska Native 
        victims, 96 percent of female and 89 percent of male victims, 
        report being victimized by a non-Indian.
            (3) According to a 2010 Government Accountability Office 
        report, the Offices of the United States Attorneys declined to 
        prosecute nearly 52 percent of violent crimes that occur in 
        Indian country.
            (4) More than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native 
        women have experienced violence in their lifetime.
            (5) 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.
            (6) On some reservations, American Indian women are 
        murdered at more than 10 times the national average.
            (7) Tribal prosecutors report that the majority of domestic 
        violence cases involve children either as witnesses or victims, 
        and the Department of Justice reports that American Indian and 
        Alaska Native children suffer exposure to violence at some of 
        the highest rates in the United States.
            (8) Childhood exposure to violence has immediate and long-
        term effects, including increased rates of altered neurological 
        development, poor physical and mental health, poor school 
        performance, substance abuse, and overrepresentation in the 
        juvenile justice system.
            (9) Violence against children and crimes associated with 
        dating violence and domestic violence increase the number of 
        instances of trauma in Tribal communities, which--
                    (A) affects health outcomes;
                    (B) reduces educational attainment;
                    (C) hinders economic growth; and
                    (D) undermines public safety.
            (10) Domestic violence calls are among the most dangerous 
        calls that law enforcement receives, and the Federal Bureau of 
        Investigation's Uniform Crime Report shows that police 
        officers, including Tribal police officers, are assaulted when 
        responding to disturbance calls more often than under any other 
        circumstances.
            (11) The complicated jurisdictional structure in Indian 
        country--
                    (A) requires a high degree of commitment and 
                cooperation among Tribal, Federal, and State law 
                enforcement officials; and
                    (B) when that cooperation breaks down, results in a 
                significant negative impact on the ability to provide 
                public safety to Indian communities.
            (12) The Indian Law and Order Commission, established by 
        Congress to review Federal criminal justice policies and 
        practices in Indian country, issued a report in 2013 entitled 
        ``A Roadmap for Making Native America Safer'' that recommends 
        the restoration of the inherent authority of Tribal courts.
            (13) Restoring and enhancing local, Tribal capacity to 
        address violent crimes provides for greater local control, 
        safety, accountability, and transparency.
            (14) Tribal communities should be able to protect 
        themselves from dating violence, domestic violence, child 
        violence, and violence committed against members of the Tribal 
        justice system.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF NATIVE CHILDREN AND TRIBAL COMMUNITIES.

    Section 204 of Public Law 90-284 (25 U.S.C. 1304) is amended--
            (1) in the section heading, by striking ``domestic 
        violence'' and inserting ``domestic violence, child violence, 
        and violence against law enforcement officers'';
            (2) in subsection (a)--
                    (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ``means 
                violence'' and inserting ``means covered conduct'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2)--
                            (i) by striking ``means violence'' and 
                        inserting ``means covered conduct''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``where the violence 
                        occurs'' and inserting ``where the covered 
                        conduct occurs'';
                    (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ``domestic 
                violence'' and inserting ``tribal'';
                    (D) in paragraph (6)--
                            (i) in the paragraph heading, by striking 
                        ``domestic violence'' and inserting ``tribal''; 
                        and
                            (ii) by striking ``domestic violence'' and 
                        inserting ``tribal'';
                    (E) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and (7) as 
                paragraphs (12) and (13), respectively;
                    (F) by redesignating paragraphs (1) through (5) as 
                paragraphs (6) through (10), respectively;
                    (G) by inserting before paragraph (6) (as 
                redesignated by subparagraph (F)) the following:
            ``(1) Caregiver.--The term `caregiver' means--
                    ``(A) the parent, guardian, or legal custodian of 
                the child;
                    ``(B) the spouse or intimate partner of a parent, 
                guardian, or legal custodian of the child;
                    ``(C) any relative of the child, including a 
                parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, stepparent, 
                brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, 
                or half-sister;
                    ``(D) a person who resides or has resided regularly 
                or intermittently in the same dwelling as the child;
                    ``(E) a person who provides or has provided care 
                for the child in or out of the home of the child;
                    ``(F) any person who exercises or has exercised 
                temporary or permanent control over the child; or
                    ``(G) any person who temporarily or permanently 
                supervises or has supervised the child.
            ``(2) Child.--The term `child' means a person who has not 
        attained the lesser of--
                    ``(A) the age of 18; or
                    ``(B) except in the case of sexual abuse, the age 
                specified by the child protection law of the 
                participating tribe that has jurisdiction over the 
                Indian country where the child resides.
            ``(3) Child violence.--The term `child violence' means 
        covered conduct committed against a child by a caregiver of the 
        child.
            ``(4) Covered conduct.--The term `covered conduct' means 
        conduct that--
                    ``(A) involves the use, attempted use, or 
                threatened use of physical force against the person or 
                property of another; and
                    ``(B) violates the criminal law of the Indian tribe 
                that has jurisdiction over the Indian country where the 
                conduct occurs.
            ``(5) Covered individual.--The term `covered individual' 
        means an officer or employee of an Indian tribe, or an 
        individual authorized to act for or on behalf of an Indian 
        tribe or serving an Indian tribe, who is--
                    ``(A) authorized under law to--
                            ``(i) engage in or supervise the 
                        prevention, detection, investigation, arrest, 
                        pretrial detention, prosecution, or 
                        adjudication of an offense or the sentencing, 
                        including the probation, parole, incarceration, 
                        or rehabilitation, of an individual; or
                            ``(ii) serve as a probation or pretrial 
                        services officer; and
                    ``(B) carrying out an activity described in 
                paragraph (11)(C).''; and
                    (H) by inserting after paragraph (10) (as 
                redesignated by subparagraph (F)) the following:
            ``(11) Related conduct.--The term `related conduct' means a 
        violation of the criminal law of an Indian tribe that is 
        committed--
                    ``(A) against a covered individual;
                    ``(B) by a person--
                            ``(i) who is subject to special tribal 
                        criminal jurisdiction; and
                            ``(ii) has committed criminal conduct that 
                        falls into one or more of the categories 
                        described in paragraphs (1) and (2) of 
                        subsection (c); and
                    ``(C) in the course of resisting or interfering 
                with the prevention, detection, investigation, arrest, 
                pretrial detention, prosecution, adjudication, or 
                sentencing, including the probation, parole, 
                incarceration, or rehabilitation, of that person 
                relating to that criminal conduct.'';
            (3) in subsection (b)--
                    (A) by striking ``domestic violence'' each place it 
                appears and inserting ``tribal''; and
                    (B) in paragraph (4)(B)(iii), in the matter 
                preceding subclause (I), by striking ``, or dating 
                partner'' and inserting ``, dating partner, or 
                caregiver'';
            (4) in subsection (c)--
                    (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
                striking ``domestic violence'' and inserting 
                ``tribal'';
                    (B) in paragraph (1)--
                            (i) in the paragraph heading, by striking 
                        ``and dating violence'' and inserting ``, 
                        dating violence, and child violence''; and
                            (ii) by striking ``or dating violence'' and 
                        inserting ``, dating violence, or child 
                        violence''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) Related conduct.--An act of related conduct that 
        occurs in the Indian country of the participating tribe.'';
            (5) in subsection (d), by striking ``domestic violence'' 
        each place it appears and inserting ``tribal'';
            (6) in subsection (f)--
                    (A) by striking ``special domestic violence'' each 
                place it appears and inserting ``special tribal'';
                    (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``prosecutes'' 
                and all that follows through the semicolon at the end 
                and inserting the following: ``prosecutes--
                    ``(A) a crime of domestic violence;
                    ``(B) a crime of dating violence;
                    ``(C) a crime of child violence;
                    ``(D) a criminal violation of a protection order; 
                or
                    ``(E) a crime of related conduct;''; and
                    (C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ``child 
                violence, related conduct,'' after ``dating 
                violence,''; and
            (7) in subsection (h), by striking ``2014 through 2018'' 
        and inserting ``2018 through 2022''.

SEC. 4. INCREASED INTERAGENCY COORDINATION.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services (referred to in this section as the 
``Secretaries'') shall coordinate with the Attorney General to ensure, 
to the maximum extent practicable, that Federal programs to support 
tribal justice systems and to support provision of victim services for 
Indians are working effectively together to serve the needs of Indian 
tribes and Indians (as such terms are defined in section 4 of the 
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 
5304)).
    (b) Coordination of Federal Indian Facilities With National 
Domestic Violence Hotline Grantees.--The Secretaries shall ensure that 
information for contacting any toll-free telephone hotline operated by 
recipients of a grant authorized by section 313 of the Family Violence 
Protective Services Act (42 U.S.C. 10413), is posted and readily 
visible in each publicly accessible Federal facility utilized by--
            (1) the Indian Health Services;
            (2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; or
            (3) the Bureau of Indian Education.
    (c) Coordination on Training Federal Indian Program Employees To 
Recognize and Respond to Domestic Violence.--The Secretaries (acting 
through the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, the Director of the 
Bureau of Indian Education, and the Director of the Indian Health 
Service) shall coordinate with the Director of the Office on Violence 
Against Women of the Department of Justice and the Associate 
Commissioner for the Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Department 
of Health and Human Services to ensure that training materials on 
recognizing and responding to domestic violence are available to tribal 
and Federal employees of--
            (1) the Indian Health Services;
            (2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and
            (3) the Bureau of Indian Education.

SEC. 5. REPORT.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Interior (acting through the 
Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs) and the Secretary of Health and 
Human Services (acting through the Director of the Indian Health 
Service) shall jointly submit a report to--
            (1) the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of 
        Representatives.
    (b) Contents of the Report.--The report required under subsection 
(a) shall include a description of the degree of effectiveness of--
            (1) Federal programs that are intended to build the 
        capacity of criminal justice systems of Indian tribes to 
        investigate and prosecute offenses relating to dating violence, 
        domestic violence, child violence, and related conduct (as 
        defined in section 204 of Public Law 90-284 (25 U.S.C. 1304), 
        as amended by section 3(2));
            (2) the required coordination activities required under 
        section 4, including compliance with the posting of domestic 
        violence victim service access information required under 
        section 4(b); and
            (3) the interagency employee training material development 
        required under section 4(c).
    (c) Timing.--The Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services shall submit the report required under 
subsection (a) by not later than 4 years after the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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