[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2457 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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118th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 2457

 To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to 
    establish an Office of Self-Governance, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 20, 2023

   Ms. Smith introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to 
    establish an Office of Self-Governance, 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. OFFICE OF SELF-GOVERNANCE.

    (a) Establishment.--Subtitle A of the Department of Agriculture 
Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6912 et seq.) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:

``SEC. 224B. OFFICE OF SELF-GOVERNANCE.

    ``(a) Authorization.--The Secretary shall establish in the Office 
of the Secretary an Office of Self-Governance.
    ``(b) Director.--The Office of Self-Governance shall be headed by a 
Director.
    ``(c) Duties.--The Director of the Office of Self-Governance shall 
oversee self-determination contracts and self-governance compact 
agreements entered into between the Secretary and Tribal organizations 
under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 
U.S.C. 5301 et seq.).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Subtitle A of the Department of Agriculture 
        Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6912 et seq.) is amended 
        by redesignating section 225 (relating to a Food Access 
        Liaison) (7 U.S.C. 6925) as section 224A.
            (2) Section 296(b) of the Department of Agriculture 
        Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 7014(b)) is amended by 
        adding at the end the following:
            ``(11) The authority of the Secretary to carry out section 
        224B.''.

SEC. 2. REPORT ON SELF-GOVERNANCE IMPLEMENTATION.

    The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Director of the 
Office of Self-Governance established under section 224B of the 
Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994, shall--
            (1) prepare a report describing--
                    (A) activities carried out by the Secretary of 
                Agriculture under the provisions of the Agriculture 
                Improvement Act of 2018 (Public Law 115-334; 132 Stat 
                4490) and the amendments made by that Act that provided 
                authority to the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into 
                self-determination contracts with Tribal organizations 
                under the Indian Self-Determination and Education 
                Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) with respect 
                to--
                            (i) the food distribution program on Indian 
                        reservations established under section 4(b) of 
                        the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 
                        2013(b)); and
                            (ii) forestry activities;
                    (B) the administration of the authorities described 
                in subparagraph (A) by the Department of Agriculture;
                    (C) best practices for administering contracting 
                and compacting authority under the Indian Self-
                Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 
                5301 et seq.) within the Department; and
                    (D) what, if any, resources or authority the 
                Department or the Office of Self-Governance requires to 
                fully implement contracting and compacting authority 
                under that Act within the Department; and
            (2) not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of 
        this Act--
                    (A) submit the report prepared under paragraph (1) 
                to--
                            (i) the Committee on Agriculture, 
                        Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate;
                            (ii) the Committee on Agriculture of the 
                        House of Representatives;
                            (iii) the Committee on Indian Affairs of 
                        the Senate; and
                            (iv) the Committee on Natural Resources of 
                        the House of Representatives; and
                    (B) make the report prepared under paragraph (1) 
                publicly available.
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