[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 95 (Thursday, June 21, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4419-S4423]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
By Mr. BEGICH:
S. 3325. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human
Services, acting through the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and
Mental Health Services Administration, in coordination with the
Secretary of Education, to carry out a 5-year demonstration program to
fund mental health first aid training programs at 10 institutions of
higher education to improve student mental health; to the Committee on
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, today I rise to introduce a very important
piece of legislation--the Mental Health First Aid Higher Education Act.
The bill authorizes a nationwide demonstration program that treats
Mental Health First Aid like the first aid training offered by Red
Cross chapters across the United States.
Mental Health First Aid teaches the warning signs and risk factors
for schizophrenia, major clinical depression, panic attacks, anxiety
disorders, trauma, and other common mental disorders, crisis de-
escalation techniques, and equips college and university staff with a
5-step action plan to help individuals in psychiatric crisis connect to
professional mental health care.
[[Page S4420]]
One in four adults and 10 percent of children in the United States
will suffer from a mental illness this year. We know what to do if
someone has a heart attack, but how do we react to someone having a
panic attack? Why do we wait for a tragic event to take notice and then
bring out emergency measures?
When I was Mayor of Anchorage, we worked with the local NAMI
organization to train our police in Crisis Intervention Teams, great
when responding to a crisis by police officers, but now we need to go
further. Mental Health First Aid is for the financial aid workers, the
dormitory resident advisers, coaches, and faculty members, to name a
few. These are the front-line folks who will learn the warning signs
and risk factors before tragedy strikes.
You have heard me say this before, an it is not something to be proud
of in Alaska: we have one of the highest suicide prevalence rates in
the country. Further, we are a very rural State, where access to mental
health care and medical services is often very difficult.
Even today, it is not widely known that fully \2/3\ of Alaska can
only be accessed by airplane. By educating the general public about the
warning signs of common mental disorders, we can intervene early,
facilitate access to care, improve clinical outcomes, reduce costs, and
maybe save lives.
My bill focuses on higher education because many mental illnesses are
``adult onset conditions,'' meaning onset of full symptoms generally
occurs in late adolescence or young adulthood--just as young people are
headed off to college. Therefore, the audiences for this vital training
will encompass on-campus counseling center staff, dormitory resident
advisers, university threat assessment teams, members of disciplinary
committees, coaches and faculty members. The instruction will highlight
available mental health resources in local communities including
Community Mental Health Centers, emergency psychiatric facilities,
hospital emergency rooms and other programs offering psychiatric crisis
beds.
The program may also help to avert violence incidents; Mental Health
First Aid gained wide public recognition in the aftermath of the tragic
shootings in Tucson, AZ, involving our former colleague Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords.
Mental disorders are more common than heart disease and cancer
combined and a recent Governing magazine article reports that many
states and localities are moving ahead--teaching their employees how to
recognize the signs of mental health problems and how to help.
In this time of austerity, the training is not only important,
because it will save lives, it is also inexpensive. Courses costs about
$180, a small price to pay to potentially save lives.
In closing, yes, we are in a presidential election year and the
political season often highlights the issues that divide us as
Americans. But the Mental Health First Aid Higher Education Act is not
one of them.
In the Alaska tradition, I seek to work across the aisle, and I
strongly believe this legislation merits bipartisan support. Please
join me in supporting this vital education program that helps to avert
suffering, prevent violence and ultimately will save lives.
______
By Ms. MURKOWSKI (for herself and Mr. Begich):
S. 3330. A bill to authorize the establishment of a Niblack mining
area road corridor in the State of Alaska, and for other purposes; to
the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce legislation
that would potentially help in solving a significant unemployment
problem in my home state of Alaska. Today, joined by my colleague,
Senator Mark Begich, I introduce the Niblack Mining Area Road
Authorization Act to permit road access to proposed multi-mineral mines
on southeast Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska.
Prince of Wales Island, formerly the main area for timber activity in
Southeast Alaska, has fallen on hard times during the past decade. In
1990, when Alaska's timber industry in total harvested more than 1.1
billion board feet of timber, Prince of Wales was the center of
activity. In 1994, for example, timber jobs accounted for 32.8 percent
of all wages on the island. Six years later, with total regional
harvests having fallen to about 350 million board feet, timber
accounted for less than 19.8 percent of wages on the island, according
to the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development. Today,
with total harvests of timber being just above 100 million board feet a
year in the region--just 35 million board feet being harvested from
federal lands in 2011--and timber jobs statewide having fallen from
about 4,000 to just over 400, Prince of Wales has been particularly
hard hit. According to the State, timber jobs have fallen by more than
1,700 positions on the island.
As of April, the unemployment rate on the island was ``down'' to 15
percent, compared to 18.1 percent in March. The rate in the Hoonah-
Angoon census area, which covers the other potentially significant
timber area in Southeast, stood at 20 percent in April, compared to
25.6 percent in March, 2012. Those rates are nearly 8 percent to 12
percent higher than the national average and higher than traditional
rates, even after out migration from the island over the past decade.
While the Viking Lumber Co. of Klawock remains the largest private-
sector timber employer on the island, the island, the third largest in
the United States, is badly in need of new employment opportunities.
Fortunately today's high metal prices are encouraging a resurgence of
mineral development on the 2,231 square-mile island.
Currently, Heatherdale Minerals of Canada is considering reopening
the Niblack Mine, a gold, copper, zinc and silver deposit. The company
is in advanced exploration and development study of the estimated 9
million-ton mine, forecast to cost $150 million to $200 million to
reopen. The mine, likely to last at least 12 years, is forecast to
produce 1,500 tons of ore per day and require 130 workers at the mine
site, and another 60 at a processing mill, which could be located near
the site, or in Ketchikan, AK, 40 vessel miles away.
The Niblack property is also close to another mineral deposit that is
in the advanced stages of economic feasibility review, the Bokan
Mountain Rare Earth Elements, REE, mine. Bokan Mountain, being
considered for opening by Ucore Inc. of Canada, likely will employ 200
workers. It, too, will involve an investment of between $150 million to
$200 million for the mine and a preliminary tailings processing plant
to process the heavy rare earths, REEs, located at the site of a former
uranium mine. Both mines currently estimate they could be open within
three to four years, depending on final economic reviews and current
permit approval timeframes. Bokan Mountain is located about 28 miles
south of Niblack and can be accessed by boat by traveling down the
relatively protected Moira Sound to the end of South Arm.
The two mines could produce substantial numbers of high-paying jobs
for the residents of southern Southeast Alaska. Niblack, for example,
predicts the average salary for mine workers at its facility will be
$80,000 a year. The problem of getting those jobs to people who need
them is one of logistics.
There currently is no road access to reach either mine site, both
likely to be supplied by boat from Ketchikan, Alaska. That means that
potential workers on Prince of Wales will need to travel by boat or
more likely by plane to Ketchikan, in order to turn around and take a
mine boat back to the island to report for work--a costly, time-
consuming, often unpleasant and, sometimes, dangerous process given sea
conditions in Southeast Alaska. Or they will need to pilot their own
small boats to the mine site, a hazardous process given that reaching
Niblack from the community of Thorne Bay to the north--a site that is
located on the island's road system--will require a daily 60-mile one-
way boat trip down perilous Clarence Strait, a difficult water body
during fall, winter, and spring storms when seas can easily top 20 feet
waves.
But the problem could be solved, if a road could be extended the
roughly 26.3 miles to connect the Niblack mine, by means of existing
logging roads, to the State highway system on the island. Such a road
will involve at least 2.5 miles of logging road reconstruction and the
construction of 26.3 miles of new road. Those roads, if built to
existing logging road standards, are estimated to cost $7.075 million--
the cost
[[Page S4421]]
certainly rising if the roads are built to Federal Aid Urban Highway
standards. The issue is that 18.3 miles of that new construction is
across federal lands in the Tongass National Forest and, more
importantly, across areas classified as inventoried roadless under the
2001 U.S. Forest Service roadless rule, as it was reimposed on the
Tongass in 2009.
Looking at the topography of the area, located inside the Eudora
inventoried roadless area, the road would begin at the Haida, Hydaburg,
Native village corporation's West, Cholmondeley, Arm sort yard and head
Southeast through the Big Creek Valley and climb to a mountain pass at
the roughly 1,400-foot elevation. From there it will drop onto land
owned by the Kootznoowoo Native village corporation of Angoon and
follow existing logging roads that lie on the western side of the South
Arm. The route then runs south and parallels South Arm on the west side
until the southern end of the bay is reached. Then the route follows
the shoreline of the south end of the South Arm until the far southeast
corner of the bay is reached--the location of existing cabins and a
State of Alaska Department of Fish and Game fish weir. From this point,
there are two potential route alternatives: the 1A route continues to
run in a southerly direction through a mountain pass of slightly more
than 500-feet elevation passing two unnamed lakes. Once it reaches the
shoreline of Dickman Bay, the road turns in a more easterly direction
and runs across the south end of Kugel Lake and Luelia Lake, and the
north end of Kegan Lake. From the 900-foot elevation pass on the west
side of Luelia Lake, the route continues to run in an easterly fashion
and must cross 1,200- and 1,400-foot passes before the route turns
north to reach the Niblack mine at tidewater. That total route is 26.3
miles of new construction and a total distance of 28.8 miles. There is
an alternative, Route 1B, early in the route corridor to reduce the
elevation and add switchbacks required to reach the first pass--an
alternative that would add 1.9 miles to the road.
There is another alternative route, Route 2A, that leaves from the
same location and runs on the same route until the south end of South
Arm. The second route then turns in a northerly direction and continues
to follow the eastern shoreline of South Arm, Cholmondeley, for roughly
1.5 miles. The route then turns in an eastern direction and climbs
through a mountain pass of about 900-feet elevation. From this pass,
the route descends into the existing road system on Kootznoowoo lands
near the south shores of Miller Lake. At the eastern terminus of these
existing roads, the new route picks up again and continues in a
southeast direction along the south end of Clarno Cove and Cannery Cove
until Cannery Point is reached. From there the route turns into a
southerly direction and climbs to another mountain pass of roughly
1,000-feet elevation. The route then follows the hillside to the west
of Niblack Lake and meets another mountain pass of the same elevation
and then descends in a southerly direction along the west side of
Myrtle Lake to reach the Niblack Mine and tidewater. That route
involves 24.6 miles of new construction, 6.1 miles of road
reconstruction and involves a total length of 30.7 miles, thus costing
more. It involves, however, constructing only one pass higher than
1,200 feet, compared to 3 on the first route, but may have more
environmental impacts given its route along Cannery Cove and Niblack
Lake.
I mention the two detailed routes only to indicate that substantial
work has been done to select a potential road corridor to the Niblack
mine and to make clear that I am not prejudging the route with the
fewest environmental impacts. I am leaving that to the Forest Service
to decide after an environmental assessment or impact statement is
undertaken. The legislation I am introducing simply says that the
Forest Service should permit development of a road along one of the two
routes, picking the route that both minimizes the costs, while also
minimizing the effects on surface resources, prevents unnecessary
surface disturbances and that complies with all environmental laws and
regulations.
This road, I need to point out, will not set a precedent in any way
weakening the inventoried roadless rule's implementation in Alaska,
regardless of how I feel about that rule. Under the original
regulations governing roadless areas in Alaska issued by the Clinton
Administration in January 2001, Section 294.12(b)(7) permits roads to
be built across inventoried roadless areas if needed ``in conjunction
with the continuation, extension or renewal of a mineral lease on lands
that are under lease by the Secretary of the Interior. . . . Such road
construction or reconstruction must be conducted in a manner that
minimizes effects on surface resources, prevents unnecessary or
unreasonable surface disturbance, and complies with all applicable
lease requirements.''
The patents on the Niblack property certainly predate the creation of
the roadless rule. The mine was discovered in the late 19th century,
according to the U.S. Forest Service. Modest copper production occurred
between 1902 and 1908 and modern exploration on the 2,000-acre site
began in 1974, some 150 patented claims being in place at the mine.
The point is that Niblack is certainly a real prospect that offers
the likelihood of real employment for many who are unemployed on Prince
of Wales Island, if they simply can access the site from their homes in
Craig, Klawock, Hydaburg, Thorne Bay, Kasaan, Whale Pass and even
Coffman Cove, located on the northeast end of the island. The need for
these jobs has prompted the City Council of Craig to formally request
Congress to accelerate the approval of a road corridor to the mine
site. Such a road could be built by the mine, but more likely funded
and built by the Alaska Department of Transportation and Public
Facilities at state expense. Workers could then access jobs at the
Bokan Mountain facility by workboat, should a route to that mine never
be approved.
It makes no sense in a state that already contains 58 million acres
of formal wilderness, and in the Tongass National Forest, that already
contains nearly 6.4 million acres of parks and wilderness areas, to bar
construction of a road that does not cross any wilderness areas, but
could provide a good income to a third of all of the people, 363
people, unemployed on the island as of April 2012, according to the
Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
I would hope that this Congress would look favorably on allowing a
road to this mining area, so that residents on the island can get the
jobs they so desperately need in the years ahead.
______
By Mr. LEAHY:
S. 3335. A bill to ensure the effective administration of criminal
justice; to the Committee on the Judiciary.
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, today, I am proud to introduce the
Effective Administration of Criminal Justice Act of 2012. This
legislation takes important new steps to ensure the fairness of our
criminal justice system for all participants.
First, this bill seeks to encourage States to adopt a comprehensive
approach in using the Federal funds received through the Edward Byrne
Memorial Justice Assistance Grant, JAG, Program. This will help to
ensure that their criminal justice systems operate effectively as a
whole and that all parts of the system work together and receive the
resources they need. Specifically, the bill reinstates a previous
requirement of the Byrne JAG Program that States develop, and update
annually, a strategic plan detailing how grants received under the
program will be used to improve the administration of the criminal
justice system. The requirement was removed from the Byrne JAG grant
application several years ago, but groups representing States and
victims have requested that it be reinstated in order to improve the
efficient and effective use of criminal justice resources. The plan
must be formulated in consultation with local governments and all
segments of the criminal justice system. The Attorney General will also
be required to make technical assistance available to help States
formulate their strategic plans.
This legislation also takes important new steps to ensure that all
criminal defendants, including those who cannot afford a lawyer,
receive constitutionally adequate representation. It requires the
Department of Justice to assist States that want help developing an
effective and efficient system of indigent defense, and it establishes
a
[[Page S4422]]
cause of action for the Federal government to step in when States are
systematically failing to provide the representation called for in the
Constitution.
This is a reasonable measure that gives the States assistance and
time needed to make necessary changes and seeks to provide an incentive
for States to do so. As a former prosecutor, I have great faith in the
men and women of law enforcement, and I know that the vast majority of
the time our criminal justice system does work fairly and effectively.
I also know though that the system only works as it should when each
side is well represented by competent and well-trained counsel. It was
persuasive to me when Houston District Attorney Patricia Lykos
testified before the Judiciary Committee several years ago when this
provision was first considered that competent defense attorneys are
critical to a prosecutor's job. Our system requires good lawyers on
both sides, and incompetent counsel can result not only in needless and
time consuming appeals, but far more importantly, it can lead to
wrongful convictions and overall distrust in the criminal process. In
working on this legislation, I have also learned that the most
effective systems of indigent defense are not always the most
expensive. In some cases, making the necessary changes may also save
States money.
I remain committed to ensuring that our criminal justice system
operates as effectively and fairly as possible. Unfortunately, we are
not there yet. Too often the quality of justice a defendant receives in
our system depends on whether he or she can pay for an attorney. That
is repugnant to the American sense of justice and we must do better.
Americans need and deserve a criminal justice system which keeps us
safe, ensures fairness and accuracy, and fulfills the promise of our
constitution for all people. This bill will take important steps to
bring us closer to that goal and I urge all Senators to support this
legislation.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 3335
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 ``Effective Administration of
Criminal Justice Act of 2012''.
SEC. 2. EFFECTIVE ADMINISTRATION OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE.
(a) Strategic Planning.--Section 502 of title I of the
Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C.
3752) is amended--
(1) by inserting ``(a) In General.--'' before ``To request
a grant''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(6) A comprehensive State-wide plan detailing how grants
received under this section will be used to improve the
administration of the criminal justice system, which shall--
``(A) be designed in consultation with local governments,
and all segments of the criminal justice system, including
judges, prosecutors, law enforcement personnel, corrections
personnel, and providers of indigent defense services, victim
services, juvenile justice delinquency prevention programs,
community corrections, and reentry services;
``(B) include a description of how the State will allocate
funding within and among each of the uses described in
subparagraphs (A) through (G) of section 501(a)(1);
``(C) describe the process used by the State for gathering
evidence-based data and developing and using evidence-based
and evidence-gathering approaches in support of funding
decisions; and
``(D) be updated every 5 years, with annual progress
reports that--
``(i) address changing circumstances in the State, if any;
``(ii) describe how the State plans to adjust funding
within and among each of the uses described in subparagraphs
(A) through (G) of section 501(a)(1);
``(iii) provide an ongoing assessment of need;
``(iv) discuss the accomplishment of goals identified in
any plan previously prepared under this paragraph; and
``(v) reflect how the plan influenced funding decisions in
the previous year.
``(b) Technical Assistance.--
``(1) Strategic planning.--Not later than 90 days after the
date of enactment of this subsection, the Attorney General
shall begin to provide technical assistance to States and
local governments requesting support to develop and implement
the strategic plan required under subsection (a)(6).
``(2) Protection of constitutional rights.--Not later than
90 days after the date of enactment of this subsection, the
Attorney General shall begin to provide technical assistance
to States and local governments, including any agent thereof
with responsibility for administration of justice, requesting
support to meet the obligations established by the Sixth
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, which
shall include--
``(A) public dissemination of practices, structures, or
models for the administration of justice consistent with the
requirements of the Sixth Amendment; and
``(B) assistance with adopting and implementing a system
for the administration of justice consistent with the
requirements of the Sixth Amendment.
``(3) Authorization of appropriations.--There is authorized
to be appropriated $5,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2013
through 2017 to carry out this subsection.''.
(b) Protection of Constitutional Rights.--
(1) Unlawful conduct.--It shall be unlawful for any
governmental authority, or any agent thereof, or any person
acting on behalf of a governmental authority, to engage in a
pattern or practice of conduct by officials or employees of
any governmental agency with responsibility for the
administration of justice, including the administration of
programs or services that provide appointed counsel to
indigent defendants, that deprives persons of their rights to
assistance of counsel as protected under the Sixth Amendment
and Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States.
(2) Civil action by attorney general.--Whenever the
Attorney General has reasonable cause to believe that a
violation of paragraph (1) has occurred, the Attorney
General, for or in the name of the United States, may, in a
civil action, obtain appropriate equitable and declaratory
relief to eliminate the pattern or practice.
(3) Effective date.--Paragraph (2) shall take effect 2
years after the date of enactment of this Act.
______
By Mr. INOUYE (for himself and Mrs. Murray):
S. 3336. A bill to authorize the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
carry out a major medical facility project lease for a Department of
Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic at Ewa Plain, Oahu, Hawaii, and for
other purposes; to the Committee on Veterans' Affairs.
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce an authorization
measure for the Department of Veterans Affairs to Advance Leeward
Outpatient Healthcare Access, ALOHA, lease in Ewa, HI, and to request
the facility be named after my dear friend and colleague Senator Daniel
K. Akaka.
The new facility will provide support to our proud veterans in the
State of Hawaii who live in West Oahu. In addition to serving the needs
of our veterans, the facility will include a collocated clinic which
will serve our military servicemen and women, and their families. Both
the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs, VA, will also be able
to share ancillary and support services.
I believe naming this joint facility after Senator Akaka is an
appropriate and fitting way to honor his commitment to our military
personnel and veterans throughout his years in Congress. As a Member of
the Armed Services Committee and the Chairman of the Subcommittee on
Readiness, he worked to ensure the Armed Services met their obligation
to ``man, train, and equip.'' As the Chairman of the Veterans Affairs
Committee, Senator Akaka also kept watch over and labored to improve
the quality of care received by our brave men and women who completed
their military service and entered into the VA system.
I hope my colleagues will join me in saluting Senator Akaka who
worked on behalf of the people of the State of Hawaii and this nation
to improve the quality of life and care of our military personnel and
our veterans.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be
printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 3336
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. AUTHORIZATION OF DANIEL KAHIKINA AKAKA DEPARTMENT
OF VETERANS AFFAIRS CLINIC.
(a) Authorization of Fiscal Year 2013 Major Medical
Facility Lease.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs may carry
out a major medical facility lease for a Department of
Veterans Affairs outpatient clinic at Ewa Plain, Oahu,
Hawaii, in an amount not to exceed $16,453,300.
(b) Designation.--The outpatient clinic described in
subsection (a) shall after the date
[[Page S4423]]
of the enactment of this Act be known and designated as the
``Daniel Kahikina Akaka Department of Veterans Affairs
Clinic''.
____________________