[Senate Report 115-411]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


                                                     Calendar No. 715
115th Congress      }                         {              Report
                                 SENATE
 2d Session         }                         {               115-411

======================================================================

 
   TO DIRECT THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO REVIEW, REVISE, AND DEVELOP LAW 
 ENFORCEMENT AND JUSTICE PROTOCOLS APPROPRIATE TO ADDRESS MISSING AND 
                MURDERED INDIANS, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

                                _______
                                

                December 4, 2018.--Ordered to be printed

                                _______
                                

           Mr. Hoeven, from the Committee on Indian Affairs, 
                        submitted the following

                              R E P O R T

                         [To accompany S. 1942]

      [Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]

    The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the 
bill (S. 1942) to direct the Attorney General to review, 
revise, and develop law enforcement and justice protocols 
appropriate to address missing and murdered Indians, and for 
other purposes, having considered the same, reports favorably 
thereon, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute and 
recommends that the bill, as amended, do pass.

                                PURPOSE

    This bill is intended to improve law enforcement response 
to address missing and murdered American Indians and Alaska 
Natives by (1) improving tribal access to federal criminal 
databases, (2) improving data collection on cases of missing 
and murdered American Indians and Alaska Natives for reports to 
Congress, and (3) directing the Attorney General to review, 
revise, and develop law enforcement and justice guidelines with 
local level input.

                               BACKGROUND

    The bill, S. 1942, is named for Savanna LaFontaine-Greywind 
from North Dakota. On August 19, 2017, Savanna, a pregnant 22-
year-old member of the Spirit Lake Tribe, disappeared from her 
home near Fargo, North Dakota. Eight days later, Savanna's body 
was found wrapped in plastic in the Red River. While Savanna's 
tragic death became widespread news, many other Native women 
and men go missing or are murdered each year, very few of those 
cases are resolved.
    In 2016, the National Congress of American Indians passed a 
resolution, Addressing Crisis of Missing and Murdered Native 
Women, which called for the creation of law enforcement and 
justice protocols appropriate to the disappearance of Native 
women and girls. These recommendations included addressing 
inter-jurisdictional issues and improving coordination of 
efforts between Federal departments, Indian tribes, and States.

                          NEED FOR LEGISLATION

    Data is limited on the number of missing Native women in 
the United States. Recent data from the Department of Justice 
shows that violence against American Indians and Alaska Natives 
is higher than other racial and ethnic categories. According to 
that data, more than 4 in 5 American Indian and Alaska Native 
women and men have experienced violence in their lifetime. Some 
tribal communities find that Native women experience murder 
rates ten times higher than the national average. Native women 
are also two times more likely than other groups to experience 
rape or sexual assault and two and a half times more likely 
than others to experience violent crimes in their lifetimes. 
Increased coordination and communication among Federal, State, 
Tribal, and local law enforcement agencies--including medical 
examiner and coroner offices--will positively impact the 
response to cases of missing and murdered American Indians and 
Alaska Natives.

                          LEGISLATIVE HISTORY

    On October 5, 2017, Senator Heitkamp introduced S. 1942, a 
bill to direct the Attorney General to review, revise, and 
develop law enforcement and justice protocols appropriate to 
address missing and murdered Indians, and for other purposes. 
This bill, S. 1942, is also known as the Savanna's Act. The 
original cosponsors include Senators Franken, Heinrich, 
Merkley, Tester, and Warren.
    On October 25, 2017, the Committee held a legislative 
hearing on the bill. Senators Cortez Masto, Wyden, and 
Murkowski joined as cosponsors prior to the Committee's 
legislative hearing. At this hearing, The Honorable R. Trent 
Shores, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma, 
U.S. Department of Justice, testified in support of the goals 
of S. 1942. The Honorable Dave Flute, Chairman, Sissteon 
Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation and Ms. Carmen 
O'Leary, Director, Native Women's Society of the Great Plains, 
both testified in support of S. 1942.
    On November 14, 2018, the Committee held a duly called 
business meeting to consider S. 1942. Senators Collins, 
Klobuchar, Tillis, Smith, Cantwell, Schatz, and Udall joined S. 
1942 as cosponsors before the Committee convened the business 
meeting. Senator Heitkamp submitted a timely amendment in the 
nature of a substitute for consideration. At the business 
meeting, the Committee passed both amendment and bill, as 
amended, by voice vote. After the Committee ordered, with 
amendment, reported favorably, Senator Murray joined as a co-
sponsor on November 15, 2018.
    On November 29, 2017, Representative Torres introduced the 
House companion bill (H.R. 4485) to S. 1942 with seven original 
cosponsors, including Representatives Cole, Grijalva, Hanabusa, 
Jayapal, Khanna, Moore, and Radewagen. The bill, H.R. 4485, was 
referred to the House of Representatives Committees on 
Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security 
and Investigations, and on Natural Resources Subcommittee on 
Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs. No further action 
has been taken on H.R. 4485. Between the dates of December 1, 
2017 to November 29, 2018, Representatives Evans, Dingell, 
O'Halleran, Kind, McCollum, Norton, Clark, Pallone, Demings, 
Pocan, Lujan, Poliquin, Pingree, Lujan Grisham, Gallego, 
DeLauro, and Velazquez have joined as cosponsors to H.R. 4485.

          SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS FOR S. 1942, AS AMENDED

Section 1. Short title

    This Act may be cited as ``Savanna's Act''.

Sec. 2. Findings and purposes

    This section provides several statistics on violence 
against and the disappearance of Native men and women.

Sec. 3. Definitions

     The term ``databases'' means the National Crime 
Information Center database; the Combined DNA Index System; the 
Next Generation Identification System; and other relevant 
datasets such as those under the Violent Criminal Apprehension 
Program and the National Missing and Unidentified Persons 
System.
     The term ``Indian'' means a member of an Indian 
Tribe.
     The term ``Indian country'' has the meaning given 
the term in section 1151 of title 18, United States Code.
     The term ``Indian lands'' has the same meaning 
given the term in section 4302 of title 25, United States Code.
     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. 5304).
     The term ``law enforcement agency'' means a 
Tribal, Federal, State, or local law enforcement agency.

Sec. 4. Improving tribal access to databases

    This section requires the Department of Justice to provide 
training to law enforcement agencies on the importance of and 
how to record tribal enrollment information or affiliation of a 
victim in relevant databases. It also requires the Attorney 
General to consult with tribes on how to further improve these 
databases and tribal access to them.
    This section also amends the Violence Against Women and 
Department of Justice Reauthorization Act of 2005 (VAWA) to 
include the topic of homicide and improving access to local, 
regional, State, and Federal crime information databases and 
criminal justice information systems in the annual 
consultations mandated under VAWA.
    It also calls for the Attorney General to raise awareness 
about the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, 
including conducting specific outreach to Indian tribes.

Sec. 5. Guidelines for responding to cases of missing and murdered 
        Indians

    This section requires United States attorneys with 
jurisdiction to prosecute crimes in Indian Country to develop 
guidelines to respond to cases of missing and murdered Indians 
during the VAWA-mandated annual consultations on sexual 
violence with Indian tribes and Federal partners. Each United 
States attorney should use these consultations to work with 
stakeholders in his or her own region to develop guidelines on 
inter-law enforcement agency coordination; missing person 
response best practices; improving access to culturally 
appropriate victim services; and, missing persons data 
collection, reporting, and analysis.
    This section provides affirmative preference for Department 
of Justice grants that help implement the guidelines or assist 
in addressing the issue of missing and murdered Indians 
generally to incentivize Tribal, State, and local law 
enforcement agencies to incorporate these guidelines into their 
existing regime of protocols.
    The Attorney General will provide Indian Tribes and law 
enforcement agencies with training and technical assistance 
relating to implementation of the guidelines developed under 
this section and any additional locally specific guidelines 
developed to respond to cases of missing and murdered Indians.

Sec. 6. Annual reporting requirements

    This section requires the Department of Justice to include 
known statistics on missing and murdered Indians in the United 
States in its annual Indian Country Investigations and 
Prosecutions report to Congress. The Department of Justice 
should base these statistics on relevant data submitted by all 
Tribal, State, and local law enforcement agencies. The report 
will also include recommendations on how to improve data 
collection on missing and murdered Indians.
    To incentivize Tribal, State, and local law enforcement 
agencies to submit this data, they shall be given preference 
for all Department of Justice discretionary grants that would 
aid in the implementation of the guidelines under Section 5 or 
help them address the issue of missing and murdered Indians.
    The section also calls for gender information to be 
included in the Federal Bureau of Investigation's annual 
statistics on missing and unidentified persons published on its 
public website.

                     COST BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS

    The following cost estimate, as provided by the 
Congressional Budget Office, dated November 28, 2018, was 
prepared for S. 1942:

                                     U.S. Congress,
                               Congressional Budget Office,
                                 Washington, DC, November 28, 2018.
Hon. John Hoeven,
Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
    Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has 
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 1942, Savanna's Act.
    If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be 
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Robert Reese.
            Sincerely,
                                                Keith Hall,
                                                          Director.
    Enclosure.

S. 1942--Savanna's Act

    Summary: S. 1942 would direct the Department of Justice 
(DOJ) to provide training on recording tribal affiliation in 
federal databases and to create guidelines for law enforcement 
and criminal investigations in Indian Country, or all Indian 
reservations under the jurisdiction of the United States 
government.
    CBO estimates that implementing the bill would cost $15 
million over the 2019-2023 period. Such spending would be 
subject to appropriation.
    Enacting the bill would not affect direct spending or 
revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures do not apply. CBO 
estimates that enacting S. 1942 would not increase net direct 
spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 
10-year periods beginning in 2029.
    S. 1942 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector 
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA).
    Estimated cost to the Federal Government: The estimated 
budgetary effect of S. 1942 is shown in the following table. 
The costs of the legislation fall within budget function 750 
(administration of justice).

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                    By fiscal year, in millions of dollars--
                                                              --------------------------------------------------
                                                                2019    2020    2021    2022    2023   2019-2023
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                 INCREASES IN SPENDING SUBJECT TO APPROPRIATION
 
Estimated Authorization Level................................      10       4       1       *       *        15
Estimated Outlays............................................       9       4       1       *       *        15
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* = between zero and $500,000.

    Basis of estimate: For this estimate, CBO assumes that S. 
1942 will be enacted near the end of 2018 and that the 
necessary amounts will be appropriated each year beginning in 
2019. Estimated outlays are based on historical spending for 
similar programs.
    S. 1942 would require DOJ to provide training to law 
enforcement agencies on how to properly record tribal 
enrollment information of crime victims into federal databases. 
DOJ also would need to consult the Department of the Interior 
and Indian tribes on how to improve tribal access to and the 
usefulness of such databases.
    The bill also would direct the United States Attorneys to 
develop guidelines for state and local law enforcement agencies 
on how best to respond to cases of missing and murdered 
Indians. DOJ would then be required to annually review and 
report on the compliance of such law enforcement agencies with 
those guidelines.
    Using information from DOJ, CBO expects that visits to law 
enforcement agencies around the country for additional outreach 
and training required under S. 1942 would create substantial 
personnel and travel costs. Furthermore, CBO expects DOJ would 
need to contract with outside law enforcement experts to assist 
the U.S. Attorneys in creating the proposed law enforcement 
guidelines. CBO estimates that implementing those provisions 
would cost $15 million over the 2019-2023 period, assuming 
appropriation of the necessary amounts.
    Pay-As-You-Go considerations: None.
    Increase in long-term direct spending and deficits: CBO 
estimates that enacting S. 1942 would not increase net direct 
spending or on-budget deficits in any of the four consecutive 
10-year periods beginning in 2029.
    Mandates: S. 1942 contains no intergovernmental or private-
sector mandates as defined in UMRA.
    Estimate prepared by: Federal Costs: Robert Reese, 
Mandates: Rachel Austin.
    Estimate reviewed by: Kim P. Cawley, Chief, Natural and 
Physical Resources Cost Estimates Unit; H. Samuel Papenfuss, 
Deputy Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.

               REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT

    Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the 
Senate requires each report accompanying a bill to evaluate the 
regulatory and paperwork impact that would be incurred in 
carrying out the bill. The Committee believes that S. 1942 will 
have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork requirements.

                        EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS

    The Committee has received no communications from the 
Executive Branch regarding S. 1942.

                        CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW

    On February 8, 2017, the Committee unanimously approved a 
motion by Chairman Hoeven to waive subsection 12 of rule XXVI 
of the Standing Rules of the Senate. In the opinion of the 
Committee, it is necessary to dispense with this rule to 
expedite the business of the Senate.

                                  [all]