[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 57 (Friday, March 22, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Page 20538]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-06055]


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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS


Revised VA Tribal Consultation Policy and Directive 8603

AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Public and 
Intergovernmental Affairs (OPIA), Office of Tribal Government Relations 
(OTGR), has updated their policy and directive on VA Tribal 
Consultation, in accordance with Executive Order 13175 and Presidential 
Memorandum January 2021. We request that tribal leaders or their 
designees review the final directive/policy and provide any additional 
feedback.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 22, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted through www.regulations.gov. 
Except as provided below, comments received before the close of the 
comment period will be available at www.regulations.gov for public 
viewing, inspection, or copying, including any personally identifiable 
or confidential business information that is included in a comment. We 
post the comments received before the close of the comment period on 
www.regulations.gov as soon as possible after they have been received. 
VA will not post on Regulations.gov public comments that make threats 
to individuals or institutions or suggest that the commenter will take 
actions to harm the individual. VA encourages individuals not to submit 
duplicative comments; however, we will post comments from multiple 
unique commenters even if the content is identical or nearly identical 
to other comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Veronica Duncan, Tribal Relations 
Specialist, 202-461-7431, 810 Vermont Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20420. 
(This is not a toll-free number.)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: VA has gathered tribal input on the policy 
through a March 2021 Dear Tribal Leader Letter requesting written 
comments, a series of six tribal consultation meetings held in April 
2021, and a review of the policy by VA's Advisory Committee on Tribal 
and Indian Affairs. VA has reviewed all input received through this 
engagement and proposes several edits to the Tribal Consultation Policy 
in response to the tribal recommendations deemed feasible to implement. 
VA Directive 8603 on Consultation and Communication with Federally 
Recognized Indian Tribes can be found at: www.va.gov/vapubs/search_action.cfm?dType=1.

Signing Authority

    Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved and signed 
this document on March 18, 2024, and authorized the undersigned to sign 
and submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for 
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of 
Veterans Affairs.

Jeffrey M. Martin,
Assistant Director, Office of Regulation Policy & Management, Office of 
General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.
[FR Doc. 2024-06055 Filed 3-21-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320-01-P