DEPOSITORY — JUSTICE DEPT. LIBRARY S. HRG. 103-441 IMPLEMENTATION ON THE TRIBAL SELF­ GOVERNANCE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED THIRD CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON OVERSIGHT HEARING ON IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SELF-GOVERN­ ANCE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT ACT BY THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND THE INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE DO NOT REMOVE OCTOBER 20, 1993 WASHINGTON, DC DEPOSITORY U.S. Dept. of Justice Main Library DEPT. OF JUSTICE APR 28 1994 MAIN LIBRARY U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 73-594 WASHINGTON : 1994 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-043987-6 COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Chairman JOHN McCAIN, Arizona, Vice Chairman DENNIS DeCONCINI, Arizona FRANK MURKOWSKI, Alaska THOMAS A. DASCHLE, South Dakota THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi KENT CONRAD, North Dakota SLADE GORTON, Washington HARRY REID, Nevada PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico PAUL SIMON, Illinois NANCY LANDON KASSEBAUM, Kansas DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii DON NICKLES, Oklahoma PAUL WELLSTONE, Minnesota MARK O. HATFIELD, Oregon BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado PATRICIA M. ZELL, Staff Director DANIEL N. LEWIS, Minority Staff Director (II) CONTENTS __________ Page Statements: Allen, William Ron, chairman, Jamestown Band of S'Klallam Indians, Sequim, WA 10 Anderson, Marge, chairperson, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians, Onamia, MN 25 Campbell, Hon. Ben Nighthorse, U.S. Senator from Colorado 2 Cochran, Hon. Thad, U.S. Senator from Mississippi 9 DeLaCruz, Joe, president, Quinault Business Committee, Tahola, WA 15 DeMoss, Harold, tribal council member, Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Tahlequah, OK 31 Ecstrom, Karen, assistant commissioner of administration, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians 25 Kadake, Henrich, president, Organized Village of Kake, Kake, AK 28 Lavell, William, Director, Office of Self-Governance, BIA, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC, on behalf of Ada Deer, Assistant Secre­ tary for Indian Affairs 4 Lincoln, Michel, Acting Director, Indian Health Service, Department of Health and Human Services, Rockville, MD 2 Manatowa, Jr., Elmer, principal chief, Sac and Fox of Oklahoma Business Committee, Stroud, OK 13 McCain, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from Arizona, vice chairman, Commit­ tee on Indian Affairs 1 Melbridge, commissioner of human services, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians 25 Murkowski, Hon. Frank H., U.S. Senator from Alaska 24 Pablo, Michael, chairman, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Flat­ land Reservation, Pablo, MT 18 Roessel, Faith, director, Navajo Nation, Washington office, Washington, DC 33 Thomas, Edward, president, Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Juneau, AK 29 Wellstone, Hon. Paul, U.S. Senator from Minnesota 34 Williams, Gary, executive director, Organized Village of Kake, Kake, AK. 28 APPENDIX Prepared statements: Allen, William Ron 55 Anderson, Marge 70 Bennett, Beverly, chairperson, Business Committee, Lower Elwha S'Klal­ lam Tribal Community Council 46 Bowechop, George, chairman, Makah Tribal Council 101 Cagey, Henry, chairman, Lummi Indian Nation 103 Campbell, Hon. Ben Nighthorse, U.S. Senator from Colorado 41 DeLaCruz, Joe 66 DeMoss, Harold 93 Graham, Boyd, tribal chairman, Duckwater Shoshone Tribe 107 Hoopa Valley Tribe, Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe, Lummi Indian Nation, Quinault Indian Nation, and Sac and Fox Nation (joint statement) 118 (III) IV Page Kadake, Henrich 81 Lavell, William, Director, Office of Self-Governance, BIA, Department of the Interior, Washington, DC, on behalf of Ada Deer, Assistant Secre­ tary for Indian Affairs 49 Lincoln, Michel 42 Manatowa, Jr., Elmer 59 Nuckolls, Larry, Governor, Absentee Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklaho­ ma 47 Pablo, Michael 43 Raphael, Joseph C., tribal chairman, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians 77 Risling, Sr., Dale, chairman, Hoopa Valley Tribe of California (with at­ tachments) 125 Roessel, Faith 45 Thomas, Edward (with attachment) 86 Additional material submitted for the record: Self-governance tribes that have entered 1994 annual funding agreements with the Department of the Interior 139 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRIBAL SELF­ GOVERNANCE DEMONSTRATION PROJECT WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1993 U.S. SENATE, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 9:30 a.m. in room 485, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. John McCain (vice chairman of the committee) presiding. Present: Senators McCain, Cochran, Campbell, Murkowski, and Wellstone. STATEMENT OF HON. JOHN MCCAIN, U.S. SENATOR FROM ARIZONA, VICE CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS Senator MCCAIN. Good morning. I want to welcome you all here this morning. Chairman Inouye wanted very much to be here this morning, but he is currently managing the Defense Appropriations Bill on the Senate Floor. As many of you know, he is the chairman of the De­ fense Appropriations Subcommittee and we have been involved in spirited debate for the last 4 or 5 days. I am sure he would much rather be here than there. Chairman Inouye, of course, was one of the original congression­ al visionaries for the potential of self-governance to better define the Federal/Indian relationship. Today's hearing will focus on the implementation of the Self-gov­ ernance Demonstration Project Act by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service. We will discuss some of the obsta­ cles as well as some of the successes of the project since its enact­ ment in 1988. For the past 2 days, a number of the self-governance tribes have been meeting here in Washington, DC to discuss establishing the project on a permanent basis. To assist with those deliberations, I provide the tribes with a draft bill that would make the program permanent for the Department of the Interior with the full inten­ tion of including the Indian Health Service at a later date. I would be interested in any comments the tribes might have on this draft bill as well as your own ideas on what should be included in permanent legislation. I believe this project has been a success and deserves to be estab­ lished as a permanent option for all tribes. To fulfill our solemn treaty obligations and to give real meaning to the policy of Indian self-determination, I believe the Congress and the Executive (1) 2 Branch must work together to see that we do everything in our power to allow the tribes to govern themselves and to dispense their own funds in the best manner in which they see fit. As Joe DeLaCruz, president of the Quinault Indian Nation stated, No right is more sacred to a nation, to a people, than the right to freely deter­ mine its own social, economic, political, and cultural future without external inter­ ference. The fullest expression of this right occurs when a nation freely governs itself. I would like to point out that there is already a vote scheduled at 10:30 this morning. I have an amendment on the Floor following that. I will try to get someone to take over the hearing during that period. If not, we may have to stand in recess for a relatively brief period of time. Before we call our witnesses, I would like to ask my friend, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, if he has any opening comments. STATEMENT OF HON. BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, U.S. SENATOR FROM COLORADO Senator CAMPBELL. I would just ask unanimous consent to intro­ duce something in the record, Mr. Chairman. I have a conflict as well, so I can only stay for a few minutes. I would prefer to save that time for people who are here to testify. Thank you very much. Senator MCCAIN. Without objection, your prepared statement will appear in the record. [Prepared statement of Senator Campbell appears in appendix.] Senator MCCAIN. I would like to call our first witnesses, Michael Lincoln, Acting Director of the Indian Health Service, and William Lavell, Director of the Office of Self-Governance, Bureau of Indian Affairs. Welcome, gentlemen. Thank you for joining us here this morn­ ing. As you know—and as I would like to inform all the witnesses— your complete statements will be made a part of the record. If you choose to summarize your statement, you are free to do so. If you choose to give your entire statement, you are also free to do so. Mr. Lincoln, we will begin with you this morning. Welcome. STATEMENT OF MICHAEL LINCOLN, ACTING DIRECTOR, INDIAN HEALTH SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, ROCKVILLE, MD Mr. LINCOLN. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. It is our privilege to be here in front of the committee today. I will not go through the entire statement. We will submit that for the record, but I would like to summarize some of that statement for those points we think most important. I am joined today by Reuben Howard, who is the acting director of our Office of Self-Governance, and Douglas Black, who is the as­ sociate director of our Office of Tribal Activities. Under his leader­ ship, over the past year he has guided our self-governance activi­ ties. The Indian Health Service was afforded self-governance demon­ stration authority just over 1 year ago. In that period of time, we 3 believe much accomplishment has occurred. There have also been many stumbling blocks that we need to work through. I would like to summarize a little bit of that accomplishment. We have signed 14 self-governance agreements with tribal gov­ ernments that are effective this fiscal year, 1994. These 14 agree­ ments transfer almost $50 million to tribal governments, $7 million of which are what is called tribal shares. These tribal shares are Indian Health Service administrative funding from our headquar­ ters office and from our area offices where these compacts were ne­ gotiated. We believe this is a marker in terms of complying with the intent of title III of Public Law 93-638.