Tribal Government For me, the most significant development in Indian Country in the past decade has been the growth and maturation of Indian tribal governments. Tribal governments are exercising leadership, assuming responsibility, providing initiative and building sound community foundations. Clearly, there is great diversity among the tribes. Some are much further along than others. Yet, the progress overall is, I believe, extremely encouraging. Self-determination is becoming a reality. There is among tribal leaders a new attitude of competency, determination and willingness to accept responsibility that is most encouraging for the future of tribal communities. In direct support of the concept of tribal self-determination, a significant portion of our budget has been developed using program priorities as expressed by tribes in direct consultation with local BIA officials. The more than $270 million included in tribe/agency operations has been distributed by program using these priorities. We would hope that the reviewers of our budget request will also fully honor these tribal program priorities in their entirety. We are requesting an additional $1.9 million to enable us to provide assistance and services to 26 newly recognized tribes. We will continue to also strengthen the tribes' law enforcement and judicial programs. In 1985, the Congress added $8.8 million to the BIA appropriation to strengthen this vital activity. In our 1986 request, we sustain this level of funding and increase our special needs funding by $150,000 to enhance the law enforcement program for western Oklahoma. This increase is needed to accommodate the increased criminal jurisdiction caused by a 1978 court decision [State of Oklahoma v. Littlechief 573 P. 2d 263 (1978)], which withdrew state jurisdiction on Indian lands in western Oklahoma. The tribes have also added substantial funding for the program under the tribal priority system. The expanded jurisdiction in western Oklahoma has created an increased caseload for the court system for which we have requested $250,000. We have also requested, an additional $200,000 for improvements in other tribal courts. One item which we believe might be of interest to the committee has involved the recent transfer of the Indian Police Academy from the Intermountain School at Brigham City, Utah to the Evergreen Air Center at Marana, Arizona. Under the new arrangement, which became operational last month, we believe the quality of training will be significantly improved since the Bureau has now entered into a formal agreement with the Department of the Treasury's Federal Law Enforcement Training Center at Glynco, Georgia, for the operation of the Academy. We expect some savings in our welfare programs by regulations making the Bureau's general assistance payments consistent with state AFDC payments. We nonetheless anticipate increased needs in this program and have requested an additional $3.8 million for this purpose. The social services program constitutes one of the largest programs of the Bureau, playing a vital role in meeting the basic economic needs of many Indian individuals and families who are unemployed and do not qualify for other Federal or state service and/or financial assistance programs. It also provides a variety of services, based on individual needs, to Indian children who are neglected, abused, handicapped or delinquent. The Bureau recognizes that large increases have been requested for this program in recent years. While most of this increase has been due to reservation economic conditions, questions have been raised about whether the Bureau's program is truly functioning in accord with state Aid to Families with Dependent Children standards. Also, the issue has been raised whether payments to meet individual needs have always been fully justified. The latter concern has been particularly brought up by an audit of the Navajo social services contract following a request from the Bureau to the Department's Office of the Inspector General. In connection with the audit, the Bureau and the Tribe have reached agreement with respect to program changes to be made in response to nearly all the recommendations, with corrective actions to most of them in various stages of implementation. Just this past week the Tribe's final response to the audit has been received. This should clear the way for early approval of a new long-term contract which incorporates almost all the audit recommendations. The Tribe is to be commended for prompt action in writing and adopting a detailed social services manual containing guidelines for their staff; adoption of a children's code; and drafting foster care and foster home standards. They are also taking positive action to upgrade staff qualifications, training and evaluation. In addition, as of April 1, the Bureau's final general assistance regulation revisions establishing a rateable reduction system have been published. Work is also underway to address the requirement for other regulation revisions to conform with the language of the FY 1985 Appropriations Act. We are requesting slightly more than $1 million for indirect costs for new contracts with tribes who wish to operate Bureau programs. We are maintaining the funding level of $4.9 million for the very well-received program, begun in 1983, to assist small tribes in developing needed management skills. Economic Development We were pleased that Congress in 1984 made some desirable amendments in the Indian Financing Act of 1974. We feel these changes will make that Act even more helpful to Indian communities than it has been. The BIA's 1986 appropriation request continues to recognize the importance of economic development for the future well-being of Indian communities. We have requested an additional $1.5 million to cover the interest subsidies and technical assistance costs of the loan guaranty program. We also intend to broaden the economic development grant program to include individual Indian entrepreneurs, as well as tribes and tribal organizations. This latter step, we believe, is a most important development. We think the individual Indian entrepreneur provides a new hope for the long term development of Indian economies. The economic problems on Indian reservations are so complex and deep-seated that quick, simple solutions cannot reasonably be expected. This Administration has refused to see government make-work projects as solutions. Such projects may provide temporary relief until the funding runs out, but they do nothing to solve the long-term problems. Though much progress remains to be made, we think that there have been many solid developments on reservations in recent years. Our direct loan, loan guaranty and grant programs have helped make these developments feasible. Some of these developments were featured in the TV documentary, "The New In 1984 the BIA made direct loans to tribes and individuals totaling $12.7 million and guaranteed loans totaling $19 million. The Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington used both of these forms of assistance to help them build a $10 million sawmill. They put in $2 million of tribal funds, borrowed $2 million directly from the Bureau and obtained the remaining $6 million from private banks, with a loan guaranty. The sawmill gives the tribes assured market for timber from the reservation, provides 60 new jobs and is expected to net the tribe about $1.5 million annually. An economic development grant program, designed to provide "seed money" for new enterprises or expansions on reservations, was begun in 1983. This program requires that at least 75% of the total project funding come from nonFederal sources. With appropriations in both 1983 and 1984 of $5 million, this program provided grants to 37 ventures requiring total funding of more than $50 million. It has been attracting more than $4 in private funds for every one dollar of Federal funding. The funding in 1985 was increased to $9.8 million and that level of funding is being requested again in 1986. One of the projects funded in 1984 was the purchase of a $4.5 million blueberry processing plant by the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Maine. They received a grant of $375,000 and financed the balance through local banks. In 1981 the tribe used land claim settlement funds to purchase a blueberry farm from which they have netted more than $4 million. The processing plant makes them less dependent on outside markets and further integrates their operation. Trust Responsibilities The trust relationship between the United States and the Indian tribes involves a very difficult balancing of responsibilities. The Federal Government is charged with the duty to both protect and develop the resources of Indian beneficiaries. A new element of the trust responsibility involves how it should reflect the increasing management capabilities of Indian tribes. Indian tribes want to preserve and maintain the trust relationship, but they also want to control their own resources and business affairs. We will continue to work with the tribes and the Congress to ensure that the concepts of self-determination and a trust relationship work in concert. In 1986 we are requesting $50.4 million for Indian rights protection and other trust responsibilities. We are also asking for $106.7 million for natural resource development. This amounts to a little more than $2 per acre for the more than 53 million acres of land held in trust by the United States for Indian tribes and individuals. This money enables us to assist the tribes in management of their resources, but leaves many responsibilities to the tribes. The Bureau is working to complete inventories and assessments and needed development plans. The Bureau is involved in developing rapid assessment methodologies utilizing the latest technologies (i.e., the Indian Integrated Resources Information Program) to reduce the costs in the completion of inventories and assessments as well as in efforts to assist in developing plans for tribal economic self-sufficiency. The work progresses more rapidly in those instances when the tribes are willing to invest some of their funds toward this vital work. The tribes are already playing a very active and generally positive role in the development and enhancement of trust resources. A prime example of this increasing desire of tribes to control their own resources and business affairs is found in the cadastral surveys of Indian lands. Under this Administration, management initiatives in this program have resulted in an increase of almost 100 percent in the number of miles of boundary surveyed comparing FY 1981 to our estimate for FY 1986. This has been accomplished because the tribes have committed their own resources (such as staff, vehicles, housing, etc.) to survey projects conducted by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) using BIA funds. As a result of these tribal commitments, the BLM has been able to create "project offices" for the surveying of these lands and, consequently, to achieve considerable operational savings (such as, travel, space rentals, per diem, etc.). A project office is a temporary BLM organization established for a minimum period of time to survey a large tract of land. Project offices are now in existence in Arizona (Navajo land surveys), Maine (Penobscot and Passamaquoddy lands), and Minnesota (White Earth Chippewa lands). Without the establishment of land boundaries, development and enhancement of trust resources could not progress as rapidly as it has under this Administration. example, A second example, involves the work done by the tribes in the State of Washington who are members of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission. They work with us, the State, and other organizations for the enhancement and protection of fisheries. Through tribal enhancement programs in 1983 more than 33 million salmon and steelhead were released into Washington waters. Since these programs are all under development and expanding, the performance will continue to improve in future years. Many of the tribes are also extensively involved in habitat surveys and the restoration of salmon and steelhead habitat through the clearing of blockages and stabilizing stream sides. The tribes are similarly participating in development of their forest lands, their minerals resources and agricultural lands. Alaska Study One of the most important pieces of legislation relating to American Native peoples in recent years is the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. During the past 18 months the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Department have been at work on a report relative to the implementation and impact of that legislation on the lives of the Alaska Native people. As the report has been developed we have maintained close communications with both Alaska Native organizations and the State of Alaska. We recognize that the report and its recommendations are likely to have major impact on both of those groups and we are endeavoring to make certain that it will be as constructive and useful as possible. We anticipate this report will be submitted to Congress early this summer. BIA Management We We have proposed a five percent program management and administrative services cost reduction in the request for central office and area office staffs. expect, however, to continue to make further management improvements. In 1984 the Congress directed BIA to revamp a poorly organized, inefficiently managed ADP system. I am happy to report that we now have an Office of Data Systems (ODS) under competent professional direction carrying out the directives of Congress and moving us along the way to the kind of efficient, effective ADP system that we need. The ODS has standardized hardware and software in our field centers, has begun standardizing our information systems, and is integrating our computing equipment into a useful network to facilitate the flow of management information to a diverse group of users at various levels of our organization. The ODS is planning the controlled introduction of microcomputers, in accordance with Departmental guidance, into the BIA in order to enhance productivity and reduce manual effort. Although some problems remain, the ODS has brought the Bureau's ADP program into compliance with the directives of Congress in a very short time. We will continue to adhere to those directives in the future. Compliance with Federal Managers' Financial Integrity Act and OMB Circular A-123 to minimize waste, fraud and abuse has been given a high priority in the Bureau. They have been made a part of our management by objectives program and a critical element in the performance appraisal of all top managers of the Bureau. In the past two years, we have made significant progress in identifying internal control weaknesses and in correcting the underlying deficiencies. There are major initiatives in financial accounting, cash management and debt collection. Bureau review teams are traveling to all Area Offices, the Central Office and post-secondary schools, as well as selected Agency operations, to pinpoint possible weaknesses in a wide range of internal control areas. These reviews will be complete in early May, and additional field training will be conducted before the end of the fiscal year. The General Accounting Office (GAO) recently examined our A-123 effort. Exit interviews indicate that GAO's auditors were highly satisfied with our overall activities in this area. We have made measurable strides in reducing the backlog of unresolved audits. Since the beginning of FY 1985, the Bureau has made the changes necessary to resolve over 45% of the outstanding audits that were reported at the end of FY 1984. More importantly, the problems identified in these audits are being addressed in every instance for permanent resolution. The Bureau is involved in two types of audits. The first type deals with all Federal funds going to Indian tribes. BIA is the lead Federal agency for the audits. Since the program began in 1982, 36% of the tribes now have in place finance systems which enable them to meet the requirements of accounting for Federal funds as outlined in OMB Circular A-102 (Attachment P). As increased attention is devoted to this matter and as more tribes develop integrated systems, we believe that those tribes required to implement the provisions of the Circular will be able to meet its requirements by the end of FY 1986. |