Native Youth and Tribal Officer Protection Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2740 To protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES APRIL 21, 2021 Mr. O’HALLERAN (for himself and Mr. COLE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources, and in addi- tion to the Committees on Education and Labor, and Energy and Com- merce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdic- tion of the committee concerned A BILL To protect Native children and promote public safety in Indian country. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native Youth and 4 Tribal Officer Protection Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6 Congress finds the following: 7 (1) American Indians and Alaska Natives are 8 2.5 times more likely to experience violent crimes 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 2740 IH and at least 2 times more likely to experience rape 1 or sexual assault crimes than people who are not 2 American Indians or Alaskan Natives. 3 (2) The vast majority of American Indian and 4 Alaska Native victims, 96 percent of female and 89 5 percent of male victims, report being victimized by 6 a non-Indian. 7 (3) According to a 2010 Government Account- 8 ability Office report, the Offices of the United States 9 Attorneys declined to prosecute nearly 52 percent of 10 violent crimes that occur in Indian country. 11 (4) More than 4 in 5 American Indian and 12 Alaska Native women have experienced violence in 13 their lifetime. 14 (5) According to the Centers for Disease Con- 15 trol and Prevention, homicide is the third leading 16 cause of death among American Indian and Alaska 17 Native women between 10 and 24 years of age and 18 the fifth leading cause of death for American Indian 19 and Alaska Native women between 25 and 34 years 20 of age. 21 (6) On some reservations, American Indian 22 women are murdered at more than 10 times the na- 23 tional average. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 2740 IH (7) Tribal prosecutors report that the majority 1 of domestic violence cases involve children either as 2 witnesses or victims, and the Department of Justice 3 reports that American Indian and Alaska Native 4 children suffer exposure to violence at some of the 5 highest rates in the United States. 6 (8) Childhood exposure to violence has imme- 7 diate and long-term effects, including increased rates 8 of altered neurological development, poor physical 9 and mental health, poor school performance, sub- 10 stance abuse, and overrepresentation in the juvenile 11 justice system. 12 (9) Violence against children and crimes associ- 13 ated with dating violence and domestic violence in- 14 crease the number of instances of trauma in Tribal 15 communities, which— 16 (A) affects health outcomes; 17 (B) reduces educational attainment; 18 (C) hinders economic growth; and 19 (D) undermines public safety. 20 (10) Domestic violence calls are among the 21 most dangerous calls that law enforcement receives, 22 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Uniform 23 Crime Report shows that police officers, including 24 Tribal police officers, are assaulted when responding 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 2740 IH to disturbance calls more often than under any other 1 circumstances. 2 (11) The complicated jurisdictional structure in 3 Indian country— 4 (A) requires a high degree of commitment 5 and cooperation among Tribal, Federal, and 6 State law enforcement officials; and 7 (B) when that cooperation breaks down, 8 results in a significant negative impact on the 9 ability to provide public safety to Indian com- 10 munities. 11 (12) The Indian Law and Order Commission, 12 established by Congress to review Federal criminal 13 justice policies and practices in Indian country, 14 issued a report in 2013 entitled ‘‘A Roadmap for 15 Making Native America Safer’’ that recommends the 16 restoration of the inherent authority of Tribal 17 courts. 18 (13) Restoring and enhancing local, Tribal ca- 19 pacity to address violent crimes provides for greater 20 local control, safety, accountability, and trans- 21 parency. 22 (14) Tribal communities should be able to pro- 23 tect themselves from dating violence, domestic vio- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 2740 IH lence, child violence, and violence committed against 1 members of the Tribal justice system. 2 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF NATIVE CHILDREN AND TRIBAL 3 COMMUNITIES. 4 Section 204 of Public Law 90–284 (25 U.S.C. 1304) 5 is amended— 6 (1) in the section heading, by striking ‘‘DO- 7 MESTIC VIOLENCE’’ and inserting ‘‘DOMESTIC 8 VIOLENCE, CHILD VIOLENCE, AND VIOLENCE 9 AGAINST LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS’’; 10 (2) in subsection (a)— 11 (A) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘means 12 violence’’ and inserting ‘‘means covered con- 13 duct’’; 14 (B) in paragraph (2)— 15 (i) by striking ‘‘means violence’’ and 16 inserting ‘‘means covered conduct’’; and 17 (ii) by striking ‘‘where the violence oc- 18 curs’’ and inserting ‘‘where the covered 19 conduct occurs’’; 20 (C) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘domes- 21 tic violence’’ and inserting ‘‘tribal’’; 22 (D) in paragraph (6)— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 2740 IH (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 1 ing ‘‘DOMESTIC VIOLENCE’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘TRIBAL’’; and 3 (ii) by striking ‘‘domestic violence’’ 4 and inserting ‘‘tribal’’; 5 (E) by redesignating paragraphs (6) and 6 (7) as paragraphs (12) and (13), respectively; 7 (F) by redesignating paragraphs (1) 8 through (5) as paragraphs (6) through (10), re- 9 spectively; 10 (G) by inserting before paragraph (6) (as 11 redesignated by subparagraph (F)) the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(1) CAREGIVER.—The term ‘caregiver’ 14 means— 15 ‘‘(A) the parent, guardian, or legal custo- 16 dian of the child; 17 ‘‘(B) the spouse or intimate partner of a 18 parent, guardian, or legal custodian of the 19 child; 20 ‘‘(C) any relative of the child, including a 21 parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, step- 22 parent, brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, 23 half-brother, or half-sister; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 2740 IH ‘‘(D) a person who resides or has resided 1 regularly or intermittently in the same dwelling 2 as the child; 3 ‘‘(E) a person who provides or has pro- 4 vided care for the child in or out of the home 5 of the child; 6 ‘‘(F) any person who exercises or has exer- 7 cised temporary or permanent control over the 8 child; or 9 ‘‘(G) any person who temporarily or per- 10 manently supervises or has supervised the child. 11 ‘‘(2) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means a person 12 who has not attained the lesser of— 13 ‘‘(A) the age of 18; or 14 ‘‘(B) except in the case of sexual abuse, 15 the age specified by the child protection law of 16 the participating tribe that has jurisdiction over 17 the Indian country where the child resides. 18 ‘‘(3) CHILD VIOLENCE.—The term ‘child vio- 19 lence’ means covered conduct committed against a 20 child by a caregiver of the child. 21 ‘‘(4) COVERED CONDUCT.—The term ‘covered 22 conduct’ means conduct that— 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 2740 IH ‘‘(A) involves the use, attempted use, or 1 threatened use of physical force against the per- 2 son or property of another; and 3 ‘‘(B) violates the criminal law of the In- 4 dian tribe that has jurisdiction over the Indian 5 country where the conduct occurs. 6 ‘‘(5) COVERED INDIVIDUAL.—The term ‘cov- 7 ered individual’ means an officer or employee of an 8 Indian tribe, or an individual authorized to act for 9 or on behalf of an Indian tribe or serving an Indian 10 tribe, who is— 11 ‘‘(A) authorized under law to— 12 ‘‘(i) engage in or supervise the preven- 13 tion, detection, investigation, arrest, pre- 14 trial detention, prosecution, or adjudication 15 of an offense or the sentencing, including 16 the probation, parole, incarceration, or re- 17 habilitation, of an individual; or 18 ‘‘(ii) serve as a probation or pretrial 19 services officer; and 20 ‘‘(B) carrying out an activity described in 21 paragraph (11)(C).’’; and 22 (H) by inserting after paragraph (10) (as 23 redesignated by subparagraph (F)) the fol- 24 lowing: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 2740 IH ‘‘(11) RELATED CONDUCT.—The term ‘related 1 conduct’ means a violation of the criminal law of an 2 Indian tribe that is committed— 3 ‘‘(A) against a covered individual; 4 ‘‘(B) by a person— 5 ‘‘(i) who is subject to special tribal 6 criminal jurisdiction; and 7 ‘‘(ii) has committed criminal conduct 8 that falls into one or more of the cat- 9 egories described in paragraphs (1) and 10 (2) of subsection (c); and 11 ‘‘(C) in the course of resisting or inter- 12 fering with the prevention, detection, investiga- 13 tion, arrest, pretrial detention, prosecution, ad- 14 judication, or sentencing, including the proba- 15 tion, parole, incarceration, or rehabilitation, of 16 that person relating to that criminal conduct.’’; 17 (3) in subsection (b)— 18 (A) by striking ‘‘domestic violence’’ each 19 place it appears and inserting ‘‘tribal’’; and 20 (B) in paragraph (4)(B)(iii), in the matter 21 preceding subclause (I), by striking ‘‘, or dating 22 partner’’ and inserting ‘‘, dating partner, or 23 caregiver’’; 24 (4) in subsection (c)— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 2740 IH (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), 1 by striking ‘‘domestic violence’’ and inserting 2 ‘‘tribal’’; 3 (B) in paragraph (1)— 4 (i) in the paragraph heading, by strik- 5 ing ‘‘AND DATING VIOLENCE’’ and insert- 6 ing ‘‘, DATING VIOLENCE, AND CHILD VIO- 7 LENCE’’; and 8 (ii) by striking ‘‘or dating violence’’ 9 and inserting ‘‘, dating violence, or child 10 violence’’; and 11 (C) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(3) RELATED CONDUCT.—An act of related 13 conduct that occurs in the Indian country of the 14 participating tribe.’’; 15 (5) in subsection (d), by striking ‘‘domestic vio- 16 lence’’ each place it appears and inserting ‘‘tribal’’; 17 (6) in subsection (f)— 18 (A) by striking ‘‘special domestic violence’’ 19 each place it appears and inserting ‘‘special 20 tribal’’; 21 (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘pros- 22 ecutes’’ and all that follows through the semi- 23 colon at the end and inserting the following: 24 ‘‘prosecutes— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 2740 IH ‘‘(A) a crime of domestic violence; 1 ‘‘(B) a crime of dating violence; 2 ‘‘(C) a crime of child violence; 3 ‘‘(D) a criminal violation of a protection 4 order; or 5 ‘‘(E) a crime of related conduct;’’; and 6 (C) in paragraph (4), by inserting ‘‘child 7 violence, related conduct,’’ after ‘‘dating vio- 8 lence,’’; and 9 (7) in subsection (h), by striking ‘‘2014 10 through 2018’’ and inserting ‘‘2018 through 2022’’. 11 SEC. 4. INCREASED INTERAGENCY COORDINATION. 12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior and 13 the Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred to 14 in this section as the ‘‘Secretaries’’) shall coordinate with 15 the Attorney General to ensure, to the maximum extent 16 practicable, that Federal programs to support tribal jus- 17 tice systems and to support provision of victim services 18 for Indians are working effectively together to serve the 19 needs of Indian tribes and Indians (as such terms are de- 20 fined in section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and 21 Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)). 22 (b) COORDINATION OF FEDERAL INDIAN FACILITIES 23 WITH NATIONAL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE HOTLINE GRANT- 24 EES.—The Secretaries shall ensure that information for 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 2740 IH contacting any toll-free telephone hotline operated by re- 1 cipients of a grant authorized by section 313 of the Family 2 Violence Protective Services Act (42 U.S.C. 10413), is 3 posted and readily visible in each publicly accessible Fed- 4 eral facility utilized by— 5 (1) the Indian Health Services; 6 (2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; or 7 (3) the Bureau of Indian Education. 8 (c) COORDINATION ON TRAINING FEDERAL INDIAN 9 PROGRAM EMPLOYEES TO RECOGNIZE AND RESPOND TO 10 DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.—The Secretaries (acting through 11 the Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, the Director 12 of the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Director of 13 the Indian Health Service) shall coordinate with the Direc- 14 tor of the Office on Violence Against Women of the De- 15 partment of Justice and the Associate Commissioner for 16 the Family and Youth Services Bureau of the Department 17 of Health and Human Services to ensure that training ma- 18 terials on recognizing and responding to domestic violence 19 are available to tribal and Federal employees of— 20 (1) the Indian Health Services; 21 (2) the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and 22 (3) the Bureau of Indian Education. 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:29 Jun 04, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2740.IH H2740 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 13 •HR 2740 IH SEC. 5. REPORT. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior 2 (acting through the Assistant Secretary for Indian Af- 3 fairs) and the Secretary of Health and Human Services 4 (acting through the Director of the Indian Health Service) 5 shall jointly submit a report to— 6 (1) the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Sen- 7 ate; and 8 (2) the Committee on Natural Reso [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]