Resolution #SAC-12-045
TITLE: Urging Recognition of Tribal Self-Determination in Legislation and Agency Collaboration on Federal Programs that Support Economic Development
WHEREAS, we, the members of the National Congress of American Indians of the United States, invoking the divine blessing of the Creator upon our efforts and purposes, in order to preserve for ourselves and our descendants the inherent sovereign rights of our Indian nations, rights secured under Indian treaties and agreements with the United States, and all other rights and benefits to which we are entitled under the laws and Constitution of the United States, to enlighten the public toward a better understanding of the Indian people, to preserve Indian cultural values, and otherwise promote the health, safety and welfare of the Indian people, do hereby establish and submit the following resolution; and
WHEREAS, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) was established in 1944 and is the oldest and largest national organization of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments; and
WHEREAS, Tribal nations are intensely interested in economic development programs that work to provide a variety of needs required for economic growth to occur within reservation economies; and
WHEREAS, for decades, funding and programs have been available for various purposes from Congress and federal agencies but without coordinating funding or programming goals or functions across department or agency lines in an efficient manner that assists Tribes to achieve economic development goals tailored to the needs of the particular Tribal Nation; and
WHEREAS, basic needs within Tribal Nations for economic development to be sustainable include infrastructure such as water, waste disposal, roads, electrical grids and communication systems suitable for modern commerce; educational facilities that meet the needs of Tribal citizens; affordable housing that allows for individual ownership; and health care systems that provide for the range of health care needs of the Tribal populations; among other things; and
WHEREAS, federal funding and programs exist individually for each of these needs, but they are not consistently available, not shared equally among governments and often place unnecessary bureaucratic restrictions that burden economic growth of Tribes and their citizens; and
WHEREAS, in 1988 Congress amended P.L. 93-638 with Title III, P.L. 100-472, authorizing the Tribal Self-Governance Demonstration Project within the Department of the Interior, allowing Tribal governments to make their own governmental determinations of how program funds should be allocated to address the needs at the local level; and
WHEREAS, Public Law 102-477, the Indian Employment, Training & Related Services Demonstration Act of 1992, has proven to be an exceptional success in making existing federal programming more effective in meeting the employment, training, education and welfare reform needs of Tribal governments while reducing the administrative cost and time to administer integrated programs; and
WHEREAS, many Tribal Nations are now capable of managing economic growth on their own, given adequate resources, but are hampered by legislation and federal programs that fail to adequately acknowledge that Tribes are eligible entities and that Tribal governments should be equally eligible for programs for which other governments are eligible.
NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the NCAI does hereby support and encourage development of cross-agency federal programs that allow Tribal Nations to select from the resources available those programs that are needed to improve economic conditions within their Tribal Nations, using and expanding allowances for self-governance compacts pursuant to the Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975, and similar to the cross-program use of funds permitted by the 477 Department of Labor program; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that it is not contemplated that additional funding will be necessary to carry out the above legislation; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NCAI urges Congress to study this kind of economic development approach and to support such legislation as may be required to implement the approach; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that this resolution shall be the policy of NCAI until it is withdrawn or modified by subsequent resolution.
CERTIFICATION
The foregoing resolution was adopted by the General Assembly at the 2012 Annual Session of the National Congress of American Indians, held at the Sacramento Convention Center from October 21-26, 2012 in Sacramento, California, with a quorum present.
President
ATTEST:
Recording Secretary