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Bill
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To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to establish an Office of Self-Governance, and for other purposes.

S. 2457 · 118th Congress · Jul 20, 2023 · Lineage

A BILL

Section 1 Office of Self-Governance

(a)
Establishment— Subtitle A of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6912 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“224B. Office of Self-Governance

“(a) Authorization—The Secretary shall establish in the Office of the Secretary an Office of Self-Governance.

“(b) Director—The Office of Self-Governance shall be headed by a Director.

“(c) Duties—The Director of the Office of Self-Governance shall oversee self-determination contracts and self-governance compact agreements entered into between the Secretary and Tribal organizations under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.).”

(b)
Conforming amendments—
(1)
Subtitle A of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 6912 et seq.) is amended by redesignating section 225 (relating to a Food Access Liaison) (7 U.S.C. 6925) as section 224A.
(2)
Section 296(b) of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 (7 U.S.C. 7014(b)) is amended by adding at the end the following:

“(11) The authority of the Secretary to carry out section 224B.”

Sec. 2 Report on self-governance implementation

The Secretary of Agriculture, acting through the Director of the Office of Self-Governance established under section 224B of the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994, shall—
(1)
prepare a report describing—
(A)
activities carried out by the Secretary of Agriculture under the provisions of the Agriculture Improvement Act of 2018 (Public Law 115–334; 132 Stat 4490) and the amendments made by that Act that provided authority to the Secretary of Agriculture to enter into self-determination contracts with Tribal organizations under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) with respect to—
(i)
the food distribution program on Indian reservations established under section 4(b) of the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2013(b)); and
(ii)
forestry activities;
(B)
the administration of the authorities described in subparagraph (A) by the Department of Agriculture;
(C)
best practices for administering contracting and compacting authority under the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5301 et seq.) within the Department; and
(D)
what, if any, resources or authority the Department or the Office of Self-Governance requires to fully implement contracting and compacting authority under that Act within the Department; and
(2)
not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act—
(A)
submit the report prepared under paragraph (1) to—
(i)
the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry of the Senate;
(ii)
the Committee on Agriculture of the House of Representatives;
(iii)
the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate; and
(iv)
the Committee on Natural Resources of the House of Representatives; and
(B)
make the report prepared under paragraph (1) publicly available.