Amid all the recent headlines regarding the economic crisis, some legislative victories for Arizona’s Native American community have been overshadowed.
White Mountain Apache Tribe
In early September, White Mountain Apache Tribe Chairman Ronnie Lupe and I testified before the Senate Indian Affairs Committee in favor of S. 3128, The White Mountain Apache Tribe Rural Water System Loan Authorization Act, which I introduced. The bill authorizes a federal loan to the White Mountain Apache Tribe for the planning, engineering, and design of the Miner Flat Project – a key drinking water project on the tribe’s reservation. Congress passed the bill on September 29.
The White Mountain Apache Tribe is located on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation in eastern Arizona and has approximately 15,000 members. The majority of the reservation’s residents currently obtain drinking water from a small well field, and according to the tribe, well production has significantly decreased over the last few years, leading to drinking water shortages.
In order to meet the needs of the tribe’s growing population, a proposed new dam and reservoir – known as the Miner Flat Project – located on the reservation are considered to be the best long-term solution to ensure an adequate drinking water supply.
Providing a loan now to the tribe to expedite the planning of the dam would ultimately decrease the project’s overall cost in the future. Although there are funds set aside in the Arizona Water Settlements Act for future Arizona Indian water settlements – in this case, the Miner Flat Dam – the funds would not become available until 2013. If the tribe were forced to wait until then to gain access to these funds, the cost of the Miner Flat Dam would increase $5 million to $7 million a year.
Funding for the actual construction of the project will be an essential piece of a water settlement, the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Agreement, which is nearly finalized. I have since introduced legislation, The White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act of 2008, to confirm this settlement.
Native American Public Safety
Earlier this year, South Dakota Senator John Thune and I were successful in securing a $2 billion authorization for public safety, health, and water projects in Native American communities.
Under our measure, up to $1 billion will go to fund law enforcement and health projects, of which 18.5 percent will be used for detention facility construction, rehabilitation, and replacement; 15.5 percent will go the Bureau of Indian Affair’s Public Safety and Justice Account, which funds tribal police and courts; 1.5 percent will be used for investigations and prosecutions of crimes in Indian country; 1.5 percent will be used by the Justice Department’s Office of Justice Program for Indian and Alaska Native Programs; and 0.5 percent will be used for cross deputization or other cooperative agreements between state or local governments and Indian tribes. Another $1 billion is authorized for water projects.
Preservation of Indian Arts and Crafts
Just before Congress adjourned, the Senate approved a bill I co-authored with Senator John McCain that would strengthen the investigative and enforcement authorities of the Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990. The original act, which I authored when I was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, was enacted to protect Indian artists and craftspeople, businesses, tribes, and consumers from the growing sales of arts and crafts wrongly represented as being produced by Native Americans. A “truth-in-advertising” law with civil and criminal provisions, it prohibits the marketing of products as “Indian made” when they are not made by Indians.
The legislation expands the investigative authority under the original act. Other federal law enforcement entities, such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs Office of Law Enforcement, in addition to the FBI, may investigate cases of misrepresentation and work with Department of Justice attorneys to prosecute the cases.
I will work to get the House to act on this bill during the “lame duck” session in mid-November.
