[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2457 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 2457
To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to
establish an Office of Self-Governance, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 20, 2023
Ms. Smith introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend the Department of Agriculture Reorganization Act of 1994 to
establish an Office of Self-Governance, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
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:
``SEC. 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.
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