BIA

Job Postition with the BIA as a Policy Analyst (DOJ Liaison)

Kate Fort

Description here.

Interior Releases Tribal Consultation Policy Draft

Kate Fort

From the BIA:

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and Assistant Secretary- Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk today provided the Department’s draft Tribal Consultation Policy to the leaders of the nation’s 565 federally-recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes for their review and comment. Receiving input from Indian country on the draft policy will guide the Department in carrying out President Obama’s directive to all federal departments to develop ways to improve communication and consultation with Tribal leaders in order to develop positive solutions for issues affecting the First Americans.

And a copy of the draft policy here.

NYTs on New BIA Head

Matthew L.M. Fletcher

From the NYTs:

A member of the Pawnee tribe who was Idaho’s attorney general is the new head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. By a voice vote late Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Larry EchoHawk, 60, a law professor at Brigham Young University, as assistant interior secretary for Indian affairs. When Mr. EchoHawk was elected attorney general in 1990, he became the first American Indian ever elected to that post in any state. The problem-plagued Indian affairs agency, which manages 66 million acres of land and oversees Indian schools and other programs, has been without a leader since early in 2008.

DOI/BIA Sends Final Section 20 Regulations for Publication in the Federal Register

Zeke Fletcher1 Comment

From Indianz:

In one of his final actions as head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs assistant secretary Carl Artman has finalized the long-awaited Section 20 regulations for gaming on trust land acquired after 1988. The regulations were sent for publication in the Federal Register. They are due to appear tomorrow and will be considered final and effective in 30 days.

The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act bars gaming on lands acquired after 1988. But Section 20 of the law sets out four exceptions: for Oklahoma tribes with former reservations, newly recognized tribes, newly restored tribes and tribes with land claims.

If a tribe can’t meet any of the exceptions, it can still pursue gaming so long as the state governor concurs. This is known as the two-part determination process.

The rules set out criteria for all four of the exceptions, plus the two-part determination process.

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