TESTIMONY OF THE HONORABLE CHRISTINE COLLISON, PRESIDENT BEFORE THE U.S. SENATE COMMITTEE ON INDIAN AFFAIRS ON S. 1618 My name is Christine Collison. I am the duly-elected President of Ketchikan Indian Corporation, a tribal government organized under the Indian Reorganization Act (I.R.A.). I am pleased to be able to testify to this Committee on S. 1618, a bill that provides permanent legal authority for the Tribal Self-Governance efforts associated with the Department of the Interior and increase the number of Tribes eligible to sign Compacts and Annual Funding Agreements with the Department. Ketchikan Indian Corporation (KIC) is a Tribe that has undergone rapid growth in its program responsibilities over the past three years. For many years prior to 1992, we administered contracts and grants under P.L. 93-638, the Indian Self-Determination Act. For the past three years we have joined with Central Council Tlingit Haida and three other Tribes as Signatories to the Southeast Alaska Compact of Self-Governance. The five Signatory Tribes to the combined Southeast Alaska Tribes' Compact of Self-Governance with Interior are KIC, Tlingit Haida Central Council, Organized Village of Kake; Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and Yakutat Native Association. KIC strongly supports quick enactment of S. 1618. The KIC Tribal Council believes that the Self-Governance effort is one of the most important federal policies to affect Indian Tribes in the last 20 years. Self-Governance allows tribes to address issues that arise at the local level Our KIC Tribal Council has determined that our native students are at risk - their dropout rate is 63%. We have redesigned some of our education programs to meet this need. That is just one of the many examples of the flexibility we have under Self-Governance. Another benefit is that our Tribal Council's effectiveness and commitment has improved dramatically. Tribal Council members are now involved in developing policy that gives specific direction to program and administrative staff. Council members are more informed about the immediate needs of our membership. In addition to expressing our strong support for the bill, KIC specifically asked to testify in order to urge this Committee to include Report language that will permit any Tribe which is a signatory to a multi-tribal Compact to negotiate a separate, single-Tribe Compact with the Interior Department. KIC asks that you clearly indicate in the Report language that the Committee intends 8. 1618 to mean that any Tribe like KIC which is now participating as a Signatory to a multi-tribal Compact shall be immediately eligible to negotiate a separate, single-Tribe Self-Governance Compact shall be immediately eligible to negotiate a separate single-Tribe Self-Governance Compact with the Interior Department if that Signatory Tribe so chooses. (We have included proposed Report language as an attachment to our testimony.) KIC understands that three other Signatory Tribes, the Organized Village of Kake, Sitka Tribe of Alaska, and the Yakutat Native Association, also seek this same authority. All of us have the full support of the fifth Signatory Tribe to our multi-tribal Compact, the Tlingit and Haida Central Council. In fact, we note here KIC's appreciation for the role that Central Council played, as one of the original ten Self-Governance Tribes, in making it possible for KIC to be a Signatory Tribe along-side Central Council in the Southeast Alaska Tribes' Compact. During the Demonstration phase of Self-Governance, Interior limited our opportunity to participate only through a multi-Tribe Compact with four other Signatory Tribes. But now as the number of Tribes is increased on an annual basis and the project is made into a permanent program, our Tribal Council wants the option to have a separate, single-Tribe Compact. Additionally, virtually all of the infrastructure for KIC to have a separate Self-Governance Compact is now in place. A primary example of this is our separate and distinct fund transfer system. We ask you to avoid enacting any legislative language that could be interpreted in such a way that would exclude KIC or any other Southeast Alaska Signatory Tribe from immediately entering into a single-Tribe Self-Governance Compact with the U.S. government. It would be unfair to KIC as well as an unnecessary administrative burden on the BIA and OSG if KIC was forced to revert to the BIA contracting system and wait its turn in line as an "additional Tribe" in order to qualify to negotiate a separate Compact. KIC began operating our BIA-funded programs under the Compact on January 2, 1992. One of our main aims was to educe a layer of BIA bureaucracy and transform the savings into tribal direct service programs. Our Compact has accomplished this - the southeast Alaska BIA Agency Office was abolished and some of the savings were transferred to our Compact. KIC has now begun our third year of Compact administration. At each of its annual negotiations, KIC and the other Southeast Alaska Compact Signatory Tribes have pressed hard for a tribal share of the Central Office budget. Last year, BIA provided only a proportional amount (approximately $100,000) to our multi-tribal Compact as a hole, despite the fact that there are five separate Signatory Tribes to our Compact. There is no rational basis for denying each Signatory Tribe its own Central Office share. At the Agency and Area Office budget levels, Interior has uniformly required a tribal share to be calculated based on factors related to the program or account being divided (e.g., if a Tribe has 3% of the trust acres in an Agency Office, its tribal share is 3% of the Agency's realty funds). This same approach should be applied to Central Office. Indeed, this Committee and other committees of Congress have previously suggested that this be done. Nevertheless, to date Interior has refused all efforts to negotiate uniformly and consistently a tribal share of Central Office programs. Moreover, the negotiation of program-based tribal shares of Central Office budgets would go a long way to softening the inequity of BIA-wide funding distributions. KIC asks this Committee's special help in directing Interior in Report language to do so in F.Y. 1995 negotiations in the coming months. (We have included proposed Report language as an attachment to our testimony.) KIC has experienced many problems with the BIA's implementation of the SelfGovernance Demonstration Project. The most recent problem is in the area of contract support. It is our position that because of the added responsibility of administering all our programs, we are entitled to a larger share of contract support. To ensure that Self-Governance succeeds, we need to have the resources to do the job. At the same time, our Tribe has experienced many positive things as a result of our participation in Self-Governance. We have realized the benefit of increased tribal program funds as a result of our Compact reducing one layer of the BIA bureaucracy. We have also had the advantage of increased flexibility in targeting funds towards economic development priorities of our Tribe. We have also been able to increase and improve services to our members in the key areas of education and social services. We are eager to have the Tribal Self-Governance Demonstration Project given permanent authority at the Interior Department and ask that you make every effort to secure passage of S. 1618 as quickly as possible. We support the fact that the scope of the bill has been limited so that no controversial provisions will delay quick enactment this year. Self-Governance is working as envisioned by the 1988 Act that created it. Our Tribe is becoming more reliant on our own abilities to develop solutions to our own unique problems. We highly recommend passage of S. 1618 so that this authority is made permanent. Thank you for the opportunity to present our position. I would be happy to answer any questions you might have. Attachment. ATTACHMENT Proposed Report Language Permitting Any Signatory Tribe to Negotiate a Separate, Single-Tribe Compact The Committee also intends to permit any Tribe now participating as a Signatory Tribe to a multiTribal Self-Governance agreement to, at that Tribe's option, separately negotiate and participate in a single-Tribal Self-Governance Compact and Annual Funding Agreement with the Department of the Interior. Because such a Tribe is already participating as a Signatory in a Self-Governance agreement, its election to go its separate way in a single Self-Governance agreement should not be constrained by the statutory ceiling on the umber of new or additional Tribes permitted to begin participation each year. In particular, the Committee expects the Department of the Interior to follow the Committee's intentions with respect to any such request received from a Signatory Tribe participating in the Southeast Alaska Tribes' Compact of Self-Governance. Proposed Report Language on Tribal Shares of BIA Central The Committee is aware that, despite repeated congressional directives, no negotiation of tribal shares of BIA Central Office funds has been accomplished that is similar in procedure and scope with that used on BIA Area and Agency Office budgets during the past three fiscal years. Although significant transfers of funding ad responsibilities have been accomplished, Central Office budgets remain largely untouched. The Committee therefore directs the Interior Department to ensure that all Central Office budgets be subjected to the sam negotiation process currently used with Area and Agency Office budgets, applying the same or similar tribal share formulas and residuals percentages used in negotiations at those levels. о 73-594 (148) |