FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 15, 1999

CONTACT: Christopher M. Changery
(202) 224-2251

CAMPBELL INTRODUCES BILLS TO REFORM FEDERAL REGULATIONS AND FUNDING TO INDIAN TRIBES, SETTLE TAX DISPUTES

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Chairman Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R-Colo.) today introduced five bills designed to streamline federal regulations, facilitate state-tribal tax negotiations and give Congress the information to better address tribal needs.

The Indian Tribal Economic Development and Contract Encouragement Act of 1999 sets a deadline for federal approval of tribal contracts and requires tribes to disclose their sovereign immunity. The Indian Tribal Regulatory Reform and Business Development Act of 1999 requires a comprehensive review of the laws and regulations affecting investment and business decisions on Indian lands, with an emphasis on how those laws impair economic development on Indian lands. The review, with recommendations, would be sent to Congress and the president within one year.

"What Indian Country needs is less federal intervention," Campbell said. "These bills are designed to help tribal economic development by encouraging private sector development, which is one of my top priorities as Chairman of the Indian Affairs Committee. For decades Indian Country has been micro-managed by Washington bureaucrats. The effect is all too obvious. Tribes have 50 percent unemployment, stagnate economies and lead the nation in social problems."

The third bill, the Indian Federal Recognition Administrative Procedures Act of 1999, would streamline the drawn-out and unclear recognition process by taking it out of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and placing it in an independent "Commission on Indian Recognition." It also established strict time limits for holding hearings and reaching final determinations on recognition petitions. The Indian Needs Assessment, Program Evaluation and Policy Coordination Act of 1999 is a step toward making federal assistance more effective by requiring every federal agency to assess the needs of tribes and individual Indians eligible for programs, as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of those programs.

Campbell also reintroduced a bill, the Inter-Governmental Tax Agreement Act of 1999, to create a federal dispute resolution panel to help tribes and states negotiate sales tax agreements. The panel would only be involved after a tribe and state had engaged in their own negotiations and failed to agree.