Self-Governance

What happened

The self-governance era built on the 1975 self-determination law. Instead of the government running programs and contracting out pieces, tribes could take over programs and funds in bulk. The Tribal Self-Governance provisions now codified at 25 U.S.C. 5361 and following direct the Secretary, on the request of any tribe or tribal organization, to negotiate a written funding agreement. That agreement lets the tribe plan, conduct, consolidate and administer programs of the Interior Department that serve Indians. Title II of Pub. L. 103-413 (Oct. 25, 1994) is cited as the Tribal Self-Governance Act of 1994.

Congress also dealt with the dead. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, Pub. L. 101-601, Nov. 16, 1990, sets who owns or controls Native American human remains and cultural items found on federal or tribal land after that date. Lineal descendants come first; if none can be found, ownership goes in priority order to the tribe on whose land the items were found or the tribe with the closest cultural affiliation.

The era also surfaced a trust-fund crisis. The Congressional Research Service says Congress became concerned about mismanagement of tribal trust funds and Individual Indian Money accounts in the late 1980s. In 1994 it enacted the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act and created the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians. In 1996 a class of 300,000 account holders sued; Congress settled that case, Cobell v. Salazar, in 2010.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error