The Senate Indian Affairs Committee approved six bills at a business meeting on Thursday.

S.797, the Tribal Law and Order Act, was amended to reflect concerns raised by the Department of Justice about the number of cases that it declines to prosecute in Indian Country. Other amendments addressed a federal study into the trafficking of Indian women and girls, law enforcement funding and training for Alaska Native villages and a Government Accountability Office study into the way the Indian Health Service responds to sexual assaults.

S.375, the Crow Tribe Water Rights Settlement Act, was amended to address concerns raised by water users in Wyoming who may be affected by a water rights settlement for the Crow Tribe of Montana.

S.965, the Taos Pueblo Indian Water Rights Settlement Act; S.1105, the Aamodt Litigation Settlement Act, were amended to reflect concerns raised by the Department of the Interior about water rights settlements for Taos Pueblo, Nambe Pueblo, Tesuque Pueblo and San Ildefonso Pueblo, all of New Mexico.

S.313, the White Mountain Apache Tribe Water Rights Quantification Act, and S.1388, the Spokane Tribe of Indians of the Spokane Reservation Grand Coulee Dam Equitable Compensation Settlement Act, were approved with little discussion.

The committee has not made video of the meeting available on the Internet.

Committee Notice:
Business Meeting on pending committee issues, followed by LEGISLATIVE HEARING to examine S. 1635, 7th Generation Promise: Indian Youth Suicide Prevention Act of 2009 (September 10, 2009)

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