Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act
This bill establishes the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States and sets forth its powers, duties, and membership.
Among other duties, the commission must investigate the impacts and ongoing effects of the Indian Boarding School Policies (federal policies under which American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children were forcibly removed from their family homes and placed in boarding schools).
Further, the commission must develop recommendations on ways to (1) protect unmarked graves and accompanying land protections; (2) support repatriation and identify the tribal nations from which children were taken; and (3) discontinue the removal of American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children from their families and tribal communities by state social service departments, foster care agencies, and adoption agencies.
[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5444 Introduced in House (IH)]
<DOC>
117th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 5444
To establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School
Policies in the United States, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
September 30, 2021
Ms. Davids of Kansas (for herself, Mr. Cole, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Kilmer,
Ms. Leger Fernandez, Mr. Young, Mrs. Kirkpatrick, Ms. Bonamici, Mr.
Higgins of New York, Mr. Pocan, Ms. Pingree, Mr. Kahele, and Mr.
Huffman) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on
Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To establish the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School
Policies in the United States, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Truth and Healing Commission on
Indian Boarding School Policies Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds that--
(1) assimilation processes, such as the Indian Boarding
School Policies, were adopted by the United States Government
to strip American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian
children of their Indigenous identities, beliefs, and languages
to assimilate them into non-Native culture through federally
funded and controlled Christian-run schools, which had the
intent and, in many cases, the effect, of termination, with
dire and intentional consequences on the cultures and languages
of Indigenous peoples;
(2) assimilation processes can be traced back to--
(A) the enactment of the Act of March 3, 1819 (3
Stat. 516, chapter 85) (commonly known as the ``Indian
Civilization Fund Act of 1819''), which created a fund
to administer the education, healthcare, and rations
promised to Tribal nations under treaties those Tribal
nations had with the United States; and
(B) the Grant Administration's peace policy with
Tribal nations in 1868, which, among other things,
authorized amounts in the fund established under the
Act of March 3, 1819 (3 Stat. 516, chapter 85)
(commonly known as the ``Indian Civilization Fund Act
of 1819''), to be used by churches;
(3) according to research from the National Native American
Boarding School Healing Coalition, the Federal Government
funded church-run boarding schools for Native Americans from
1819 through the 1960s under the Act of March 3, 1819 (3 Stat.
516, chapter 85), which authorized the forced removal of
hundreds of thousands of American Indian and Alaska Native
children as young as 3 years old, relocating them from their
traditional homelands to 1 of at least 367 known Indian
boarding schools, of which 73 remain open today, across 30
States;
(4) beginning in 1820, missionaries from the United States
arrived in Hawai`i, bringing a similar desire to civilize
Native Hawaiians and convert ``Hawaiian heathens'' to
Christians, establishing day schools and boarding schools that
followed models first imposed on Tribal nations on the East
Coast of the United States;
(5) as estimated by David Wallace Adams, professor emeritus
of history and education at Cleveland State University in Ohio,
by 1926, nearly 83 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native
school-age children were enrolled in Indian boarding schools in
the United States, but, the full extent of the Indian Boarding
School Policies has yet to be fully examined by--
(A) the Federal Government or the churches who ran
those schools; or
(B) other entities who profited from the existence
of those schools;
(6) General Richard Henry Pratt, the founder and
superintendent of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania, stated that the ethos of Indian
Boarding School Policies was to ``kill the Indian in him, and
save the man'';
(7) in 1878, General Pratt brought a group of American
Indian warriors held as prisoners of war to what was then known
as the Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School in Hampton,
Virginia, for a residential experiment in the education of
Indigenous people;
(8) prior to arriving to the Hampton Agricultural and
Industrial School in 1878, the American Indian warriors held as
prisoners of war had already spent 3 years imprisoned, during
which time they were forced to shave their traditionally grown
hair, dress in military uniforms, participate in Christian
worship services, and adopt an English name;
(9) General Samuel C. Armstrong, founder and, in 1878,
principal, of the Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School,
was influenced by his parents and other missionaries in the
United States involved in the education of Native Hawaiian
children;
(10) General Armstrong modeled the Hampton Agricultural and
Industrial School after the Hilo Boarding School in Hawai`i, a
missionary-run boarding school that targeted high performing
Native Hawaiians to become indoctrinated in Protestant
ideology, which was similar to boarding schools led by
missionaries in the similarly sovereign Five Tribes of
Oklahoma, including the Cherokee and Chickasaw;
(11) in addition to bringing a group of American Indian
warriors held as prisoners of war to the Hampton Agricultural
and Industrial School in 1878, General Pratt influenced Sheldon
Jackson, a Presbyterian missionary who, in 1885, was appointed
by the Secretary of the Interior to be a General Agent of
Education in the Alaska Territory;
(12) Hampton Agricultural and Industrial School continued
as a boarding school for American Indians, Alaska Natives, and
Native Hawaiians until 1923;
(13) founded in 1879, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School
set the precedent for government-funded, off-reservation Indian
boarding schools in the United States, where more than 10,000
American Indian and Alaska Native children were enrolled from
more than 140 Indian Tribes;
(14) Indian boarding schools, and the policies that
created, funded, and fueled their existence, were designed to
assimilate American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian
children into non-Native culture by stripping them of their
cultural identities, often through physical, sexual,
psychological, industrial, and spiritual abuse and neglect;
(15) many of the children who were taken to Indian boarding
schools did not survive, and of those who did survive, many
never returned to their parents, extended families, and
communities;
(16) at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School alone,
approximately 180 American Indian and Alaska Native children
were buried;
(17) according to research from the National Native
American Boarding School Healing Coalition--
(A) while attending Indian boarding schools,
American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian
children suffered additional physical, sexual,
psychological, industrial, and spiritual abuse and
neglect as they were sent to non-Native homes and
businesses for involuntary and unpaid manual labor work
during the summers;
(B) many American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian children escaped from Indian boarding schools
by running away, and then remained missing or died of
illnesses due to harsh living conditions, abuse, or
substandard health care provided by the Indian boarding
schools;
(C) many American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian children died at hospitals neighboring Indian
boarding schools, including the Puyallup Indian School
that opened in 1860, which was first renamed the
Cushman Indian School in 1910 and then the Cushman
Hospital in 1918; and
(D) many of the American Indian and Alaska Native
children who died while attending Indian boarding
schools or neighboring hospitals were buried in
unmarked graves or off-campus cemeteries;
(18) according to independent ground penetrating radar and
magnetometry research commissioned by the National Native
American Boarding School Healing Coalition, evidence of those
unmarked graves and off-campus cemeteries has been found,
including--
(A) unmarked graves at Chemawa Indian School in
Salem, Oregon; and
(B) remains of children who were burned in
incinerators at Indian boarding schools;
(19) according to research from the National Native
American Boarding School Healing Coalition, inaccurate,
scattered, and missing school records make it difficult for
families to locate their loved ones, especially because--
(A) less than 38 percent of Indian boarding school
records have been located, from only 142 of the at
least 367 known Indian boarding schools; and
(B) all other records are believed to be held in
catalogued and uncatalogued church archives, private
collections, or lost or destroyed;
(20) parents of the American Indian, Alaska Native, and
Native Hawaiian children who were forcibly removed from or
coerced into leaving their homes and placed in Indian boarding
schools were prohibited from visiting or engaging in
correspondence with their children;
(21) parental resistance to compliance with the harsh no-
contact policy described in paragraph (20) resulted in the
parents being incarcerated or losing access to basic human
rights, food rations, and clothing;
(22) in 2013, post-traumatic stress disorder rates among
American Indian and Alaska Native youth were 3-times the
general public, the same rates for post-traumatic stress
disorder among veterans;
(23) in 2014, the White House Report on Native Youth
declared a state of emergency due to a suicide epidemic among
American Indian and Alaska Native youth;
(24) the 2018 Broken Promises Report published by the
United States Commission on Civil Rights reported that American
Indian and Alaska Native communities continue to experience
intergenerational trauma resulting from experiences in Indian
boarding schools, which divided cultural family structures,
damaged Indigenous identities, and inflicted chronic
psychological ramifications on American Indian and Alaska
Native children and families;
(25) the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Kaiser
Permanente Adverse Childhood Experiences Study shows that
adverse or traumatic childhood experiences disrupt brain
development, leading to a higher likelihood of negative health
outcomes as adults, including heart disease, obesity, diabetes,
autoimmune diseases, and early death;
(26) American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians
suffer from disproportional rates of each of the diseases
described in paragraph (25) compared to the national average;
(27) the longstanding intended consequences and
ramifications of the treatment of American Indian, Alaska
Native, and Native Hawaiian children, families, and communities
because of Federal policies and the funding of Indian boarding
schools continue to impact Native communities through
intergenerational trauma, cycles of violence and abuse,
disappearance, health disparities, substance abuse, premature
deaths, additional undocumented physical, sexual,
psychological, industrial, and spiritual abuse and neglect, and
trauma;
(28) according to the Child Removal Survey conducted by the
National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, the
First Nations Repatriation Institute, and the University of
Minnesota, 75 percent of Indian boarding school survivors who
responded to the survey had attempted suicide, and nearly half
of respondents to the survey reported being diagnosed with a
mental health condition;
(29) the continuing lasting implications of the Indian
Boarding School Policies and the physical, sexual,
psychological, industrial, and spiritual abuse and neglect of
American Indian and Alaska Native children and families
influenced the present-day operation of Bureau of Indian
Education-operated schools;
(30) Bureau of Indian Education-operated schools have often
failed to meet the many needs of nearly 50,000 American Indian
and Alaska Native students across 23 States;
(31) in Alaska, where there are no Bureau of Indian
Education-funded elementary and secondary schools, the State
public education system often fails to meet the needs of Alaska
Native students, families, and communities;
(32) the assimilation policies imposed on American Indians,
Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians during the Indian boarding
school era have been replicated through other Federal actions
and programs, including the Indian Adoption Project in effect
from 1958 to 1967, which placed American Indian and Alaska
Native children in non-Indian households and institutions for
foster care or adoption;
(33) the Association on American Indian Affairs reported
that the continuation of assimilation policies through Federal
American Indian and Alaska Native adoption and foster care
programs between 1941 to 1967 separated as many as one-third of
American Indian and Alaska Native children from their families
in Tribal communities;
(34) in some States, greater than 50 percent of foster care
children in State adoption systems are American Indian, Alaska
Native, or Native Hawaiian children, including in Alaska, where
over 60 percent of children in foster care are Alaska Native;
(35) the general lack of public awareness, accountability,
education, information, and acknowledgment of the ongoing and
direct impacts of the Indian Boarding School Policies and
related intergenerational trauma persists, signaling the
overdue need for an investigative Federal commission to further
document and expose assimilation and termination efforts to
eradicate the cultures and languages of Indigenous peoples
implemented under Indian Boarding School Policies; and
(36) in the secretarial memorandum entitled ``Federal
Indian Boarding School Initiative'' and dated June 22, 2021,
Secretary of the Interior Debra Haaland stated the following:
``The assimilationist policies of the past are contrary to the
doctrine of trust responsibility, under which the Federal
Government must promote Tribal self-governance and cultural
integrity. Nevertheless, the legacy of Indian boarding schools
remains, manifesting itself in Indigenous communities through
intergenerational trauma, cycles of violence and abuse,
disappearance, premature deaths, and other undocumented bodily
and mental impacts.''.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are to establish a Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States--
(1) to formally investigate and document--
(A) the attempted termination of cultures and
languages of Indigenous peoples, assimilation
practices, and human rights violations that occurred
against American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native
Hawaiians through Indian Boarding School Policies in
furtherance of the motto to ``kill the Indian in him
and save the man''; and
(B) the impacts and ongoing effects of historical
and intergenerational trauma in Native communities,
including the effects of the attempted cultural,
religious, and linguistic termination of American
Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians,
resulting from Indian Boarding School Policies;
(2) to hold culturally respectful and meaningful public
hearings for American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian survivors, victims, families, communities,
organizations, and Tribal leaders to testify, discuss, and add
to the documentation of, the impacts of the physical,
psychological, and spiritual violence of Indian boarding
schools;
(3) to collaborate and exchange information with the
Department of the Interior with respect to the review of the
Indian Boarding School Policies announced by Secretary of the
Interior Debra Haaland in the secretarial memorandum entitled
``Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative'' and dated June
22, 2021; and
(4) to further develop recommendations for the Federal
Government to acknowledge and heal the historical and
intergenerational trauma caused by the Indian Boarding School
Policies and other cultural and linguistic termination
practices carried out by the Federal Government and State and
local governments, including recommendations--
(A) for resources and assistance that the Federal
Government should provide to aid in the healing of the
trauma caused by the Indian Boarding School Policies;
(B) to establish a nationwide hotline for
survivors, family members, or other community members
affected by the Indian Boarding School Policies; and
(C) to prevent the continued removal of American
Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children
from their families and Native communities under
modern-day assimilation practices carried out by State
social service departments, foster care agencies, and
adoption services.
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Advisory committee.--The term ``Advisory Committee''
means the Truth and Healing Advisory Committee established by
the Commission under section 5(g).
(2) Commission.--The term ``Commission'' means the Truth
and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in
the United States established by section 5(a).
(3) Indian boarding school policies.--The term ``Indian
Boarding School Policies'' means--
(A) the assimilation policies and practices of the
Federal Government, which began with the enactment of
the Act of March 3, 1819 (3 Stat. 516, chapter 85)
(commonly known as the ``Indian Civilization Fund Act
of 1819''), and the peace policy with Tribal nations
advanced by President Ulysses Grant in 1868, under
which more than 100,000 American Indian and Alaska
Native children were forcibly removed from or coerced
into leaving their family homes and placed in Bureau of
Indian Affairs-operated schools or church-run schools,
including at least 367 known Indian boarding schools,
at which assimilation and ``civilization'' practices
were inflicted on those children as part of the
assimilation efforts of the Federal Government, which
were intended to terminate the cultures and languages
of Indigenous peoples in the United States; and
(B) the assimilation practices inflicted on Native
Hawaiian children in boarding schools following the
arrival of Christian missionaries from the United
States in Hawai`i in 1820 who sought to extinguish
Hawaiian culture.
SEC. 5. TRUTH AND HEALING COMMISSION ON INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL POLICIES
IN THE UNITED STATES.
(a) Establishment.--There is established the Truth and Healing
Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the United States.
(b) Membership.--
(1) In general.--The Commission shall include 10 members,
of whom--
(A) 2 shall be appointed by the President;
(B) 2 shall be appointed by the President pro
tempore of the Senate, on the recommendation of the
majority leader of the Senate;
(C) 2 shall be appointed by the President pro
tempore of the Senate, on the recommendation of the
minority leader of the Senate; and
(D) 4 shall be appointed by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, of whom not fewer than 2
shall be appointed on the recommendation of the
minority leader of the House of Representatives.
(2) Requirements for membership.--To the maximum extent
practicable, the President and the Members of Congress shall
appoint members of the Commission under paragraph (1) to
represent diverse experiences and backgrounds and so as to
include Tribal and Native representatives and experts who will
provide balanced points of view with regard to the duties of
the Commission, including Tribal and Native representatives and
experts--
(A) from diverse geographic areas;
(B) who possess personal experience with, diverse
policy experience with, or specific expertise in,
Indian boarding school history and the Indian Boarding
School Policies; and
(C) who possess expertise in truth and healing
endeavors that are traditionally and culturally
appropriate.
(3) Presidential appointment.--The President shall make
appointments to the Commission under this subsection in
coordination with the Secretary of the Interior and the
Director of the Bureau of Indian Education.
(4) Date.--The appointments of the members of the
Commission shall be made not later than 120 days after the date
of enactment of this Act.
(5) Period of appointment; vacancies; removal.--
(A) Period of appointment.--A member of the
Commission shall be appointed for a term of 5 years.
(B) Vacancies.--A vacancy in the Commission--
(i) shall not affect the powers of the
Commission; and
(ii) shall be filled in the same manner as
the original appointment.
(C) Removal.--A quorum of members may remove a
member appointed by that President or Member of
Congress, respectively, only for neglect of duty or
malfeasance in office.
(c) Meetings.--
(1) Initial meeting.--As soon as practicable after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall hold the initial
meeting of the Commission and begin operations.
(2) Subsequent meetings.--After the initial meeting of the
Commission is held under paragraph (1), the Commission shall
meet at the call of the Chairperson.
(3) Format of meetings.--A meeting of the Commission may be
conducted in-person, virtually, or via phone.
(d) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the Commission shall
constitute a quorum, but a lesser number of members may hold hearings.
(e) Chairperson and Vice Chairperson.--The Commission shall select
a Chairperson and Vice Chairperson from among the members of the
Commission.
(f) Commission Personnel Matters.--
(1) Compensation of members.--A member of the Commission
who is not an officer or employee of the Federal Government
shall be compensated at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of
the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level IV of the
Executive Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States
Code, for each day (including travel time) during which the
member is engaged in the performance of the duties of the
Commission.
(2) Travel expenses.--A member of the Commission shall be
allowed travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of
subsistence, at rates authorized for employees of agencies
under subchapter I of chapter 57 of title 5, United States
Code, while away from their homes or regular places of business
in the performance of services for the Commission.
(g) Truth and Healing Advisory Committee.--
(1) Establishment.--The Commission shall establish an
advisory committee, to be known as the ``Truth and Healing
Advisory Committee''.
(2) Membership.--The Advisory Committee shall consist of--
(A) 1 representative from each of--
(i) the National Native American Boarding
School Healing Coalition;
(ii) the National Congress of American
Indians;
(iii) the National Indian Education
Association;
(iv) the National Indian Child Welfare
Association;
(v) the Alaska Federation of Natives; and
(vi) the Office of Hawaiian Affairs;
(B) the Director of the Bureau of Indian Education;
(C) the Director of the Office of Indian Education
of the Department of Education;
(D) the Commissioner of the Administration for
Native Americans of the Office of the Administration
for Children and Families of the Department of Health
and Human Services; and
(E) not fewer than--
(i) 5 members of different Indian Tribes
from diverse geographic areas, to be selected
from among nominations submitted by Indian
Tribes;
(ii) 1 member representing Alaska Natives,
to be selected by the Alaska Federation of
Natives from nominations submitted by an Alaska
Native individual, organization, or village;
(iii) 1 member representing Native
Hawaiians, to be selected by a process
administered by the Office of Hawaiian Affairs;
(iv) 2 health care or mental health
practitioners, Native healers, counselors, or
providers with experience in working with
former students, or descendants of former
students, of Indian boarding schools, to be
selected from among nominations of Tribal
chairs or elected Tribal leadership local to
the region in which the practitioner,
counselor, or provider works, in order to
ensure that the Commission considers culturally
responsive supports for victims, families, and
communities;
(v) 3 members of different national
American Indian, Alaska Native, or Native
Hawaiian organizations, regional American
Indian, Alaska Native, or Native Hawaiian
organizations, or urban Indian organizations
that are focused on, or have relevant expertise
studying, the history and systemic and ongoing
trauma associated with the Indian Boarding
School Policies;
(vi) 2 family members of students who
attended Indian boarding schools, who shall
represent diverse regions of the United States;
(vii) 4 alumni who attended a Bureau of
Indian Education-operated school, tribally
controlled boarding school, State public
boarding school, private nonprofit boarding
school formerly operated by the Federal
Government, parochial boarding school, or
Bureau of Indian Education-operated college or
university;
(viii) 2 current teachers who teach at an
Indian boarding school;
(ix) 2 students who, as of the date of
enactment of this Act, attend an Indian
boarding school;
(x) 1 representative of the International
Indian Treaty Council or the Association on
American Indian Affairs; and
(xi) 1 trained archivist who has experience
working with educational or church records.
(3) Duties.--The Advisory Committee shall--
(A) serve as an advisory body to the Commission;
and
(B) provide to the Commission advice and
recommendations, and submit to the Commission
materials, documents, testimony, and such other
information as the Commission determines to be
necessary, to carry out the duties of the Commission
under subsection (h).
(4) Survivors subcommittee.--The Advisory Committee shall
establish a subcommittee that shall consist of not fewer than 4
former students or survivors who attended an Indian boarding
school.
(h) Duties of the Commission.--
(1) In general.--The Commission shall develop
recommendations on actions that the Federal Government can take
to adequately hold itself accountable for, and redress and
heal, the historical and intergenerational trauma inflicted by
the Indian Boarding School Policies, including developing
recommendations on ways--
(A) to protect unmarked graves and accompanying
land protections;
(B) to support repatriation and identify the Tribal
nations from which children were taken; and
(C) to stop the continued removal of American
Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children
from their families and reservations under modern-day
assimilation practices.
(2) Matters investigated.--The matters investigated by the
Commission under paragraph (1) shall include--
(A) the implementation of the Indian Boarding
School Policies and practices at--
(i) the schools operated by the Bureau of
Indian Affairs; and
(ii) church-run Indian boarding schools;
(B) how the assimilation practices of the Federal
Government advanced the attempted cultural, religious,
and linguistic termination of American Indians, Alaska
Natives, and Native Hawaiians;
(C) the impacts and ongoing effects of the Indian
Boarding School Policies;
(D) the location of American Indian, Alaska Native,
and Native Hawaiian children who are still, as of the
date of enactment of this Act, buried at Indian
boarding schools and off-campus cemeteries, including
notifying the Tribal nation from which the children
were taken; and
(E) church and government records, including
records relating to attendance, infirmary, deaths,
land, Tribal affiliation, and other correspondence.
(3) Additional duties.--In carrying out paragraph (1), the
Commission shall--
(A) work to locate and identify unmarked graves at
Indian boarding school sites or off-campus cemeteries;
(B) locate, document, analyze, and preserve records
from schools described in paragraph (2)(A), including
any records held at State and local levels; and
(C) provide to, and receive from, the Department of
the Interior any information that the Commission
determines to be relevant--
(i) to the work of the Commission; or
(ii) to any investigation of the Indian
Boarding School Policies being conducted by the
Department of the Interior.
(4) Testimony.--The Commission shall take testimony from--
(A) survivors of schools described in paragraph
(2)(A), in order to identify how the experience of
those survivors impacts their lives, so that their
stories will be remembered as part of the history of
the United States; and
(B) American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native
Hawaiian individuals, tribes, and organizations
directly impacted by assimilation practices supported
by the Federal Government, including assimilation
practices promoted by--
(i) religious groups receiving funding, or
working closely with, the Federal Government;
(ii) local, State, and territorial school
systems;
(iii) any other local, State, or
territorial government body or agency; and
(iv) any other private entities; and
(C) those who have access to, or knowledge of,
historical events, documents, and items relating to the
Indian Boarding School Policies and the impacts of
those policies, including--
(i) churches;
(ii) the Federal Government;
(iii) State and local governments;
(iv) individuals; and
(v) organizations.
(5) Reports.--
(A) Initial report.--Not later than 3 years after
the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall
make publicly available and submit to the President,
the White House Council on Native American Affairs, the
Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Education,
the Secretary of Health and Human Services, the
Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate, the
Committee on Natural Resources of the House of
Representatives, and the Members of Congress making
appointments under subsection (b)(1), an initial report
containing--
(i) a detailed statement of the findings
and conclusions of the Commission;
(ii) the recommendations of the Commission
for such legislation and administrative actions
as the Commission considers appropriate;
(iii) the recommendations of the Commission
to provide or increase Federal funding to
adequately fund--
(I) American Indian, Alaska Native,
and Native Hawaiian programs for mental
health and traditional healing
programs;
(II) a nationwide hotline for
survivors, family members, or other
community members affected by the
Indian Boarding School Policies; and
(III) the development of materials
to be offered for possible use in K-12
Native American and United States
history curricula to address the
history of Indian Boarding School
Policies; and
(iv) other recommendations of the
Commission to identify--
(I) possible ways to address
historical and intergenerational trauma
inflicted on American Indian, Alaska
Native, and Native Hawaiian communities
by the Indian Boarding School Policies;
and
(II) ongoing and harmful practices
and policies relating to or resulting
from the Indian Boarding School
Policies that continue in public
education systems.
(B) Final report.--Not later than 5 years after the
date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall
make available and submit a final report in accordance
with the requirements under subparagraph (A) that have
been agreed on by the vote of a majority of the members
of the Commission.
(i) Powers of Commission.--
(1) Hearings and evidence.--The Commission may, for the
purpose of carrying out this section--
(A) hold such hearings and sit and act at such
times and places, take such testimony, receive such
evidence, and administer such oaths, virtually or in-
person, as the Commission may determine advisable; and
(B) subject to subparagraphs (A) and (B) of
paragraph (2), require, by subpoena or otherwise, the
attendance and testimony of such witnesses and the
production of such books, records, correspondence,
memoranda, papers, videos, oral histories, recordings,
documents, or any other paper or electronic material,
virtually or in-person, as the Commission may determine
advisable.
(2) Subpoenas.--
(A) In general.--
(i) Issuance of subpoenas.--Subject to
subparagraph (B), the Commission may issue
subpoenas requiring the attendance and
testimony of witnesses and the production of
any evidence relating to any matter that the
Commission is empowered to investigate under
this section.
(ii) Vote.--Subpoenas shall be issued under
clause (i) by agreement between the Chairperson
and Vice Chairperson of the Commission, or by
the vote of a majority of the members of the
Commission.
(iii) Attendance of witnesses and
production of evidence.--The attendance of
witnesses and the production of evidence may be
required from any place within the United
States at any designated place of hearing
within the United States.
(B) Protection of person subject to a subpoena.--
(i) In general.--When issuing a subpoena
under subparagraph (A), the Commission shall--
(I) consider the cultural,
emotional, and psychological well-being
of survivors, family members, and
community members affected by the
Indian Boarding School Policies; and
(II) take reasonable steps to avoid
imposing undue burden, including
cultural, emotional, and psychological
trauma, on a survivor, family member,
or community member affected by the
Indian Boarding School Policies.
(ii) Quashing or modifying a subpoena.--On
a timely motion, the district court of the
United States in the judicial district in which
compliance with the subpoena is required shall
quash or modify a subpoena that subjects a
person to undue burden as described in clause
(i)(II).
(C) Failure to obey a subpoena.--
(i) Order from a district court of the
united states.--If a person does not obey a
subpoena issued under subparagraph (A), the
Commission is authorized to apply to a district
court of the United States for an order
requiring that person to appear before the
Commission to give testimony, produce evidence,
or both, relating to the matter under
investigation.
(ii) Location.--An application under clause
(i) may be made within the judicial district
where the hearing relating to the subpoena is
conducted or where the person described in that
clause is found, resides, or transacts
business.
(iii) Penalty.--Any failure to obey an
order of a court described in clause (i) may be
punished by the court as a civil contempt.
(D) Subject matter jurisdiction.--The district
court of the United States in which an action is
brought under subparagraph (C)(i) shall have original
jurisdiction over any civil action brought by the
Commission to enforce, secure a declaratory judgment
concerning the validity of, or prevent a threatened
refusal or failure to comply with, the applicable
subpoena issued by the Commission.
(E) Service of subpoenas.--The subpoenas of the
Commission shall be served in the manner provided for
subpoenas issued by a district court of the United
States under the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.
(F) Service of process.--All process of any court
to which an application is made under subparagraph (C)
may be served in the judicial district in which the
person required to be served resides or may be found.
(3) Additional personnel and services.--
(A) In general.--The Chairperson of the Commission
may procure additional personnel and services to ensure
that the work of the Commission avoids imposing an
undue burden, including cultural, emotional, and
psychological trauma, on survivors, family members, or
other community members affected by the Indian Boarding
School Policies.
(B) Compensation.--The Chairperson of the
Commission may fix the compensation of personnel
procured under subparagraph (A) without regard to
chapter 51 and subchapter III of chapter 53 of title 5,
United States Code, relating to classification of
positions and General Schedule pay rates, except that
the rate of pay for such personnel may not exceed the
rate payable for level V of the Executive Schedule
under section 5316 of that title.
(4) Postal services.--The Commission may use the United
States mails in the same manner and under the same conditions
as other agencies of the Federal Government.
(5) Gifts.--The Commission may accept, use, and dispose of
gifts or donations of services or property relating to the
purpose of the Commission.
(j) Application.--The Commission shall be subject to the Federal
Advisory Committee Act (5 U.S.C. App.).
(k) Consultation With Indian Tribes.--In carrying out the duties of
the Commission under subsection (h), the Commission shall consult with
Indian Tribes.
(l) Collaboration by the Department of the Interior.--The
Department of the Interior shall collaborate and exchange relevant
information with the Commission in order for the Commission to
effectively carry out the duties of the Commission under subsection
(h).
(m) Termination of Commission.--The Commission shall terminate 90
days after the date on which the Commission submits the final report
required under subsection (h)(5)(B).
(n) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be
appropriated to the Commission to carry out this section such sums as
may be necessary, to remain available until expended.
<all>
Introduced in House
Introduced in House
Referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Committee on Education and Labor, and in addition to the Committee on Natural Resources, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Referred to the Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States.
Subcommittee Hearings Held.
Subcommittee for Indigenous Peoples of the United States Discharged.
Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Voice Vote.
Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 117-595, Part I.
Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 117-595, Part I.
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