On July 21, the House passed, 326-92, the Indian Arts and Crafts Amendments Act (H.R. 725), which contains provisions to combat violence against women. The House passed in January the underlying legislation to address the misrepresentation and counterfeiting of Native American pottery, jewelry, baskets, and other items. However, the Senate added provisions of the Tribal Law and Order Act (S. 797), sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), to the legislation during its consideration of the measure in June.
The bill would provide training for law enforcement officials to learn proper methods of interviewing domestic violence and sexual assault victims, collecting, preserving, and presenting evidence of sexual assault or domestic violence to federal and tribal prosecutors in order to increase convictions of such offenses and to prevent them from happening in the future. The measure also would streamline the process by which federal employees can testify in sexual assault and domestic violence cases.
In addition, the bill would require that any report by the secretary of Health and Human Services on the development of Indian victim services and advocate training include recommendations to prevent sex trafficking of Indian women.
Standardized policies and protocols for sexual assault would be developed by the director of the Indian Health Service (IHS), in coordination with the directors of the Offices of Justice Services and Violence Against Women, and in conjunction with Indian tribes and tribal organizations.
The legislation also would require a study of the capability of IHS facilities in remote Indian reservations or Alaska Native villages to “collect, maintain, and secure evidence of sexual assault or domestic violence incidents” and to make recommendations for improvement of such services.
Speaking in support of H.R. 725, Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-SD) said, “A vote against this bill is a vote to keep the status quo, a status quo where it’s estimated that one in three American Indian women and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetime…Native American families, like all families, deserve a basic sense of safety and security in their community. Law enforcement is one of the federal government’s trust obligations to federally recognized tribes. Yet as tribes all across the country know all too well, Congress is failing to meet that obligation.”
