Support for financial resources to provide technical resources to federal/tribal advisory committees and workgroups

WHEREAS, the National Indian Health Board (NIHB), established in 1972, serves all federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) Tribal governments by advocating for the improvement of health, behavioral health and public health services to AI/ANs and for the fulfillment of the Federal government’s trust responsibility to AI/AN Tribal governments; and

WHEREAS, the NIHB is duly elected to serve the sovereign rights of all Federally recognized Tribal governments, to promote the highest levels of health for AI/AN people, and to advise the Federal government in the development of responsible health care policy; and

WHEREAS, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act requires an effective process to permit elected officers of Tribal governments to provide meaningful and timely input in the development of regulatory proposals containing significant federal intergovernmental mandates; and

WHEREAS, the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act contains an exemption from the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) for meetings between “federal officials and elected officers of state, local, and tribal governments; and

WHEREAS, Executive Order 13175 sets forth clear definitions and frameworks for meaningful Tribal consultation on policies that have Tribal implications that honors the government-to government relationship between the United States; and

WHEREAS, in 2009, the President issued an Executive Memorandum that directs each Agency to develop a Tribal Consultation Policy and states “History has shown that failure to include the voices of tribal officials in formulating policy affecting their communities has all too often led to undesirable and, at times, devastating and tragic results. By contrast, meaningful dialogue between Federal officials and tribal officials has greatly improved Federal policy toward Indian tribes. Consultation is a critical ingredient of a sound and productive Federal-tribal relationship;” and

WHEREAS, the federal government has numerous Federal/Tribal Advisory Groups, Committees, and Workgroups that are related to Health Care, including but not limited to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary’s Tribal Advisory Committee (STAC), the Indian Health Service (IHS) Contract Support Costs Workgroup, the IHS Purchase/Referred Care Workgroup, the IHS Community Health Aide Program Tribal Advisory Group, the IHS Information Systems Advisory Committee, the National Institutes of Health Tribal Advisory Committee; and