A Senate hearing received testimony on amendments to the Buy Indian Act, which allows the federal government to give preference to Indian businesses when awarding contracts on reservations. The legislation focuses on reservation economic development, sets aside for small businesses all contracts below $1 million, addresses the prompt payment…

In the past, courts have described American Indian sovereignty in ways that suggest the existence of power in the Navajo Tribe to tax the activities and property of non-Indians on their reservation. These judicial statements were made, however, at a time when tribal governments were viewed as transitional mechanisms for Indian assimilation, and…

The Council of Energy Resource Tribes (CERT) and 25 coal-owning tribes recently completed a study of issues associated with control and reclamation of surface mining. Article presents their seven recommendations for legislation enabling tribes to have greater control over the regulation and reclamation of strip mining on their lands. (Author/DS)

This article discusses the water problems faced by the people of the Pima tribe. On June 17, 1902, after more than a decade of political debate and maneuvering, the National Reclamation Act became law. This legislation provided direct federal subsidies for the development of irrigation projects across the arid West. The Reclamation Act generated…

The 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act gave American Indian and Alaska Native tribes the option to administer Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs either alone or in a tribal consortium. The law also granted tribal TANF programs more flexibility in program design than it gave to state programs.…

Compares the impact of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 on the Hopis, Western Shoshones, and Southern Utes with regard to land reform, economic development, and tribal management. Describes salient tribal characteristics prior to 1934, and federal government tactics to force acceptance of the Act. Contains 83 references. (SV)

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), which establishes work-focused, time-limited welfare benefits. TANF permits tribes to receive funds directly from the federal government to administer their own…

Another in the Contemporary Legal Education Series, this book questions how the law and the legal system have contributed to the support or destruction of separatist tendencies "in a context where there has been a rather formal debate on the precise issues of assimilation and preservation of cultural identity". The book is designed (1)…

Study objectives were to assess the status of a representative number of American Indian tribal governments and to share that information with other members of the national Indian community. Sixteen Indian law students, assisted by 8 Indian lawyers, worked on 17 different Indian reservations during the summer of 1974. Generally working on their…

These papers provide indepth analyses of barriers to and proposals for economic development on Indian reservations. The collection is a follow through to April 29, 1982 hearings of the Select Committee on Indian Affairs of the United States Senate. Alan R. Parker and Charles Trimble survey Indian economic development issues including the federal…

Federal taxpayers may spend more, nominally, on each Indian than they do on other Americans, but the permanent benefits to reservation communities have been smaller. One-fifth of all spending maintains federal agencies. Funds that do reach reservations tend to be absorbed by tribal administration and unproductive employment. (ERB)

Federal awareness that Indians existed as self-governing, political entities gave rise to congressional action during the 1970s that produced significant Indian rights legislation. Article discusses the Congressional Indian legislation enacted during the past decade. (DS)

The first full year of the Indian Financing Act of 1974 was fiscal 1976, after which $91 million had been appropriated for the Revolving Loan Fund, the Loan Guaranty and Insurance Fund, and the Indian Business Development Grant Program. The Revolving Loan Fund, consolidated from 4 previous funds, was underutilized. Only $13.3 million was loaned to…

The Indian Financing Act of 1974 was vital legislation to Indians, previously prevented from obtaining credit from non-Indian lenders who customarily categorized Indians as poor credit risks or set interest rates prohibitively high. Problems in preparation of the administrative regulations delayed initial implementation of the Act until December…

The concepts of sovereignty and trust form the core of the American Indian Policy Review Commission's final report. The commission's responsibility, derived from PL 93-580, was to conduct a comprehensive review of historical/legal developments underlying the Indian/federal government relationship and to recommend necessary policy revisions. After…