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§1665b Memoranda of Agreement with the Department of the Interior

Title 25 › Chapter 18— INDIAN HEALTH CARE › Subchapter V–A— BEHAVIORAL HEALTH PROGRAMS › Part A— General Programs › § 1665b

Last updated Apr 5, 2026|Official source

Summary

Within 1 year after March 23, 2010, the Secretary (using the Service) and the Secretary of the Interior must create or update a memorandum of agreement under section 4205 of the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1986. The agreement must explain how big problems like mental illness, child abuse, family violence, and self-harm are among Indians; list what Federal, tribal, State, local, and private services already exist; say what services are still needed; affirm that Indians have the same right as other U.S. citizens to access behavioral health services and how to protect that right; describe the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ and the Service’s duties at all levels for spotting, preventing, educating about, referring, and treating these problems; set a plan to coordinate behavioral health and substance abuse programs across federal, tribal, and nonfederal providers (including care for people with both mental illness and substance abuse and coordination on child abuse and family violence); require BIA and the Service to cooperate with tribal community behavioral health plans; and include an annual review to be sent to Congress and to Indian tribes and tribal organizations. The agreement must also require the Service to do three specific things: measure how widespread alcohol and substance abuse is (including how many Indians in the Service’s area are affected and the human and financial cost), assess what prevention and treatment resources exist and are needed, and estimate how much funding is needed to run adequate prevention and treatment programs. Each new or updated memorandum, and any changes to it, must be published in the Federal Register and given at the same time to every Indian tribe, tribal organization, and urban Indian organization.

Full Legal Text

Title 25, §1665b

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(a)Not later than 1 year after March 23, 2010, the Secretary, acting through the Service, and the Secretary of the Interior shall develop and enter into a memoranda 11 So in original. Probably should be “memorandum”. of agreement, or review and update any existing memoranda of agreement, as required by section 4205 of the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1986 (25 U.S.C. 2411) under which the Secretaries address the following:
(1)The scope and nature of mental illness and dysfunctional and self-destructive behavior, including child abuse and family violence, among Indians.
(2)The existing Federal, tribal, State, local, and private services, resources, and programs available to provide behavioral health services for Indians.
(3)The unmet need for additional services, resources, and programs necessary to meet the needs identified pursuant to paragraph (1).
(4)(A)The right of Indians, as citizens of the United States and of the States in which they reside, to have access to behavioral health services to which all citizens have access.
(B)The right of Indians to participate in, and receive the benefit of, such services.
(C)The actions necessary to protect the exercise of such right.
(5)The responsibilities of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Service, including mental illness identification, prevention, education, referral, and treatment services (including services through multidisciplinary resource teams), at the central, area, and agency and Service unit, Service area, and headquarters levels to address the problems identified in paragraph (1).
(6)A strategy for the comprehensive coordination of the behavioral health services provided by the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Service to meet the problems identified pursuant to paragraph (1), including—
(A)the coordination of alcohol and substance abuse programs of the Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Indian tribes and tribal organizations (developed under the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1986 (25 U.S.C. 2401 et seq.)) with behavioral health initiatives pursuant to this chapter, particularly with respect to the referral and treatment of dually diagnosed individuals requiring behavioral health and substance abuse treatment; and
(B)ensuring that the Bureau of Indian Affairs and Service programs and services (including multidisciplinary resource teams) addressing child abuse and family violence are coordinated with such non-Federal programs and services.
(7)Directing appropriate officials of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Service, particularly at the agency and Service unit levels, to cooperate fully with tribal requests made pursuant to community behavioral health plans adopted under section 1665a(c) of this title and section 4206 of the Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1986 (25 U.S.C. 2412).
(8)Providing for an annual review of such agreement by the Secretaries which shall be provided to Congress and Indian tribes and tribal organizations.
(b)The memoranda of agreement updated or entered into pursuant to subsection (a) shall include specific provisions pursuant to which the Service shall assume responsibility for—
(1)the determination of the scope of the problem of alcohol and substance abuse among Indians, including the number of Indians within the jurisdiction of the Service who are directly or indirectly affected by alcohol and substance abuse and the financial and human cost;
(2)an assessment of the existing and needed resources necessary for the prevention of alcohol and substance abuse and the treatment of Indians affected by alcohol and substance abuse; and
(3)an estimate of the funding necessary to adequately support a program of prevention of alcohol and substance abuse and treatment of Indians affected by alcohol and substance abuse.
(c)Each memorandum of agreement entered into or renewed (and amendments or modifications thereto) under subsection (a) shall be published in the Federal Register. At the same time as publication in the Federal Register, the Secretary shall provide a copy of such memoranda, amendment, or modification to each Indian tribe, tribal organization, and urban Indian organization.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Indian Alcohol and Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 1986, referred to in subsec. (a)(6)(A), is subtitle C of title IV of Pub. L. 99–570, Oct. 27, 1986, 100 Stat. 3207–137, which is classified generally to chapter 26 (§ 2401 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of subtitle C to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 2401 of this title and Tables. This chapter, referred to in subsec. (a)(6)(A), was in the original “this Act”, meaning Pub. L. 94–437, Sept. 30, 1976, 90 Stat. 1400, known as the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which is classified principally to this chapter. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see

Short Title

note set out under section 1601 of this title and Tables. Codification section 703 of Pub. L. 94–437 is based on section 181 of title I of S. 1790, One Hundred Eleventh Congress, as reported by the Committee on Indian Affairs of the Senate in Dec. 2009, which was enacted into law by section 10221(a) of Pub. L. 111–148.

Prior Provisions

A prior section 1665b, Pub. L. 94–437, title VII, § 703, as added Pub. L. 102–573, title VII, § 702(a), Oct. 29, 1992, 106 Stat. 4573, related to Indian women treatment programs, prior to the general amendment of this subchapter by Pub. L. 111–148. See section 1665f of this title.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

25 U.S.C. § 1665b

Title 25Indians

Last Updated

Apr 5, 2026

Release point: 119-73not60