§2018 Regional Meetings and Negotiated Rulemaking

Summary

The Secretary must hold regional meetings before putting out proposed rules or before creating a rulemaking committee. These meetings must get advice from Office of Indian Education Programs staff, educators at Bureau schools, and tribal leaders, parents, teachers, administrators, and school board members from tribes served by Bureau-funded schools about what the rules should cover. The Secretary must write final rules using the negotiated rulemaking steps in subchapter III of chapter 5 of title 5 and then publish them in the Federal Register. If final rules are not issued within 18 months after January 8, 2002, the Secretary must tell the right Congressional committees which drafts were not finished and why. A rulemaking committee must be set up that follows subchapter III, reflects the government-to-government relationship with tribes, includes only federal and tribal representatives, picks tribal reps from nominees by tribal schools, tries to match tribal seats to student shares, and follow chapter 10 of title 5. The work is paid from Department of the Interior general administrative funds, and reasonable committee expenses are covered. The rules here override any conflicting rules that existed the day before this chapter became law, and the Secretary can only change such rules following these steps.