§2411 Inter-departmental Memorandum of Agreement

Summary

Within one year after July 29, 2010, the Secretary of the Interior, the Attorney General, and the Secretary of Health and Human Services must write and sign a Memorandum of Agreement. The agreement must describe how big alcohol and drug problems are for Indian tribes and their members, especially youth. It must list what programs and resources exist from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Justice Programs, SAMHSA, Indian Health Service, and other federal, tribal, state, local, and private sources. It must set minimum standards for each agency’s work (using current federal or state rules when they exist or making new rules after talking with tribes), explain who does what at national, regional, agency, and service unit levels, require certain BIA and IHS officials to help tribes that ask for help, and be reviewed every year by the three officials. Any new actions under this chapter must add to, not replace, programs that were running on October 27, 1986, and must avoid disrupting tribal and local control in line with the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act and section 2010. While making the agreement, the three officials must talk with interested tribes, tribal people, tribal groups, and addiction treatment experts. The final agreement must be sent to Congress and published in the Federal Register no later than 130 days after July 29, 2010, and the Secretary of the Interior must give each Indian tribe a copy of the chapter and the agreement at the same time.