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More rule-making in store for Indian Country
Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Dozens of new rules and regulations covering everything from trust funds to background checks of tribal casino employees are being considered by the Bush administration, according to documents published on Monday.

In their semiannual reports, the Interior Department and the National Indian Gaming Commission outline the rules they have scheduled for review or development between spring 2005 and fall 2005. The documents list more than 50 rules affecting tribal governments and individual Indians.

According to the documents, most of the rules are still in the "proposed" stage. At the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 28 rules will developed over the next few months. Only one BIA rule -- for "Certificates of Degree of Indian Blood" -- is classified under "long-term" actions.

An additional 11 BIA rules are in the "final" stage or have been "completed," according to the report. Completed, however, doesn't mean the rules were published. For example, the "Buy Indian Act Regulations" have been withdrawn along with the "Indian Highway Safety Program."

At the Office of Special Trustee, there is only one rule in the proposed stage -- "Procedures for Depositing Funds." The agency is also finalizing rules under the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act.

Over at the NIGC, the agency charged with regulation of the $18.5 billion tribal casino industry, there are four rules in the proposed stage, including the controversial technical standards and classification standards for Class II machines.

One rule -- the equally hot Minimum Internal Control Standards (MICS) -- is in the final stage while another -- the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) Implementing Regulations -- is classified as completed, although in this case, it has been withdrawn. Nine additional rules are considered "long-term" projects.

The latest documents do not indicate an overall increase or decrease in regulatory activities affecting Indian Country. Comparison with semiannual agendas released by the Clinton administration show an equal amount of rules under consideration at the BIA, OST and NIGC.

The DOI agenda, however, does indicate the Bush administration is considering many more proposed rules at the BIA than in prior years. The BIA's proposed rule list, in fact, has been slowly growing -- from only five in December 2002 to 12 in December 2003 to the same 12 in December 2004 and, finally, to the 28 published yesterday.

The BIA's 2005 additions are almost all centered on the trust fund and activities related to the handling of the trust. From "Lead and Zinc Mining Operations and Leases, Quapaw Agency" to "Leasing of Osage Reservation Lands for Oil and Gas Mining" to "Unclaimed Moneys/Whereabouts Unknown," the list gives some insight into the administration's plans before they become public.

One potentially interesting BIA proposal is called "Proclamation of Reservations." According to the agenda, the rule "will define the procedures and criteria to be used for issuance of reservation proclamations by the Secretary of the Interior" and will be published next month. It first showed up in the December 2003 agenda and a notice was to be published in January 2004 but the schedule has obviously slipped.

The BIA's list is also notable for what it doesn't contain. There are no proposals to change the formula for redistributing tribal priority allocation (TPA) funds, an idea raised by the Bush administration in February, or to rewrite the two sets of land-into-trust regulations that the administration pulled in 2001 and 2002.

The NIGC's list has largely stayed the same, with most of the activity occurring in the "long-term" section. The agency has been working on rules on management contracts, use of net gaming revenues and other topics for at least three years, according to the documents. There is no indication of when these projects might be ready for public consumption, as all are tagged with "To Be Determined."

Every federal agency is required to publish semiannual agendas of its regulatory activities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act and Executive Order 12866. The updates are published every May and December.

DOI Agenda (Includes BIA and OST):
Text | PDF

NIGC Agenda:
Text | PDF

Relevant Links:
Unified Agendas - http://www.gpoaccess.gov/ua/browse.html