§ 458aaa-6. Provisions relating to the Secretary

(a) Mandatory provisions

(1) Health status reports

Compacts or funding agreements negotiated between the Secretary and an Indian tribe shall include a provision that requires the Indian tribe to report on health status and service delivery—

(A) to the extent such data is not otherwise available to the Secretary and specific funds for this purpose are provided by the Secretary under the funding agreement; and

(B) if such reporting shall impose minimal burdens on the participating Indian tribe and such requirements are promulgated under section 458aaa–16 of this title.

(2) Reassumption

(A) In general

Compacts or funding agreements negotiated between the Secretary and an Indian tribe shall include a provision authorizing the Secretary to reassume operation of a program, service, function, or activity (or portions thereof) and associated funding if there is a specific finding relative to that program, service, function, or activity (or portion thereof) of—

(i) imminent endangerment of the public health caused by an act or omission of the Indian tribe, and the imminent endangerment arises out of a failure to carry out the compact or funding agreement; or

(ii) gross mismanagement with respect to funds transferred to a tribe by a compact or funding agreement, as determined by the Secretary in consultation with the Inspector General, as appropriate.

(B) Prohibition

The Secretary shall not reassume operation of a program, service, function, or activity (or portions thereof) unless—

(i) the Secretary has first provided written notice and a hearing on the record to the Indian tribe; and

(ii) the Indian tribe has not taken corrective action to remedy the imminent endangerment to public health or gross mismanagement.

(i) In general Notwithstanding subparagraph (B), the Secretary may, upon written notification to the Indian tribe, immediately reassume operation of a program, service, function, or activity (or portion thereof) if—

(I) the Secretary makes a finding of imminent substantial and irreparable endangerment of the public health caused by an act or omission of the Indian tribe; and

(II) the endangerment arises out of a failure to carry out the compact or funding agreement.

(ii) Reassumption If the Secretary reassumes operation of a program, service, function, or activity (or portion thereof) under this subparagraph, the Secretary shall provide the Indian tribe with a hearing on the record not later than 10 days after such reassumption.

(D) Hearings

In any hearing or appeal involving a decision to reassume operation of a program, service, function, or activity (or portion thereof), the Secretary shall have the burden of proof of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence the validity of the grounds for the reassumption.

(b) Final offer

In the event the Secretary and a participating Indian tribe are unable to agree, in whole or in part, on the terms of a compact or funding agreement (including funding levels), the Indian tribe may submit a final offer to the Secretary. Not more than 45 days after such submission, or within a longer time agreed upon by the Indian tribe, the Secretary shall review and make a determination with respect to such offer. In the absence of a timely rejection of the offer, in whole or in part, made in compliance with subsection (c) of this section, the offer shall be deemed agreed to by the Secretary.

(1) In general

If the Secretary rejects an offer made under subsection (b) of this section (or one or more provisions or funding levels in such offer), the Secretary shall provide—

(A) a timely written notification to the Indian tribe that contains a specific finding that clearly demonstrates, or that is supported by a controlling legal authority, that—

(i) the amount of funds proposed in the final offer exceeds the applicable funding level to which the Indian tribe is entitled under this part;

(ii) the program, function, service, or activity (or portion thereof) that is the subject of the final offer is an inherent Federal function that cannot legally be delegated to an Indian tribe;

(iii) the Indian tribe cannot carry out the program, function, service, or activity (or portion thereof) in a manner that would not result in significant danger or risk to the public health; or

(iv) the Indian tribe is not eligible to participate in self-governance under section 458aaa–2 of this title;

(B) technical assistance to overcome the objections stated in the notification required by subparagraph (A);

(C) the Indian tribe with a hearing on the record with the right to engage in full discovery relevant to any issue raised in the matter and the opportunity for appeal on the objections raised, except that the Indian tribe may, in lieu of filing such appeal, directly proceed to initiate an action in a Federal district court pursuant to section 450m–1 (a) of this title; and

(D) the Indian tribe with the option of entering into the severable portions of a final proposed compact or funding agreement, or provision thereof, (including a lesser funding amount, if any), that the Secretary did not reject, subject to any additional alterations necessary to conform the compact or funding agreement to the severed provisions.

(2) Effect of exercising certain option

If an Indian tribe exercises the option specified in paragraph (1)(D), that Indian tribe shall retain the right to appeal the Secretary’s rejection under this section, and subparagraphs (A), (B), and (C) of that paragraph shall only apply to that portion of the proposed final compact, funding agreement, or provision thereof that was rejected by the Secretary.

(d) Burden of proof

With respect to any hearing or appeal or civil action conducted pursuant to this section, the Secretary shall have the burden of demonstrating by clear and convincing evidence the validity of the grounds for rejecting the offer (or a provision thereof) made under subsection (b) of this section.

(e) Good faith

In the negotiation of compacts and funding agreements the Secretary shall at all times negotiate in good faith to maximize implementation of the self-governance policy. The Secretary shall carry out this part in a manner that maximizes the policy of tribal self-governance, in a manner consistent with the purposes specified in section 3 of the Tribal Self-Governance Amendments of 2000.

(f) Savings

To the extent that programs, functions, services, or activities (or portions thereof) carried out by Indian tribes under this part reduce the administrative or other responsibilities of the Secretary with respect to the operation of Indian programs and result in savings that have not otherwise been included in the amount of tribal shares and other funds determined under section 458aaa–7 (c) of this title, the Secretary shall make such savings available to the Indian tribes, inter-tribal consortia, or tribal organizations for the provision of additional services to program beneficiaries in a manner equitable to directly served, contracted, and compacted programs.

(g) Trust responsibility

The Secretary is prohibited from waiving, modifying, or diminishing in any way the trust responsibility of the United States with respect to Indian tribes and individual Indians that exists under treaties, Executive orders, other laws, or court decisions.

(h) Decisionmaker

A decision that constitutes final agency action and relates to an appeal within the Department of Health and Human Services conducted under subsection (c) of this section shall be made either—

(1) by an official of the Department who holds a position at a higher organizational level within the Department than the level of the departmental agency in which the decision that is the subject of the appeal was made; or

(2) by an administrative judge.

U.S. Code

§ 458aaa-6. Provisions relating to the Secretary