July 27: Adam Walsh Act Deadline

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Yvonne Yazzie

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Jul 30, 2007, 12:36:30 PM7/30/07

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DEADLINE HAS PASSED but still sending as an FYI. -YazzieNet

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Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 17:59:07 -0400

From: "Lisa Neel" <LN...@nihb.org>

Dear NIHB Board Members, Health Educators, and Friends of NIHB:

Indian Country advocates, led by NCAI, have been working diligently to alert American Indian and Alaska Native leaders to the upcoming deadlines included in the proposed Guidelines for implementing the sex offender registration and other SMART Office provisions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.

You may view the full text of the proposed Guidelines online at http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/smart/guidelines.htm.

Pursuant to §127 of the Adam Walsh Act all federally recognized Indian tribes are entitled to elect whether to carry out the requirements of this section or delegate the functions to the state(s) in which the tribal land is located. Tribes must provide DOJ with a resolution stating their intent to manage their own registry if they wish to do so. If Tribes do not express such intent, the local state is automatically assigned the right to maintain such a registry for the tribal lands within the borders of that state.

The July 27, 2007 deadline for Tribes to send their resolutions to the Department of Justice asserting their intent to implement their own sex offender registry is fast approaching. Advocates and Tribal leaders are fighting for a one-year extension to this deadline as it essentially impedes the sovereignty of Tribal nations and cedes jurisdiction to the local municipality if action is not taken.

The NIHB strongly urges you to ensure that all of the Tribes in your Area are informed of the situation and to forward the below sample letter to all relevant parties.

The letter is also available on line at: http://www.ncai.org/News_View.19+M5d5f17c7403.0.html?&tx_ttnews[backPid]=9&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=312. For best impact, letters should be sent to the tribe's delegation with a carbon copy to Congressman Kildee and Senator Dorgan. Please send Virginia Davis a copy of the letter as well. Please contact Ms. Davis at the below information if you have any questions or concerns.

SAMPLE LETTER

Dear Congressman ______:

I am writing on behalf of the ____ Tribe to urge you to amend the Adam Walsh Act to extend the July 27, 2007 deadline it imposes upon tribal governments. We share the federal government's commitment to protecting our communities from sexual predators. However, the Adam Walsh Act, which was passed without consultation with tribes, is written in a way that will undermine the ability of tribal governments to keep our communities safe.

The July 27, 2007 deadline established in the Act is unnecessary, arbitrary, and unfair. The deadline is fast approaching, and yet, the Department of Justice will not have completed the process of promulgating guidelines before July 27th, nor will grant funds be made available to participating jurisdictions. As a result, tribal governments are being forced to make an important decision with incomplete information. At the very least, the deadline should be extended to give tribes the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the development of the guidelines before making their election under Section 127.

Even if one accepts the idea of requiring tribes to affirmatively opt-in to preserve their authority (which we do not), there is no sound reason why a tribe should have only one year to make that election. There are many self-determination programs that permit tribes to take on responsibilities as they develop the capacity to do so. We see no reason why this statute could not have been similarly structured. As the law is currently written, it may well force tribes to make this important election before they have the capacity required to fulfill the responsibilities of the Act in order to preserve their governmental authority. We urge you to extend, or remove entirely, the deadline for tribal election set out in the statute.

In addition to extending the deadline in the short term, there are a number of structural issues with the Adam Walsh Act that we believe will undermine its effectiveness for Indian and non-Indian communities alike. We have no doubt that there are solutions to all of these issues, and we urge you to support additional amendments to the law that we will be seeking in the months to come. I thank you in advance for your timely consideration of these issues. For more information, please contact myself, or the National Congress of American Indians at 202-466-7767.

Sincerely,

Virginia Davis

Associate Counsel

National Congress of American Indians

1301 Connecticut Avenue, NW Suite 200

Washington, DC 20036

202.466.7767

202.466.7797 (fax)

vda...@ncai.org

Sincerely,

Lisa C. Neel, MPH

Deputy Director