The State Tribal-Relations Interim Committee approved four proposals it plans to bring to South Dakota’s next legislative session.
The committee works with South Dakota’s nine tribes on an ongoing basis to see where the state Legislature can fill their needs.
One bill the committee plans to bring would increase protections for tribal law enforcement by changing attacks on tribal officers to a felony-level assault of a law enforcement officer. Currently, it’s a misdemeanor.
Rep. Will Mortenson co-chairs the committee. The bill received minor amendments at Monday’s meeting.
“As currently stated, the bill talks about those who are responsible for enforcing state laws, and because tribal officers are not responsible for that he thought that there might be some ambiguity. And that this provides the most clarity to achieve what we want," Mortenson said. "And so, as we look at this new draft, you’ll see it includes all of the same language about the folks who are covered and what their duties are, that being those who are in the enforcement of criminal or highway traffic laws or the prevention, detection or prosecution of a crime committed in the state.”
The committee also plans to bring a concurrent resolution urging the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to establish a tribal law enforcement academy in South Dakota. At previous meetings the committee discussed how it could use the state’s connection to former governor and now DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to bring the academy here, as opposed to other states.
The committee is also bringing a bill to create a task force looking at creating Indian Medicaid Managed Care entities in the state. The task force would bring together representation from the tribes located in the state, members of the state government and the health care fields.
The idea was brought up in previous State-Tribal Relations meetings this year. The model allows for more preventative care for Native Americans, something tribal representation say is needed to help people achieve longer lifespan.
The model creates an Indian Managed Care entity that would be eligible to enter a contract with the state to provide Medicaid services to all eligible Indians in South Dakota. Advocates say it creates a more welcoming health care option for Native Americans.
It allows the state to be reimbursed 100% for Indian patients who used Medicaid through the entity. That would create savings for the state, which doesn’t always get that reimbursement. Typically, a portion of the savings would go back to the Indian Managed Care entity to keep it going.
