Tribal and individual American Indian trust funds: Who's in charge?

摘要

The United States Government has allegedly mismanaged Individual Indian Money and Tribal Trust Fund accounts since their creation over 150 years ago. Despite what appears to be a well-documented and incontrovertible body of evidence: extensive governmental and private sector audits, as well as congressional and executive level reports and hearings confirming chronic mismanagement, the BIA continues to lose, misplace, and often fails to collect millions in royalty payments belonging to Indian people without an equitable solution. Consequently, this thesis examines the most recent reform effort, the 1994 American Indian Trust Fund Mismanagement Reform Act offered by the 103rd Congress, the Strategic Plan created by the Office of Special Trustee, and finally, federal and tribal responses to the proposed Strategic Plan. The impact of these varied responses has elucidated several hindrances to effective reform, thus generating key questions which necessitate closer examination in order to advance effective reform.