President signs Rounds bill repealing discriminatory Native American laws

U.S. Sen. Mike Rounds’ bipartisan legislation to repeal discriminatory federal laws targeting Native Americans was signed into law by the president on Tuesday, Rounds’ office announced in a news release.

The RESPECT Act (Repealing Existing Substandard Provisions Encouraging Conciliation with Tribes) repeals 11 outdated federal laws, including laws that stripped Native American children from their families for the purpose of placing them in “Indian reform schools,” such as the now-infamous Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Rounds’ office said.

Other laws repealed by the RESPECT Act include several that authorized the elimination of treaties and funding obligations to tribes engaged in hostilities against the government, and a law that said “No annuities, or moneys, or goods, shall be paid or distributed to Indians while they are under the influence of any description of intoxicating liquor.” (See below for a full list of the repealed laws.)

Rounds, a Republican from South Dakota, introduced the RESPECT Act in 2016 and every session of Congress since then.

“It’s long overdue to remove these immoral, discriminatory federal laws from our books,” Rounds said in the news release.

The RESPECT Act is supported by the Great Plains Tribal Chairmen’s Association and the National Congress of American Indians.

J. Garret Renville, chairman-elect of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, said in the news release, “The RESPECT Act is a first step in an attempt to better consult and coordinate with Tribal nations. Historically and symbolically, it is my hope that it represents a path to improving the longstanding inequities in the relationship and dealings between sovereign people, their nations and the United States government.”

Companion legislation was introduced in the House last year and cosponsored by Dusty Johnson, R-South Dakota.