Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians Briefing Presented by Deb DuMontier, Deputy Special Trustee Tribal Interior Budget Council Meeting August 5-6, 2015 Albuquerque, New Mexico 11/14/2018

Today’s Topics: Appraisal Services Probate Reform Transition of functions to the U.S. Treasury Investment review Debit voucher Funding History and Status of FY 2016 budget 11/14/2018

Appraisal Services Customer Service Outreach and Communication Collaborate with BIA Superintendents, OST Fiduciary Trust Officers, tribal Appraisal and Realty Programs to: Develop a uniform appraisal request process and timelines Develop training curriculums on the valuation process, use of the Office of Appraisal Services Information System (OASIS), and other topics identified by stakeholders 11/14/2018

Appraisal Services Customer Service Outreach and Communication Update the Office of Appraisal Services Webpage on the OST Website to provide: Appraisal request status information Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) about appraisals Local contact information for obtaining appraisal information 11/14/2018

Appraisal Services Customer Service Memorandum of Understanding with BIA Serve as a Service Level Agreement on roles and responsibilities of BIA and OST-OAS to improve communication and partnership 11/14/2018

Appraisal Services Our Priorities Hire and train twelve Native American appraiser trainees Enhance services and communication with internal and external stakeholders Effectively manage appraisal workload and status reporting Fill vacant Review Appraiser positions Collaborate with the OAS regions to use Mass Appraisals by adjusting models to fit regional operations Provide training to BIA and tribes on the appraisal request process, valuation process, use of OASIS, and effective use of appraisal and review reports 11/14/2018

Probate Reform Update OST continues to work with our DOI partners at BIA, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) and representatives from Indian Country to provide: Approaches to reduce burden of current federal probate process Useful estate planning opportunities and tools for Indian Trust beneficiaries 11/14/2018

Probate Reform Update OST exploring administrative (i.e., non-legislative) options to implement Transfer on Death and Small Estate Affidavit for IIM Accounts OST anticipates working with Congress to support legislation that will reform the probate process and provide beneficiaries greater access to established private sector estate planning options Field Operations has initial contract vehicle in place to provide legal services to beneficiaries for the development of Wills and other estate planning options. Additional funding for this valuable program was requested for FY2016 11/14/2018

Probate Reform Update Other activities to improve the probate process and provide meaningful estate planning opportunities include: Secretary’s Commission on Indian Trust Administration and Reform Secretary’s Reaffirmation of the Trust Principles Special Trustee’s FY2016 Budget Testimony before the House Subcommittee on Indian, Insular, and Alaska Native Affairs National Congress of American Indians Trust Modernization Workgroup (2015 Mid-Year Conference) Indian Land Tenure Foundation Events 11/14/2018

Transition Functions to the US Treasury As of the end of July 2015 Treasury in Kansas City is printing all of OST's beneficiary checks including EOP's, Tribal and IIM Statements of Performance, and BIA's invoices generated from TAAMS Currently the following items are scheduled to be transitioned to Treasury by the end of this calendar year;  the Special Trustee's annual audit letter notification to Tribal and IIM beneficiaries  and all of the annual tax information that OST provides to beneficiaries  11/14/2018

Investment Review Update Investment Review Team established to perform comprehensive review and analysis of OST’s investment policies, practices, and procedures Goals To have an independent contractor research, investigate and review investment compliance and risk management activities Conduct strategic risk assessment Assess operational processes Submit a final report of findings; implement final recommendations

Investment Review Update Work divided into three phases: Phase I – Research; use of independent third party contractor for document and data collection/analysis Phase II – evaluation of findings during Phase I; submission of final recommendations (OST staff currently in Phase II) Phase III – Special Trustee will review findings and make a determination of next steps; implementation

Debit Vouchers Still fleshing out a number issues regarding the proposed holding of checks for five days   Need to clarify that OST would only hold non- guaranteed funds and all other funds would not be subject to the five day holding period (e.g. oil and gas) We are also looking into Banking and Treasury regulations to see if there is any guidance or restrictions on how long a check can be held before being credited to an account and if OST would be subject to any of the guidance or restrictions. From May 2014 to May 2015 there were over $345,000.00 in debit vouchers 11/14/2018

Pending Legislation in the 114th Congress H.R. 812 (Simpson) and S. 383 (Crapo) “companion bills” with identical texts reworked version of bills from previous congresses Title II Directs the Department of the Interior to establish a 10 year (may be extended at Interior's discretion) demonstration project that allows tribes to manage their own trust assets, both financial and non-financial 11/14/2018

Funding History Congress first appropriated funding to OST in 1997 of $34 million. In the same year, BIA’s budget increased by $47 million. Since 1997, the BIA budget has increased by over 60 percent, from $1.6 billion to $2.6 billion. OST’s budget peaked in 2005, at $228 million, and has been declining since to its current level of $139 million. 11/14/2018

OST/BIA Appropriations: FY 1996-2015 FY15: OST $139 Million 11/14/2018

FY 2016 Budget Request FY 2016 budget request included full funding of fixed cost increases and three program increases: +$1.6 million for estate planning opportunities for trust beneficiaries to stem fractionation and the number of estates requiring probate +$1.2 million for an appraiser training program to address the shortage of qualified appraisers +$1.02 million to expand the records training program at Haskell Indian Nations University (HINU) and create new records training programs at two additional tribal colleges 11/14/2018

FY 2016 Budget Request Both House and Senate committee bills would fund OST in the amount of $139 M, level with FY 2015 funding Best case scenario - OST’s FY 2016 appropriation will be the same as FY 2015 ($139 M) 11/14/2018

OST Budget Trend 11/14/2018

Questions?

Thank you!