Tribal governments are the primary source of law enforcement and government services on 56 million acres of land - about 2% of the United States, a land area larger than the ten states of West Virginia, Maryland, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Hawaii, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island.
Tribal governments face a broad range of governmental issues - in many ways the same issues faced by the state and federal governments. One key difference is that the federal government has committed itself to a trust responsibility to protect tribal communities, tribal lands, and to provide services. Today, under the federal policy of Tribal Self-Determination, tribal governments make the decisions at the local level and provide many of the services themselves, while the federal government retains its trust responsibility.
NCAI addresses a broad range of policy matters in its efforts to advocate on behalf of American Indian and Alaska Native tribal governments. The following policy issue updates provide basic information on a range of key areas of NCAI's work.
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