The Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 aimed to maximize tribal participation in planning and administration of federal services and programs, and to reduce federal bureaucracy in those programs. Despite passage of the act, tribal attempts to assume operations of federal programs were hindered by increased federal bureaucracy and restrictive contracting regulations. The 1988 amendments to the act were intended to remove contracting barriers, and required the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Indian Health Service to develop regulations with the participation of tribes by October 1989. Despite the preparation of two sets of negotiated tribal-federal draft regulations between 1988 and 1990, the agencies shut down further tribal consultation from mid-1990 to early 1994. In January 1994, the agencies published proposed regulations that bore little resemblance to prior negotiated drafts, and that actually complicated and raised further barriers to the contracting process. With mounting frustration, the tribes unanimously denounced the proposed regulations and called for legislation that would supplant the regulatory process. Both the House and Senate have introduced amendments to make the act's key provisions self-implementing and to establish a model contract. This document contains testimony and written comments on the situation from representatives of the Department of the Interior and the Department of Health and Human Services, tribal leaders, and lawyers representing tribes and tribal organizations. (SV)