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Senator urges nominees to prioritize BIA probate backlog; nominee says she will learn more
Summary
A senator pressed nominees to prioritize a multi-year backlog of Bureau of Indian Affairs probate cases, saying it 'should not take five or 10 or more years' to resolve them; Miss McGregor responded she had not heard of the issue previously and expressed willingness to work on it.
During questioning, the senator raised the Bureau of Indian Affairs probate backlog, telling the committee that probate cases should not take "five or 10 or more years" to resolve and asked the nominees to make the backlog a priority.
The senator said the backlog affects Alaska and likely other parts of the country and requested the nominees' attention to expedite probate processing. The senator linked the probate backlog to broader concerns about the department's administrative priorities.
Miss McGregor responded, "I'm so grateful that you raised that issue. I had never even heard of it before, but the first thing I thought is if it's impacting you and the people of Alaska, it must be impacting so many more on this committee and other parts of the state. So I look forward to working with you on that." She expressed willingness to prioritize the issue and work with the delegation to address probate delays.
Why it matters: Long BIA probate backlogs can delay land title resolution, benefits distribution, and governance matters for Native communities; expedited processing is often requested by affected residents and tribal governments.
The committee did not adopt any formal remedy during this hearing; the exchange concluded with an agreement by the nominee to follow up.
