Native American Indian Education Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 1688 To help provide relief to State education budgets during a recovering economy, to help fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational opportu- nities for Native American Indians, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 12, 2019 Ms. DEGETTE (for herself, Mr. TIPTON, Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York, Ms. MOORE, Mr. SABLAN, Mr. YOUNG, Mrs. KIRKPATRICK, Mr. CROW, Mr. COLE, Mr. CA´RDENAS, Mr. KIND, Ms. GABBARD, and Mr. LUJA´N) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Com- mittee on Education and Labor A BILL To help provide relief to State education budgets during a recovering economy, to help fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational opportunities for Native American Indians, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Native American In- 4 dian Education Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 6 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 7 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1688.IH H1688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 1688 IH (1) Nontribal colleges that serve Native Amer- 1 ican Indian students have a valuable supplemental 2 role to that provided by tribally controlled commu- 3 nity colleges in making available educational oppor- 4 tunities to Native American Indian students. 5 (2) Some 4-year colleges serve Native American 6 Indian students by providing tuition-free education, 7 with the support of the State in which the institu- 8 tions are located, as mandated by Federal statute, to 9 hundreds of Native American Indian students in ful- 10 fillment of a condition under which the United 11 States provided land and facilities for colleges to a 12 State or college. 13 (3) The value of the Native American Indian 14 student tuition waiver benefits contributed by these 15 colleges and the States that support them today far 16 exceeds the value of the original grant of land and 17 facilities. 18 (4) The ongoing financial burden of meeting 19 this Federal mandate to provide tuition-free edu- 20 cation to Native American Indian students is no 21 longer equitably shared among the States and col- 22 leges because it does not distinguish between Native 23 American Indian students who are residents of the 24 State or of another State. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1688.IH H1688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 1688 IH (5) Native American Indian student tuition 1 waiver benefits are now at risk of being terminated 2 by severe budget constraints being experienced by 3 these colleges and the States which support them. 4 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to ensure 5 that Federal funding is provided in order to relieve con- 6 strained State education budgets and to support and sus- 7 tain the longstanding Federal mandate requiring colleges 8 and States to waive, in certain circumstances, tuition 9 charges for Native American Indian students admitted to 10 an undergraduate college program, including the waiver 11 of tuition charges for Native American Indian students 12 who are not residents of the State in which the college 13 is located. 14 SEC. 3. STATE RELIEF FROM FEDERAL MANDATE. 15 Part A of title III of the Higher Education Act of 16 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1057 et seq.) is amended by inserting 17 after section 319 the following: 18 ‘‘SEC. 319A. STATE RELIEF FROM FEDERAL HIGHER EDU- 19 CATION MANDATE. 20 ‘‘(a) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 22 and (3), for fiscal year 2020 and each succeeding 23 fiscal year, the Secretary shall pay to any eligible 24 college an amount equal to the charges for tuition 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1688.IH H1688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 1688 IH for such year for all Native American Indian stu- 1 dents who— 2 ‘‘(A) are not residents of the State in 3 which the college is located; and 4 ‘‘(B) are enrolled in the college for the aca- 5 demic year ending before the beginning of such 6 fiscal year. 7 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBLE COLLEGES.—For purposes of 8 this section, an eligible college is any institution of 9 higher education serving Native American Indian 10 students that provides tuition-free education as man- 11 dated by Federal statute, with the support of the 12 State in which it is located, to Native American In- 13 dian students in fulfillment of a condition under 14 which the college or State received its original grant 15 of land and facilities from the United States. 16 ‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The amount paid to any eli- 17 gible college for each fiscal year under paragraph (1) 18 may not exceed the amount equal to the charges for 19 tuition for all Native American Indian students of 20 that college who were not residents of the State in 21 which the college is located and who were enrolled 22 in the college for academic year 2019–2020. 23 ‘‘(b) TREATMENT OF PAYMENT.—Any amounts re- 24 ceived by an eligible college under this section shall be 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1688.IH H1688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 1688 IH treated as a reimbursement from the State in which the 1 college is located, and shall be considered as provided in 2 fulfillment of any Federal mandate upon the State to 3 admit Native American Indian students free of charge of 4 tuition. 5 ‘‘(c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this sec- 6 tion shall be construed to relieve any State from any man- 7 date the State may have under Federal law to reimburse 8 a college for each academic year— 9 ‘‘(1) with respect to Native American Indian 10 students enrolled in the college who are not residents 11 of the State in which the college is located, any 12 amount of charges for tuition for such students for 13 such academic year that exceeds the amount re- 14 ceived under this section for such academic year; 15 and 16 ‘‘(2) with respect to Native American Indian 17 students enrolled in the college who are residents of 18 the State in which the college is located, an amount 19 equal to the charges for tuition for such students for 20 such academic year. 21 ‘‘(d) SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT.—Funds under 22 this section shall be used to supplement, not supplant, any 23 Federal or non-Federal funds that would otherwise be 24 used for Native American Indian students. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1688.IH H1688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 6 •HR 1688 IH ‘‘(e) DEFINITION OF NATIVE AMERICAN INDIAN 1 STUDENTS.—In this section, the term ‘Native American 2 Indian students’ includes reference to the term ‘Indian pu- 3 pils’ as that term has been utilized in Federal statutes 4 imposing a mandate upon any college or State to provide 5 tuition-free education to Native American Indian students 6 in fulfillment of a condition under which the college or 7 State received its original grant of land and facilities from 8 the United States. 9 ‘‘(f) APPROPRIATIONS.—There are authorized to be 10 appropriated, and there are appropriated, out of any 11 money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated— 12 ‘‘(1) $19,700,000 to carry out subsection (a) 13 for fiscal year 2020; and 14 ‘‘(2) such sums as are necessary to carry out 15 such subsection for each subsequent fiscal year.’’. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:02 Mar 26, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H1688.IH H1688 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS