Native American Language Vitalization Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4188 To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish the Native American Language Vitalization and Training Program. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AUGUST 16, 2019 Mr. SABLAN (for himself, Ms. SCHRIER, Ms. GABBARD, and Mr. CASE) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Edu- cation and Labor A BILL To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish the Native American Language Vitalization and Training Program. 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 Lan- 4 guage Vitalization Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Aug 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4188.IH H4188 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 4188 IH SEC. 2. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE VITALIZATION AND 1 TRAINING PROGRAM. 2 Part A of title III of the Higher Education Act of 3 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1057 et seq.) is amended by inserting 4 after section 316 (20 U.S.C. 1059c) the following: 5 ‘‘SEC. 316A. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE VITALIZATION 6 AND TRAINING PROGRAM. 7 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount appro- 9 priated under subsection (d), the Secretary shall es- 10 tablish the Native American Language Vitalization 11 and Training Program under which the Secretary 12 shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible 13 institutions to promote the preservation, revitaliza- 14 tion, relevancy, and use of Native American lan- 15 guages. 16 ‘‘(2) TERM.—The term of a grant under this 17 section shall be not more than 5 years. 18 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.— 19 ‘‘(A) STREAMLINED PROCESS.—In car- 20 rying out the program under this section, the 21 Secretary shall establish application require- 22 ments in such a manner as to simplify and 23 streamline the process for the grant application 24 under this section. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Aug 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4188.IH H4188 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 4188 IH ‘‘(B) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re- 1 ceive a grant under this subsection, an eligible 2 institution shall submit to the Secretary an ap- 3 plication at such time, in such manner, and in 4 accordance with any other application require- 5 ments described in subparagraph (A), that the 6 Secretary may prescribe, and including the fol- 7 lowing: 8 ‘‘(i) A description of the 5-year pro- 9 gram of the eligible institution for meeting 10 the needs of American Indians, Alaska Na- 11 tives, Native Hawaiians, or Native Amer- 12 ican Pacific Islanders as appropriate, in 13 the area served by the institution, and how 14 such plan is consistent with the purposes 15 described in paragraph (1). 16 ‘‘(ii)(I) An identification of the popu- 17 lation to be served by the eligible institu- 18 tion; and 19 ‘‘(II) an identification of the status of 20 Native American language understanding 21 and use within that population and a de- 22 scription of the manner in which the pro- 23 gram will help preserve and revitalize the 24 relevant Native American language. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Aug 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4188.IH H4188 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 4188 IH ‘‘(iii) A description of the services to 1 be provided under the program, including 2 the manner in which the services will be in- 3 tegrated with other appropriate activities. 4 ‘‘(iv) A description, to be prepared in 5 consultation with the Secretary, of the per- 6 formance measures to be used to assess 7 the performance of the eligible institution 8 in carrying out the program. 9 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible institution may 10 use a grant under this section to carry out activities con- 11 sistent with the purposes described in subsection (a)(1), 12 including— 13 ‘‘(1) curriculum development and academic in- 14 struction, including educational activities, programs, 15 and partnerships relating to students in early child- 16 hood education programs through grade 12; 17 ‘‘(2) professional development for faculty at the 18 eligible institution and in-service training programs 19 for early childhood education programs through 20 grade 12 instructors and administrators; and 21 ‘‘(3) innovative Native American language pro- 22 grams for students in early childhood education pro- 23 grams through grade 12, including language immer- 24 sion programs. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Aug 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4188.IH H4188 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 4188 IH ‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.— 1 ‘‘(1) CONCURRENT FUNDING.— 2 ‘‘(A) TRIBAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.— 3 An eligible institution that is a Tribal College 4 or University may receive a grant under this 5 section and funds under section 316 concur- 6 rently. 7 ‘‘(B) ALASKA NATIVE-SERVING INSTITU- 8 TION OR NATIVE HAWAIIAN-SERVING INSTITU- 9 TION.—An eligible institution that is an Alaska 10 Native-serving institution or Native Hawaiian- 11 serving institution may receive a grant under 12 this section and funds under section 317 con- 13 currently. 14 ‘‘(C) ASIAN AMERICAN AND NATIVE AMER- 15 ICAN PACIFIC ISLANDER-SERVING INSTITU- 16 TION.—An eligible institution that is an Asian 17 American and Native American Pacific Is- 18 lander-serving institution may receive a grant 19 under this section and funds under section 320 20 concurrently. 21 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION.—Sections 312(b) and 313(d) 22 shall not apply to an eligible institution that receives 23 a grant under this section. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Aug 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4188.IH H4188 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 4188 IH ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 1 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 2 $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 and each of the 5 suc- 3 ceeding fiscal years. 4 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 5 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘eligi- 6 ble institution’ means— 7 ‘‘(A) a Tribal College or University, as de- 8 fined in section 316; 9 ‘‘(B) an Alaska Native-serving institution, 10 as defined in section 317; 11 ‘‘(C) a Native Hawaiian-serving institu- 12 tion, as defined in section 317; or 13 ‘‘(D) an Asian American and Native Amer- 14 ican Pacific Islander-serving institution, as de- 15 fined in section 320, which is located in the 16 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is- 17 lands, American Samoa, or Guam. 18 ‘‘(2) NATIVE AMERICAN.—The term ‘Native 19 American’ has the meaning given the term in section 20 371(c)(6).’’. 21 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:36 Aug 17, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4188.IH H4188 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS