Native American Language Resource Center Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4510 To establish a Native American language resource center. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES AUGUST 6, 2020 Mr. SCHATZ (for himself and Mr. UDALL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs A BILL To establish a Native American language resource center. 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 Resource Center Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. PURPOSES. 6 The purposes of this Act are to create a national re- 7 source center to further the policies set forth in the Native 8 American Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 2901 et seq.) and, 9 through such national resource center, to— 10 (1) preserve, protect, and promote the rights 11 and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice, 12 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4510 IS and develop Native American languages (as defined 1 in section 103 of the Native American Languages 2 Act (25 U.S.C. 2902)); 3 (2) allow the United States to fulfill its trust 4 responsibility to Native American communities and 5 address the effects of past discrimination against 6 Native American language speakers; 7 (3) support revitalization of Native American 8 languages; 9 (4) encourage and support the use of Native 10 American languages as a medium of instruction, in- 11 cluding use as a medium of education in schools op- 12 erated by Tribes, States, the Federal Government, 13 and Native American language educational organiza- 14 tions; 15 (5) encourage and support the use and develop- 16 ment of Native American languages as the medium 17 of instruction for a wide variety of age levels and 18 academic content areas; 19 (6) encourage and support elementary schools, 20 secondary schools, and institutions of higher edu- 21 cation to include Native American languages in the 22 curriculum in the same manner as other world lan- 23 guages, including through cooperative agreements 24 and distance education, and to grant proficiency in 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4510 IS Native American languages the same full academic 1 credit as proficiency in other world languages; 2 (7) encourage and support the development of 3 appropriate teacher preparation programming for 4 the teaching of, and through, Native American lan- 5 guages, including appropriate alternative pathways 6 to teacher certification; 7 (8) provide a resource base to provide informa- 8 tion to Federal, Tribal, State, and local governments 9 and Native American educational organizations to 10 allow the spread of best practices in the use, prac- 11 tice, and development of Native American languages 12 in Native American communities, including use in 13 educational institutions; 14 (9) provide a resource base for the use of tech- 15 nology in intensive community-, land-, and archive- 16 based programs, as well as hybrid and collaborative 17 programs in supporting the retention, use, develop- 18 ment, and teaching of Native American languages by 19 government and private entities; 20 (10) provide a developmental base from which 21 interested Tribal colleges and universities and other 22 Native American entities might develop fully func- 23 tioning Native American language medium education 24 systems that include associated preschool, elemen- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4510 IS tary school, secondary school, and adult education 1 programs conducted through the medium of Native 2 American languages; 3 (11) provide a means to further collaboration 4 among formal government, institutional, and com- 5 munity-based Native American language programs, 6 resources, and research efforts with additional access 7 to international best practices in indigenous lan- 8 guage revitalization; and 9 (12) develop a support center system for Native 10 American language participants to gather and share 11 helpful information and experiences. 12 SEC. 3. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE RESOURCE CENTER. 13 Section 603 of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 14 U.S.C. 1123) is amended— 15 (1) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as 16 subsections (c) and (d), respectively; 17 (2) by inserting after subsection (a) the fol- 18 lowing: 19 ‘‘(b) NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE RESOURCE CEN- 20 TER AUTHORIZED.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary is authorized 22 to make a grant to, or enter into a contract with, 23 an eligible entity for the purpose of— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4510 IS ‘‘(A) establishing, strengthening, and oper- 1 ating a Native American language resource and 2 training center as described in paragraph (2); 3 and 4 ‘‘(B) staffing the center with individuals 5 who have high-level fluency in American Indian, 6 Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian languages 7 and are experienced with Native American lan- 8 guage education in the preschool, elementary 9 school, secondary school, adult education, and 10 higher education programs. 11 ‘‘(2) PURPOSES OF CENTER.—The Native 12 American language resource center established under 13 paragraph (1) shall serve as a resource to— 14 ‘‘(A) improve the capacity to teach and 15 learn Native American languages and further 16 Native American language acquisition; 17 ‘‘(B) preserve, protect, and promote the 18 rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, 19 practice, and develop Native American lan- 20 guages; 21 ‘‘(C) allow the United States to fulfill its 22 trust responsibility to Native American commu- 23 nities and address the effects of past discrimi- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4510 IS nation against Native American language 1 speakers; 2 ‘‘(D) support revitalization of Native 3 American languages; 4 ‘‘(E) encourage and support the use of Na- 5 tive American languages as a medium of in- 6 struction, including use as a medium of edu- 7 cation in schools operated by Tribes, States, the 8 Federal Government, and Native American lan- 9 guage educational organizations; 10 ‘‘(F) encourage and support the use and 11 development of Native American languages as 12 the medium of instruction for a wide variety of 13 age levels and academic content areas; 14 ‘‘(G) encourage and support elementary 15 schools, secondary schools, and institutions of 16 higher education to include Native American 17 languages in the curriculum in the same man- 18 ner as other world languages, including through 19 cooperative agreements and distance education, 20 and to grant proficiency in Native American 21 languages the same full academic credit as pro- 22 ficiency in other world languages; 23 ‘‘(H) encourage and support the develop- 24 ment of appropriate teacher preparation pro- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4510 IS gramming for the teaching of, and through, Na- 1 tive American languages, including appropriate 2 alternative pathways to teacher certification; 3 ‘‘(I) provide a resource base to provide in- 4 formation to Federal, Tribal, State, and local 5 governments and Native American educational 6 organizations to allow the spread of best prac- 7 tices in the use, practice, and development of 8 Native American languages in Native American 9 communities, including use in educational insti- 10 tutions; 11 ‘‘(J) provide a resource base for the use of 12 technology in intensive community-, land-, and 13 archive-based programs, as well as hybrid and 14 collaborative programs in supporting the reten- 15 tion, use, development, and teaching of Native 16 American languages by government and private 17 entities; 18 ‘‘(K) support the acquisition of distance 19 learning technologies and training for parents, 20 students, teachers, and learning support staff, 21 including the compilation and curation of dig- 22 ital libraries and other online resources in tar- 23 get Native American languages, the develop- 24 ment of distance learning curricula appropriate 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4510 IS for preschool, elementary school, secondary 1 school, adult education, and postsecondary edu- 2 cation, the pedagogical training for teachers, 3 and other efforts necessary to continue Native 4 American language acquisition among American 5 Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian 6 communities through distance learning; 7 ‘‘(L) provide a developmental base from 8 which interested Tribal colleges and universities 9 and other Native American entities might de- 10 velop fully functioning Native American lan- 11 guage medium education systems that include 12 associated preschool, elementary school, sec- 13 ondary school, and adult education programs 14 conducted through the medium of Native Amer- 15 ican languages; 16 ‘‘(M) provide a means to further collabora- 17 tion among formal government, institutional, 18 and community-based Native American lan- 19 guage programs, resources, and research efforts 20 with additional access to international best 21 practices in indigenous language revitalization; 22 ‘‘(N) develop a support center system for 23 Native American language participants to gath- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4510 IS er and share helpful information and experi- 1 ences; and 2 ‘‘(O) address any of the purposes of for- 3 eign language centers included under this sec- 4 tion if, in doing so, the Native American lan- 5 guage resource and training center— 6 ‘‘(i) does so as a subsidiary activity; 7 ‘‘(ii) focuses benefits on Native Amer- 8 icans living in Native American commu- 9 nities, or closely tied to such communities; 10 and 11 ‘‘(iii) ensures that one of the out- 12 comes being strengthened through this 13 subparagraph is the use of one or more 14 Native American languages in a Native 15 American community. 16 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 17 ‘‘(A) ELIGIBLE ENTITY.—The term ‘eligi- 18 ble entity’ means— 19 ‘‘(i) an institution of higher education; 20 ‘‘(ii) a consortium of such institutions; 21 or 22 ‘‘(iii) a consortium of such institutions 23 and other entities with unique responsibil- 24 ities for Native American languages. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4510 IS ‘‘(B) NATIVE AMERICAN; NATIVE AMER- 1 ICAN LANGUAGE.—The terms ‘Native Amer- 2 ican’ and ‘Native American language’ have the 3 meanings given those terms in section 103 of 4 the Native American Languages Act (25 U.S.C. 5 2902).’’; and 6 (3) in the matter preceding paragraph (1) of 7 subsection (c), as redesignated by paragraph (1), by 8 striking ‘‘subsection (a)’’ and inserting ‘‘this sec- 9 tion’’. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:19 Aug 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S4510.IS S4510 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS