[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3504 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

112th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3504

   To help fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational 
                  opportunities for Native Americans.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 2, 2012

Mr. Bennet (for himself, Mr. Udall of Colorado, Mr. Franken, Mr. Akaka, 
Mr. Begich, and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the following bill; which was 
       read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To help fulfill the Federal mandate to provide higher educational 
                  opportunities for Native Americans.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Native American Indian Education Act 
of 2012''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) Native American-serving nontribal college institutions 
        have a valuable supplemental role to that provided by tribally 
        controlled community colleges in making available educational 
        opportunities to Native American students.
            (2) Some 4-year Native American-serving nontribal college 
        institutions provide tuition-free education, with the support 
        of the State in which the institutions are located, as mandated 
        by Federal statute, to hundreds of Native American students in 
        fulfillment of a condition under which the United States 
        provided land and facilities for colleges to a State or 
        college.
            (3) The value of the Native American student tuition waiver 
        benefits contributed by these colleges and the States that 
        support them today far exceeds the value of the original grant 
        of land and facilities.
            (4) The ongoing financial burden of meeting this Federal 
        mandate to provide tuition-free education to Indian students is 
        no longer equitably shared among the States and colleges 
        because it does not distinguish between Indian students who are 
        residents of the State or of another State.
            (5) Native student tuition waiver benefits are now at risk 
        of being terminated by severe budget constraints being 
        experienced by these colleges and the States which support 
        them.
    (b) Purpose.--It is the purpose of this Act to ensure that Federal 
funding is provided to support and sustain the longstanding Federal 
mandate requiring colleges and States to waive, in certain 
circumstances, tuition charges for Native American Indian students 
admitted to an undergraduate college program, including the waiver of 
tuition charges for Indian students who are not residents of the State 
in which the college is located.

SEC. 3. STATE RELIEF FROM FEDERAL MANDATE.

    (a) Amount of Payment.--
            (1) In general.--Subject to paragraphs (2) and (3), for 
        fiscal year 2013 and each succeeding fiscal year, the Secretary 
        of Education shall pay to any eligible college an amount equal 
        to the charges for tuition for such year for all Indian 
        students who--
                    (A) are not residents of the State in which the 
                college is located; and
                    (B) are enrolled in the college for the academic 
                year ending before the beginning of such fiscal year.
            (2) Eligible colleges.--For purposes of this section, an 
        eligible college is any 4-year Native American-serving 
        nontribal institution of higher education that provides 
        tuition-free education as mandated by Federal statute, with the 
        support of the State in which it is located, to Native American 
        Indian students in fulfillment of a condition under which the 
        college or State received its original grant of land and 
        facilities from the United States.
            (3) Limitation.--The amount paid to any college for each 
        fiscal year under paragraph (1) may not exceed the amount equal 
        to the charges for tuition for all Indian students of that 
        college who were not residents of the State in which the 
        college is located and who were enrolled in the college for 
        academic year 2012-2013.
    (b) Treatment of Payment.--Any amounts received by an eligible 
college under this section shall be treated as a reimbursement from the 
State in which the college is located, and shall be considered as 
provided in fulfillment of any Federal mandate upon the State to admit 
Indian students free of charge of tuition.
    (c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this Act shall be construed 
to relieve any State from any mandate the State may have under Federal 
law to reimburse a college for each academic year--
            (1) with respect to Indian students enrolled in the college 
        who are not residents of the State in which the college is 
        located, any amount of charges for tuition for such students 
        for such academic year that exceeds the amount received under 
        this section for such academic year; and
            (2) with respect to Indian students enrolled in the college 
        who are residents of the State in which the college is located, 
        an amount equal to the charges for tuition for such students 
        for such academic year.
    (d) Definitions.--In this section, the term ``Indian students'' 
includes reference to the term ``Indian pupils'' as that term has been 
utilized in Federal statutes imposing a mandate upon any college or 
State to provide tuition-free education to Native American Indian 
students in fulfillment of a condition under which the college or State 
received its original grant of land and facilities from the United 
States.

SEC. 4. OFFSET.

    (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, of all 
available unobligated funds, $15,000,000 in appropriated discretionary 
funds are hereby rescinded.
    (b) Implementation.--The Director of the Office of Management and 
Budget shall determine and identify from which appropriation accounts 
the rescission under subsection (a) shall apply and the amount of such 
rescission that shall apply to each such account. Not later than 60 
days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director of the 
Office of Management and Budget shall submit a report to the Secretary 
of the Treasury and Congress of the accounts and amounts determined and 
identified for rescission under the preceding sentence.
    (c) Exception.--This section shall not apply to the unobligated 
funds of the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, 
or the Department of Education.
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