[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 369 Introduced in House (IH)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 369

   To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a program to 
  reimburse States and political subdivisions of States for expenses 
related to the presence of aliens having no lawful immigration status, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            January 14, 2015

 Mrs. Ellmers introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
 Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the 
     Committee on Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently 
   determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such 
 provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To direct the Secretary of the Treasury to establish a program to 
  reimburse States and political subdivisions of States for expenses 
related to the presence of aliens having no lawful immigration status, 
                        and for other purposes.

    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 ``Accountability in Foreign Aid Act of 
2015''.

SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT FOR STATES AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall establish a 
program for the purpose of reimbursing States, and political 
subdivisions of States, for expenses required to be incurred and 
related to the presence within the geographical area of the State or 
political subdivision of aliens having no lawful immigration status in 
the United States.
    (b) Expenses Described.--The expenses described in subsection (a) 
shall include expenses such as the following:
            (1) Public elementary and secondary education.
            (2) Incarceration and detention.
            (3) Public benefits described in section 411(b) of the 
        Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 
        of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1621(b)).
    (c) Exceptions.--Expenses are not reimbursable under this section 
if the Secretary of the Treasury determines that--
            (1) the State or political subdivision has failed to submit 
        sufficient documents, statements, or records necessary to 
        support the request for reimbursement;
            (2) the State or political subdivision otherwise has been 
        substantially compensated for the expenses; or
            (3) such compensation will be forthcoming in a reasonable 
        period of time.
    (d) Public Elementary and Secondary Education.--
            (1) In general.--Compensation for a local educational 
        agency under subsection (b)(1) shall be based on--
                    (A) the number of children having no lawful 
                immigration status in the United States who were in 
                average daily attendance during the preceding school 
                year at the schools of such agency and for whom such 
                agency provided a free public education; multiplied by
                    (B) the average per-pupil expenditure of the State 
                in which the local educational agency is located.
            (2) Definitions.--For purposes of this subsection, the 
        terms ``average daily attendance'', ``average per-pupil 
        expenditure'', ``free public education'', and ``local 
        educational agency'' have the meanings given such terms in 
        section 9101 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 
        1965 (20 U.S.C. 7801).
    (e) Incarceration and Detention.--Compensation under subsection 
(b)(2) shall be the average cost of incarceration of a prisoner in the 
relevant State, as determined by the Attorney General.
    (f) Applications.--
            (1) State applications.--A State desiring to receive 
        reimbursement for expenses required to be incurred by the State 
        and related to the presence within the geographical area of the 
        State of aliens having no lawful immigration status in the 
        United States shall submit an application for such payment to 
        the Secretary of the Treasury. Such application shall be 
        submitted not later than September 30 of each year.
            (2) Local applications.--A political subdivision of a State 
        desiring to receive reimbursement for expenses required to be 
        incurred by the political subdivision and related to the 
        presence within the geographical area of the political 
        subdivision of aliens having no lawful immigration status in 
        the United States shall submit an application for such payment 
        to the State. Subject to verification (as determined necessary 
        by the State), the State shall include such local expenses in 
        the State application submitted under paragraph (1). The 
        Governor of the State shall establish deadlines for the 
        submission of local applications under this paragraph, and 
        shall distribute all funds received from the Secretary of the 
        Treasury on behalf of a political subdivision of a State to the 
        political subdivision.
    (g) Insufficient Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--If the amount made available to carry out 
        this section for a fiscal year is insufficient to pay the full 
        amount determined by the Secretary of the Treasury to be due to 
        all States for the year, the Secretary shall ratably reduce the 
        payment to each State.
            (2) Resubmission.--If a State or political subdivision of a 
        State does not receive reimbursement for any expense due to a 
        reduction made under paragraph (1), the State or political 
        subdivision may resubmit documentation for the succeeding 
        fiscal year demonstrating the validity of the claimed amount 
        and that the amount has not yet been reimbursed from any other 
        source.
    (h) Confidentiality of Information.--
            (1) In general.--In carrying out this section, the 
        Secretary of the Treasury shall not--
                    (A) make any publication whereby the information 
                furnished by any particular alien can be identified; or
                    (B) permit anyone other than the sworn officers and 
                employees of the Department of the Treasury to examine 
                individually identifiable information.
            (2) Immigration officials.--Except as provided in this 
        subsection, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Attorney 
        General, the Secretary of State, any other official or employee 
        of the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of 
        Justice, or the Department of State, or any bureau or agency 
        thereof, shall not use information collected or furnished in 
        support of requests for reimbursement under this section for 
        any purpose.
            (3) Required disclosures.--The Secretary of the Treasury 
        shall provide the information furnished under this section, and 
        any other information derived from such furnished information, 
        to a duly recognized law enforcement entity in connection with 
        a criminal investigation or prosecution of fraud or other 
        malfeasance under this section, when such information is 
        requested in writing by such entity.
    (i) Verification of Immigration Status of Aliens.--Notwithstanding 
any other provision of law, when used for purposes of establishing or 
demonstrating eligibility for reimbursement under this section, the 
head of each State or local public agency that incurs costs in 
connection with a benefit or service provided to an alien may use the 
immigration status verification system of such agency or the Systematic 
Alien Verification For Entitlements Program (SAVE) of the Department of 
Homeland Security to determine the immigration status of such alien.

SEC. 3. TRANSFER OF FUNDS.

    15 percent of any discretionary amounts made available for each of 
fiscal years 2017 through 2022 for the Department of State, Foreign 
Operations, and Related Programs (other than amounts made available for 
``Bilateral Economic Assistance--Funds Appropriated to the President--
Global Health Programs'' and ``Department of State--Nonproliferation, 
Anti-Terrorism, Demining and Related Programs'') for foreign assistance 
shall be made available to the Secretary of the Treasury to carry out 
section 2 of this Act for a 90-day period beginning on the date of the 
enactment of each Act appropriating such amounts.
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