[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 660 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 660

   To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to fulfill the 
Federal mandate to provide higher educational opportunities for Native 
                           American Indians.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 15, 2017

Mr. Gardner (for himself and Mr. Bennet) introduced the following bill; 
     which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, 
                     Education, Labor, and Pensions

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 in order to fulfill the 
Federal mandate to provide higher educational opportunities for Native 
                           American Indians.

    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''.

SEC. 2. 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 they admit to an 
undergraduate college program, including the waiver of tuition charges 
for Native American Indian students who are not residents of the State 
in which the college is located.

SEC. 3. 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 Indian students.
            (2) Some 4-year Native American-serving nontribal college 
        institutions provide tuition-free education, with the support 
        of the State in which they are located, as mandated by Federal 
        statute, to hundreds of Native American Indian students in 
        fulfillment of a condition under which the United States 
        provided land and facilities for such colleges to a State or 
        college.
            (3) The value of the Native student tuition waiver benefits 
        contributed by these colleges and the States which 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 Native American 
        Indian students is no longer equitably shared among the States 
        and colleges because the mandate does not distinguish between 
        such students who are residents of the State or who are 
        residents 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.

SEC. 4. STATE RELIEF FROM FEDERAL HIGHER EDUCATION MANDATE.

    (a) In General.--Part A of title III of the Higher Education Act of 
1965 (20 U.S.C. 1057 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 319 
the following:

``SEC. 319A. STATE RELIEF FROM FEDERAL HIGHER EDUCATION MANDATE.

    ``(a) Amount of Payment.--For fiscal year 2018 and each succeeding 
fiscal year through fiscal year 2022, the Secretary may pay to any 
eligible college an amount that equals the charges for tuition waived 
by the college (as described in subsection (e)(1)) for the academic 
year ending before the beginning of such fiscal year for Native 
American Indian students who were enrolled in the college for such 
academic year and who were not residents of the State in which the 
college is located during such academic year.
    ``(b) Treatment of Payment.--Any amounts received by an eligible 
college under subsection (a) shall be treated as a reimbursement from 
the State in which the college is located, which is provided in 
fulfillment of any Federal mandate upon the State to waive charges for 
tuition for Native American Indian students.
    ``(c) Rule of Construction.--Nothing in this section shall be 
construed to relieve any State from any mandate the State may have 
under Federal law to reimburse an eligible college for an academic 
year--
            ``(1) with respect to Native American 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 
        waived by the college for such students that exceeds the amount 
        received by the college under subsection (a) for such academic 
        year; and
            ``(2) with respect to Native American 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 waived by the college for such students for such 
        academic year.
    ``(d) Applicability.--
            ``(1) In general.--The provisions of any other section of 
        this part or part G shall not apply with respect to funds paid 
        under this section.
            ``(2) No effect on eligibility.--Funds received by a Native 
        American-serving, nontribal institution under this section 
        shall not be taken into account for purposes of section 
        319(d)(3)(A).
    ``(e) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Eligible college.--The term `eligible college' means 
        any 4-year Native American-serving, nontribal institution that 
        waives the charges for tuition as mandated by Federal statute, 
        with the support of the State in which the institution is 
        located, for Native American Indian students in fulfillment of 
        a condition under which the institution or State received its 
        original grant of land and facilities from the United States.
            ``(2) Native american indian students.--The term `Native 
        American Indian students' includes reference to the term 
        `Indian pupils' as that term has been utilized in Federal 
        statutes imposing a mandate upon any eligible college or State 
        to waive charges for tuition for 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) Native american-serving, nontribal institution.--The 
        term `Native American-serving, nontribal institution' has the 
        meaning given the term in section 319(b).
    ``(f) Supplement, Not Supplant.--Funds under this section shall be 
used to supplement, not supplant, any Federal or non-Federal funds that 
would otherwise be used for Indian education programs.''.
    (b) Authorization.--Section 399(a)(1) of the Higher Education Act 
of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1068h(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subparagraph (F) as subparagraph (G); 
        and
            (2) by inserting after subparagraph (E) the following:
            ``(F) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry out 
        section 319A, $17,400,000 for each of fiscal years 2018 through 
        2022.''.
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