I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Accountability in For5 eign Aid Act of 2015’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REIMBURSEMENT FOR STATES AND POLITICAL 

2 SUBDIVISIONS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of the Treasury 

4 shall establish a program for the purpose of reimbursing 

5 States, and political subdivisions of States, for expenses 

6 required to be incurred and related to the presence within 

7 the geographical area of the State or political subdivision 

8 of aliens having no lawful immigration status in the 

9 United States. 

10 (b) EXPENSES DESCRIBED.—The expenses described 

11 in subsection (a) shall include expenses such as the fol12 lowing: 

13 (1) Public elementary and secondary education. 

14 (2) Incarceration and detention. 

15 (3) Public benefits described in section 411(b) 

16 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Oppor17 tunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 

18 1621(b)). 

19 (c) EXCEPTIONS.—Expenses are not reimbursable 

20 under this section if the Secretary of the Treasury deter21 mines that— 

22 (1) the State or political subdivision has failed 

23 to submit sufficient documents, statements, or 

24 records necessary to support the request for reim25 bursement; 


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1 (2) the State or political subdivision otherwise 

2 has been substantially compensated for the expenses; 

3 or 

4 (3) such compensation will be forthcoming in a 

5 reasonable period of time. 

6 (d) PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDU7 CATION.— 

8 (1) IN GENERAL.—Compensation for a local 

9 educational agency under subsection (b)(1) shall be 

10 based on— 

11 (A) the number of children having no law12 ful immigration status in the United States who 

13 were in average daily attendance during the 

14 preceding school year at the schools of such 

15 agency and for whom such agency provided a 

16 free public education; multiplied by 

17 (B) the average per-pupil expenditure of 

18 the State in which the local educational agency 

19 is located. 

20 (2) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this sub21 section, the terms ‘‘average daily attendance’’, ‘‘av22 erage per-pupil expenditure’’, ‘‘free public edu23 cation’’, and ‘‘local educational agency’’ have the 

24 meanings given such terms in section 9101 of the 


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1 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 

2 (20 U.S.C. 7801). 

3 (e) INCARCERATION AND DETENTION.—Compensa4 tion under subsection (b)(2) shall be the average cost of 

5 incarceration of a prisoner in the relevant State, as deter6 mined by the Attorney General. 

7 (f) APPLICATIONS.— 

8 (1) STATE APPLICATIONS.—A State desiring to 

9 receive reimbursement for expenses required to be 

10 incurred by the State and related to the presence 

11 within the geographical area of the State of aliens 

12 having no lawful immigration status in the United 

13 States shall submit an application for such payment 

14 to the Secretary of the Treasury. Such application 

15 shall be submitted not later than September 30 of 

16 each year. 

17 (2) LOCAL APPLICATIONS.—A political subdivi18 sion of a State desiring to receive reimbursement for 

19 expenses required to be incurred by the political sub20 division and related to the presence within the geo21 graphical area of the political subdivision of aliens 

22 having no lawful immigration status in the United 

23 States shall submit an application for such payment 

24 to the State. Subject to verification (as determined 

25 necessary by the State), the State shall include such 


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1 local expenses in the State application submitted 

2 under paragraph (1). The Governor of the State 

3 shall establish deadlines for the submission of local 

4 applications under this paragraph, and shall dis5 tribute all funds received from the Secretary of the 

6 Treasury on behalf of a political subdivision of a 

7 State to the political subdivision. 

8 (g) INSUFFICIENT APPROPRIATIONS.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the amount made avail10 able to carry out this section for a fiscal year is in11 sufficient to pay the full amount determined by the 

12 Secretary of the Treasury to be due to all States for 

13 the year, the Secretary shall ratably reduce the pay14 ment to each State. 

15 (2) RESUBMISSION.—If a State or political sub16 division of a State does not receive reimbursement 

17 for any expense due to a reduction made under 

18 paragraph (1), the State or political subdivision may 

19 resubmit documentation for the succeeding fiscal 

20 year demonstrating the validity of the claimed 

21 amount and that the amount has not yet been reim22 bursed from any other source. 

23 (h) CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—In carrying out this section, 

25 the Secretary of the Treasury shall not— 


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1 (A) make any publication whereby the in2 formation furnished by any particular alien can 

3 be identified; or 

4 (B) permit anyone other than the sworn 

5 officers and employees of the Department of the 

6 Treasury to examine individually identifiable in7 formation. 

8 (2) IMMIGRATION OFFICIALS.—Except as pro9 vided in this subsection, the Secretary of Homeland 

10 Security, the Attorney General, the Secretary of 

11 State, any other official or employee of the Depart12 ment of Homeland Security, the Department of Jus13 tice, or the Department of State, or any bureau or 

14 agency thereof, shall not use information collected or 

15 furnished in support of requests for reimbursement 

16 under this section for any purpose. 

17 (3) REQUIRED DISCLOSURES.—The Secretary 

18 of the Treasury shall provide the information fur19 nished under this section, and any other information 

20 derived from such furnished information, to a duly 

21 recognized law enforcement entity in connection with 

22 a criminal investigation or prosecution of fraud or 

23 other malfeasance under this section, when such in24 formation is requested in writing by such entity. 


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1 (i) VERIFICATION OF IMMIGRATION STATUS OF

2 ALIENS.—Notwithstanding any other provision of law, 

3 when used for purposes of establishing or demonstrating 

4 eligibility for reimbursement under this section, the head 

5 of each State or local public agency that incurs costs in 

6 connection with a benefit or service provided to an alien 

7 may use the immigration status verification system of 

8 such agency or the Systematic Alien Verification For Enti9 tlements Program (SAVE) of the Department of Home10 land Security to determine the immigration status of such 

11 alien. 

12 SEC. 3. TRANSFER OF FUNDS. 

13 15 percent of any discretionary amounts made avail14 able for each of fiscal years 2017 through 2022 for the 

15 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related 

16 Programs (other than amounts made available for ‘‘Bilat17 eral Economic Assistance—Funds Appropriated to the 

18 President—Global Health Programs’’ and ‘‘Department 

19 of State—Nonproliferation, Anti-Terrorism, Demining 

20 and Related Programs’’) for foreign assistance shall be 

21 made available to the Secretary of the Treasury to carry 

22 out section 2 of this Act for a 90-day period beginning 

23 on the date of the enactment of each Act appropriating 

24 such amounts. 

Æ 


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