II 

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. 

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 ‘‘Native American In5 dian Education Act of 2012’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Native American-serving nontribal college 

9 institutions have a valuable supplemental role to 

10 that provided by tribally controlled community colmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 leges in making available educational opportunities 

2 to Native American students. 

3 (2) Some 4-year Native American-serving non4 tribal college institutions provide tuition-free edu5 cation, with the support of the State in which the in6 stitutions are located, as mandated by Federal stat7 ute, to hundreds of Native American students in ful8 fillment of a condition under which the United 

9 States provided land and facilities for colleges to a 

10 State or college. 

11 (3) The value of the Native American student 

12 tuition waiver benefits contributed by these colleges 

13 and the States that support them today far exceeds 

14 the value of the original grant of land and facilities. 

15 (4) The ongoing financial burden of meeting 

16 this Federal mandate to provide tuition-free edu17 cation to Indian students is no longer equitably 

18 shared among the States and colleges because it 

19 does not distinguish between Indian students who 

20 are residents of the State or of another State. 

21 (5) Native student tuition waiver benefits are 

22 now at risk of being terminated by severe budget 

23 constraints being experienced by these colleges and 

24 the States which support them. 

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1 (b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to ensure 

2 that Federal funding is provided to support and sustain 

3 the longstanding Federal mandate requiring colleges and 

4 States to waive, in certain circumstances, tuition charges 

5 for Native American Indian students admitted to an un6 dergraduate college program, including the waiver of tui7 tion charges for Indian students who are not residents of 

8 the State in which the college is located. 

9 SEC. 3. STATE RELIEF FROM FEDERAL MANDATE. 

10 (a) AMOUNT OF PAYMENT.— 

11 (1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2) 

12 and (3), for fiscal year 2013 and each succeeding 

13 fiscal year, the Secretary of Education shall pay to 

14 any eligible college an amount equal to the charges 

15 for tuition for such year for all Indian students 

16 who— 

17 (A) are not residents of the State in which 

18 the college is located; and 

19 (B) are enrolled in the college for the aca20 demic year ending before the beginning of such 

21 fiscal year. 

22 (2) ELIGIBLE COLLEGES.—For purposes of this 

23 section, an eligible college is any 4-year Native 

24 American-serving nontribal institution of higher edu25 cation that provides tuition-free education as manmstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 dated by Federal statute, with the support of the 

2 State in which it is located, to Native American In3 dian students in fulfillment of a condition under 

4 which the college or State received its original grant 

5 of land and facilities from the United States. 

6 (3) LIMITATION.—The amount paid to any col7 lege for each fiscal year under paragraph (1) may 

8 not exceed the amount equal to the charges for tui9 tion for all Indian students of that college who were 

10 not residents of the State in which the college is lo11 cated and who were enrolled in the college for aca12 demic year 2012–2013. 

13 (b) TREATMENT OF PAYMENT.—Any amounts re14 ceived by an eligible college under this section shall be 

15 treated as a reimbursement from the State in which the 

16 college is located, and shall be considered as provided in 

17 fulfillment of any Federal mandate upon the State to 

18 admit Indian students free of charge of tuition. 

19 (c) RULE OF CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this Act 

20 shall be construed to relieve any State from any mandate 

21 the State may have under Federal law to reimburse a col22 lege for each academic year— 

23 (1) with respect to Indian students enrolled in 

24 the college who are not residents of the State in 

25 which the college is located, any amount of charges 

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1 for tuition for such students for such academic year 

2 that exceeds the amount received under this section 

3 for such academic year; and 

4 (2) with respect to Indian students enrolled in 

5 the college who are residents of the State in which 

6 the college is located, an amount equal to the 

7 charges for tuition for such students for such aca8 demic year. 

9 (d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the term ‘‘Indian 

10 students’’ includes reference to the term ‘‘Indian pupils’’ 

11 as that term has been utilized in Federal statutes impos12 ing a mandate upon any college or State to provide tui13 tion-free education to Native American Indian students in 

14 fulfillment of a condition under which the college or State 

15 received its original grant of land and facilities from the 

16 United States. 

17 SEC. 4. OFFSET. 

18 (a) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other provi19 sion of law, of all available unobligated funds, 

20 $15,000,000 in appropriated discretionary funds are here21 by rescinded. 

22 (b) IMPLEMENTATION.—The Director of the Office of 

23 Management and Budget shall determine and identify 

24 from which appropriation accounts the rescission under 

25 subsection (a) shall apply and the amount of such rescismstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with BILLS

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1 sion that shall apply to each such account. Not later than 

2 60 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the 

3 Director of the Office of Management and Budget shall 

4 submit a report to the Secretary of the Treasury and Con5 gress of the accounts and amounts determined and identi6 fied for rescission under the preceding sentence. 

7 (c) EXCEPTION.—This section shall not apply to the 

8 unobligated funds of the Department of Defense, the De9 partment of Veterans Affairs, or the Department of Edu10 cation. 

Æ 

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