I 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 4188 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish the Native American 

Language Vitalization and Training Program. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

AUGUST 16, 2019 

Mr. SABLAN (for himself, Ms. SCHRIER, Ms. GABBARD, and Mr. CASE) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor 

A BILL 

To amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to establish 

the Native American Language Vitalization and Training 

Program. 

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 Lan5 guage Vitalization Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE VITALIZATION AND 

2 TRAINING PROGRAM. 

3 Part A of title III of the Higher Education Act of 

4 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1057 et seq.) is amended by inserting 

5 after section 316 (20 U.S.C. 1059c) the following: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 316A. NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGE VITALIZATION 

7 AND TRAINING PROGRAM. 

8 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—From the amount appro10 priated under subsection (d), the Secretary shall es11 tablish the Native American Language Vitalization 

12 and Training Program under which the Secretary 

13 shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to eligible 

14 institutions to promote the preservation, revitaliza15 tion, relevancy, and use of Native American lan16 guages. 

17 ‘‘(2) TERM.—The term of a grant under this 

18 section shall be not more than 5 years. 

19 ‘‘(3) APPLICATION.— 

20 ‘‘(A) STREAMLINED PROCESS.—In car21 rying out the program under this section, the 

22 Secretary shall establish application require23 ments in such a manner as to simplify and 

24 streamline the process for the grant application 

25 under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(B) IN GENERAL.—To be eligible to re2 ceive a grant under this subsection, an eligible 

3 institution shall submit to the Secretary an ap4 plication at such time, in such manner, and in 

5 accordance with any other application require6 ments described in subparagraph (A), that the 

7 Secretary may prescribe, and including the fol8 lowing: 

9 ‘‘(i) A description of the 5-year pro10 gram of the eligible institution for meeting 

11 the needs of American Indians, Alaska Na12 tives, Native Hawaiians, or Native Amer13 ican Pacific Islanders as appropriate, in 

14 the area served by the institution, and how 

15 such plan is consistent with the purposes 

16 described in paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(ii)(I) An identification of the popu18 lation to be served by the eligible institu19 tion; and 

20 ‘‘(II) an identification of the status of 

21 Native American language understanding 

22 and use within that population and a de23 scription of the manner in which the pro24 gram will help preserve and revitalize the 

25 relevant Native American language. 


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1 ‘‘(iii) A description of the services to 

2 be provided under the program, including 

3 the manner in which the services will be in4 tegrated with other appropriate activities. 

5 ‘‘(iv) A description, to be prepared in 

6 consultation with the Secretary, of the per7 formance measures to be used to assess 

8 the performance of the eligible institution 

9 in carrying out the program. 

10 ‘‘(b) USE OF FUNDS.—An eligible institution may 

11 use a grant under this section to carry out activities con12 sistent with the purposes described in subsection (a)(1), 

13 including— 

14 ‘‘(1) curriculum development and academic in15 struction, including educational activities, programs, 

16 and partnerships relating to students in early child17 hood education programs through grade 12; 

18 ‘‘(2) professional development for faculty at the 

19 eligible institution and in-service training programs 

20 for early childhood education programs through 

21 grade 12 instructors and administrators; and 

22 ‘‘(3) innovative Native American language pro23 grams for students in early childhood education pro24 grams through grade 12, including language immer25 sion programs. 


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1 ‘‘(c) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER PROVISIONS.— 

2 ‘‘(1) CONCURRENT FUNDING.— 

3 ‘‘(A) TRIBAL COLLEGE OR UNIVERSITY.— 

4 An eligible institution that is a Tribal College 

5 or University may receive a grant under this 

6 section and funds under section 316 concur7 rently. 

8 ‘‘(B) ALASKA NATIVE-SERVING INSTITU9 TION OR NATIVE HAWAIIAN-SERVING INSTITU10 TION.—An eligible institution that is an Alaska 

11 Native-serving institution or Native Hawaiian12 serving institution may receive a grant under 

13 this section and funds under section 317 con14 currently. 

15 ‘‘(C) ASIAN AMERICAN AND NATIVE AMER16 ICAN PACIFIC ISLANDER-SERVING INSTITU17 TION.—An eligible institution that is an Asian 

18 American and Native American Pacific Is19 lander-serving institution may receive a grant 

20 under this section and funds under section 320 

21 concurrently. 

22 ‘‘(2) EXEMPTION.—Sections 312(b) and 313(d) 

23 shall not apply to an eligible institution that receives 

24 a grant under this section. 


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1 ‘‘(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

2 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

3 $20,000,000 for fiscal year 2020 and each of the 5 suc4 ceeding fiscal years. 

5 ‘‘(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

6 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE INSTITUTION.—The term ‘eligi7 ble institution’ means— 

8 ‘‘(A) a Tribal College or University, as de9 fined in section 316; 

10 ‘‘(B) an Alaska Native-serving institution, 

11 as defined in section 317; 

12 ‘‘(C) a Native Hawaiian-serving institu13 tion, as defined in section 317; or 

14 ‘‘(D) an Asian American and Native Amer15 ican Pacific Islander-serving institution, as de16 fined in section 320, which is located in the 

17 Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is18 lands, American Samoa, or Guam. 

19 ‘‘(2) NATIVE AMERICAN.—The term ‘Native 

20 American’ has the meaning given the term in section 

21 371(c)(6).’’. 

Æ 


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