I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6185 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an accurate comprehensive 
student count for the purposes of calculating formula allocations for 
programs under the Johnson-O’Malley Act, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 21, 2018 
Ms. MCCOLLUM (for herself, Mr. COLE, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. YOUNG of Alaska, 
and Mr. HUFFMAN) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To direct the Secretary of the Interior to conduct an accurate 
comprehensive student count for the purposes of calcu-
lating formula allocations for programs under the John-
son-O’Malley Act, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Johnson-O’Malley Sup-
plemental Indian Education Program Modernization Act’’. 
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into a contract under this Act after the date of en-
actment of the JOM Modernization Act. 
‘‘(6) SECRETARY.—The term ‘Secretary’ means 
the Secretary of the Interior. 
‘‘(b) DETERMINATION OF THE NUMBER OF ELIGI-
BLE INDIAN STUDENTS.— 
‘‘(1) INITIAL DETERMINATIONS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall 
make an initial determination of the number of 
eligible Indian students served or potentially 
served by each eligible entity in accordance with 
subparagraph (B). 
‘‘(B) PROCESS FOR MAKING THE INITIAL 
DETERMINATION.— 
‘‘(i) 
PRELIMINARY
REPORT.—Not 
later than 180 days after the date of en-
actment of the JOM Modernization Act, 
the Secretary shall publish a preliminary 
report describing the number of eligible In-
dian students served or potentially served 
by each eligible entity, using the most ap-
plicable and accurate data (as determined 
by the Secretary in consultation with eligi-
ble entities) from the fiscal year preceding 
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the fiscal year for which the initial deter-
mination is to be made from— 
‘‘(I) the Bureau of the Census; 
‘‘(II) the National Center for 
Education Statistics; or 
‘‘(III) the Office of Indian Edu-
cation of the Department of Edu-
cation. 
‘‘(ii) DATA RECONCILIATION.—To im-
prove the accuracy of the preliminary re-
port described in clause (i) prior to pub-
lishing, the Secretary shall reconcile the 
data described in the preliminary report 
with— 
‘‘(I) each existing contracting 
party’s data regarding the number of 
eligible Indian students served by the 
existing contracting party for the fis-
cal year preceding the fiscal year for 
which the initial determination is 
made; and 
‘‘(II) identifiable tribal enroll-
ment information. 
‘‘(iii) COMMENT PERIOD.—After pub-
lishing the preliminary report under clause 
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(i) in accordance with clause (ii), the Sec-
retary shall establish a 60-day comment 
period to gain feedback about the prelimi-
nary report from eligible entities, which the 
Secretary shall take into consideration in 
preparing the final report described in 
clause (iv). 
‘‘(iv) FINAL REPORT.—Not later than 
120 days after concluding the consultation 
described in clause (iii), the Secretary shall 
publish a final report on the initial deter-
mination of the number of eligible Indian 
students served or potentially served by 
each eligible entity, including justification 
for not including any feedback gained dur-
ing such consultation, if applicable. 
‘‘(2) SUBSEQUENT
ACADEMIC
YEARS.—For 
each academic year following the fiscal year for 
which an initial determination is made under para-
graph (1) to determine the number of eligible Indian 
students served or potentially served by a con-
tracting party, the Secretary shall determine the 
number of eligible Indian students served by the 
contracting party based on the reported eligible In-
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dian student count numbers identified through the 
reporting process described in subsection (c). 
‘‘(c) CONTRACTING PARTY STUDENT COUNT RE-
PORTING COMPLIANCE.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—For each academic year 
following the fiscal year for which an initial deter-
mination is made under subsection (b) to determine 
the number of eligible Indian students served or po-
tentially served by a contracting party, the con-
tracting party shall submit to the Secretary a report 
describing the number of eligible Indian students 
who were served using amounts allocated to such 
party under this Act during the previous fiscal year. 
‘‘(2) FAILURE
TO
COMPLY.—A contracting 
party that fails to submit a report under paragraph 
(1) shall receive no amounts under this Act for the 
fiscal year following the academic year for which the 
report should have been submitted. 
‘‘(3) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall provide con-
tracting parties with timely information relating 
to— 
‘‘(A) initial and final reporting deadlines; 
and 
‘‘(B) the consequences of failure to comply 
outlined in paragraph (2). 
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‘‘(4) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Secretary, 
acting through the Director of the Bureau of Indian 
Education, shall provide technical assistance and 
training on compliance with the reporting require-
ments of this subsection to contracting parties. 
‘‘(d) ANNUAL REPORT.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—The Secretary shall pre-
pare an annual report, including the most recent de-
termination of the number of eligible Indian stu-
dents served by each contracting party, rec-
ommendations on appropriate funding levels for the 
program based on such determination, and an as-
sessment of the contracts under this Act that the 
Secretary— 
‘‘(A) may include in the budget request of 
the Department of the Interior for each fiscal 
year; and 
‘‘(B) shall submit to— 
‘‘(i) the Committee on Indian Affairs 
of the Senate; 
‘‘(ii) the Subcommittee on Interior, 
Environment, and Related Agencies of the 
Committee on Appropriations of the Sen-
ate; 
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‘‘(iii) the Committee on Education 
and the Workforce of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
‘‘(iv) the Subcommittee on Interior, 
Environment, and Related Agencies of the 
Committee on Appropriations of the House 
of Representatives. 
‘‘(2) MANNER
OF
PREPARATION.—The Sec-
retary shall prepare the report under paragraph (1) 
in a manner so as to prevent or minimize new ad-
ministrative burdens on contracting parties receiving 
funds under this Act. 
‘‘(e) HOLD HARMLESS.— 
‘‘(1) INITIAL HOLD HARMLESS.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Except as provided 
under subparagraph (B) and subject to sub-
paragraphs (C) and (D), for a fiscal year, an 
existing contracting party shall not receive an 
amount under this Act that is less than the 
amount that such existing contracting party re-
ceived under this Act for the fiscal year pre-
ceding the date of enactment of the JOM Mod-
ernization Act. 
‘‘(B) EXCEPTIONS.— 
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‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—An existing con-
tracting party shall receive an amount 
under this Act for a fiscal year that is less 
than the amount that the existing con-
tracting party received under this Act for 
the fiscal year preceding the date of enact-
ment of the JOM Modernization Act, if 
one or more of the following conditions is 
met: 
‘‘(I) FAILURE TO REPORT.—The 
existing contracting party failed to 
submit the report described in sub-
section (c) that was most recently due 
from the date of the determination. 
‘‘(II) VIOLATIONS OF CONTRACT 
OR
LAW.—The Secretary has found 
that the existing contracting party has 
violated the terms of a contract en-
tered into under this Act or has other-
wise violated Federal law. 
‘‘(III) 
STUDENT
COUNT
DE-
CREASE.—The number of eligible In-
dian students reported by such exist-
ing contracting party under sub-
section (c) has decreased below the 
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number of eligible Indian students 
served by the existing contracting 
party in the fiscal year preceding the 
date of enactment of the JOM Mod-
ernization Act. 
‘‘(ii) AMOUNT
OF
FUNDING
REDUC-
TION
FOR
EXISTING
CONTRACTING
PAR-
TIES
REPORTING
DECREASED
STUDENT 
COUNTS.—A reduction in an amount pur-
suant to clause (i)(III) shall not be done in 
such a manner that the existing con-
tracting party receives an amount of fund-
ing per eligible Indian student that is less 
than the amount of funding per eligible In-
dian student such party received for the 
fiscal year preceding the date of enactment 
of the JOM Modernization Act. 
‘‘(C) RATABLE
REDUCTIONS
IN
APPRO-
PRIATIONS.—If the funds available under this 
Act for a fiscal year are insufficient to pay the 
full amounts that all existing contracting par-
ties are eligible to receive under subparagraph 
(A) for the fiscal year, the Secretary shall rat-
ably reduce those amounts for the fiscal year. 
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‘‘(D) SUNSET.—This paragraph shall cease 
to be effective 4 years after the date of enact-
ment of the JOM Modernization Act. 
‘‘(2) MAXIMUM DECREASE AFTER 4 YEARS.— 
Beginning 4 years after the date of enactment of the 
JOM Modernization Act, no contracting party shall 
receive for a fiscal year more than a 10-percent de-
crease in funding per eligible Indian student from 
the previous fiscal year. 
‘‘(f) FUNDING ALLOCATION AND REFORM.— 
‘‘(1) FUNDING REFORM.—The Secretary may 
make recommendations for legislation to increase the 
amount of funds available per eligible Indian student 
through contracts under this Act to equal to or 
greater than the amount of funds that were available 
per eligible Indian student through contracts under 
this Act for fiscal year 1995, and attempt to identify 
additional sources of funding that do not reallocate 
existing funds otherwise utilized by Indian students 
served— 
‘‘(A) by the Bureau of Indian Education; 
or 
‘‘(B) under title VI of the Elementary and 
Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 
7401 et seq.). 
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‘‘(2) INCREASES IN PROGRAM FUNDING.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection 
(e) and subparagraph (B), for any fiscal year 
for which the amount appropriated to carry out 
this Act exceeds the amount appropriated to 
carry out this Act for the preceding fiscal year, 
the excess amounts shall— 
‘‘(i) be allocated only to those con-
tracting parties that did not receive their 
full per student funding allocation for the 
previous fiscal year; and 
‘‘(ii) be allocated first to new con-
tracting parties that did not receive their 
full per student funding allocation for the 
previous fiscal year. 
‘‘(B) PARITY IN FUNDING.—Subparagraph 
(A) shall have no effect after the first fiscal 
year for which each contracting party receives 
their full per student funding allocation. 
‘‘(g) INCREASED GEOGRAPHICAL AND TRIBAL PAR-
TICIPATION
IN
THE
JOHNSON-O’MALLEY
SUPPLE-
MENTARY EDUCATION PROGRAM.—To the maximum ex-
tent practicable, the Secretary shall consult with Indian 
tribes and contact State educational agencies, local edu-
cational agencies, and Alaska Native organizations that 
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have not previously entered into a contract under this 
Act— 
‘‘(1) to determine the interest of the Indian 
tribes, State educational agencies, local educational 
agencies, and Alaska Native organizations, in enter-
ing into such contracts; and 
‘‘(2) to share information relating to the proc-
ess for entering into a contract under this Act. 
‘‘(h) RULEMAKING.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than one year 
after the date of enactment of the JOM Moderniza-
tion Act, the Secretary, acting through the Director 
of the Bureau of Indian Education, shall undertake 
and complete a rulemaking process, following the 
provisions of subchapter II of chapter 5 of title 5, 
United States Code, to— 
‘‘(A) determine how the regulatory defini-
tion of ‘eligible Indian student’ may be revised 
to clarify eligibility requirements for contracting 
parties under this Act; 
‘‘(B) determine, as necessary, how the 
funding formula described in section 273.31 of 
title 25, Code of Federal Regulations (as in ef-
fect on the day before the date of enactment of 
the JOM Modernization Act) may be clarified 
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and revised to ensure full participation of con-
tracting parties and provide clarity on the fund-
ing process under this Act; and 
‘‘(C) otherwise reconcile and modernize the 
rules to comport with the activities of the con-
tracting parties under this Act as of the date of 
enactment of the JOM Modernization Act. 
‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 30 days after 
the date the rulemaking under paragraph (1) is 
complete, the Secretary shall submit a report to 
Congress describing the results of such rulemaking 
and necessary recommendations to ensure the full 
implementation of such rulemaking. 
‘‘(i) STUDENT PRIVACY.—The Secretary shall ensure 
that data is collected and each report is prepared under 
this section in a manner that protects the rights of eligible 
Indian students in accordance with section 444 of the 
General Education Provisions Act (commonly referred to 
as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 
1974) (20 U.S.C. 1232g). 
‘‘(j) GAO REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after 
the final report described in subsection (b)(1)(B)(iv) is 
published, the Comptroller General shall— 
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‘‘(1) conduct a review of the implementation of 
this section during the preceding two-year period, in-
cluding any factors impacting— 
‘‘(A) the accuracy of the determinations of 
the number of eligible Indian students under 
this section; 
‘‘(B) the communication between the Bu-
reau of Indian Education and contracting par-
ties; and 
‘‘(C) the efforts by the Bureau of Indian 
Education to ensure accurate and sufficient dis-
tribution of funding for Indian students; 
‘‘(2) submit a report describing the results of 
the review under paragraph (1) to— 
‘‘(A) the Committee on Indian Affairs of 
the Senate; 
‘‘(B) the Subcommittee on Interior, Envi-
ronment, and Related Agencies of the Com-
mittee on Appropriations of the Senate; 
‘‘(C) the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular 
and Alaska Native Affairs of the Committee on 
Natural Resources of the House of Representa-
tives; and 
‘‘(D) the Subcommittee on Interior, Envi-
ronment, and Related Agencies of the Com-
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mittee on Appropriations of the House of Rep-
resentatives; and 
‘‘(3) make such report publicly available. 
‘‘(k) EFFECT.—Nothing in this section— 
‘‘(1) creates a new program or duplicates pro-
gram activities under this Act; or 
‘‘(2) replaces or diminishes the effect of regula-
tions to carry out this Act existing on the day before 
the date of enactment of the JOM Modernization 
Act, unless expressly provided in this section.’’. 
Æ 
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