Fund Indian Economic Condition Improvement

To provide funding to improve economic conditions for Native Americans, if the federal government provides funding for the existing statutorily mandated and state-funded Native American tuition waiver program that allows a Native American who is either an enrolled member of an American Indian Tribal Nation or an Alaska Native Village recognized by the federal government or is a child or grandchild of such an enrolled member to attend Fort Lewis college on a tuition-free basis, the bill:

• Requires the statutorily mandated annual general fund appropriation to Fort Lewis college to pay the full cost of tuition for such students to be reduced by an amount equal to the amount of the federal funding;
• Requires an amount of general fund money equal to the amount of the reduction in the annual general fund appropriation to be appropriated to the commission of Indian affairs (commission);
• Requires the commission to use the money to contract with a Colorado-based nonprofit organization that has a primary mission of improving economic socioeconomic conditions for Indians for coordination, oversight, and provision of programs and grants that support that mission; and
• Requires the commission and the nonprofit organization that it contracts with to jointly convene an advisory group to advise the commission and the nonprofit organization in establishing initial guidelines for programs and grants to be coordinated, overseen, or provided by the nonprofit organization and to provide ongoing advice to the commission and the nonprofit organization concerning the provision of such programs and grants; and
• Requires the nonprofit organization to report to the commission regarding its implementation of the contract at least once per year and to detail in its reports how it has expended the money provided to it by the commission.

(Note: This summary applies to the reengrossed version of this bill as introduced in the second house.)