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:
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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;
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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);
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Requires the commission to use the money to contract with a Colorado-based nonprofit organization that has a primary mission of improving economic conditions for Indians for coordination, oversight, and provision of programs and grants that support that mission; and
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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.
