S. 246: Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act

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S. 246: Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act

114th Congress · introduced 2015-01-22 · Native Americans · Latest: Became Public Law No: 114-244.

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Official title

Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act

Plain summary

(This measure has not been amended since it was reported to the House on September 6, 2016. The summary of that version is repeated here.) Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act (Sec. 3) This bill establishes the Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children in the Office of Tribal Justice of the Department of Justice. The commission must conduct a comprehensive study of federal, state, local, and tribal programs that serve Native children, including an evaluation of: the impact of concurrent jurisdiction on child welfare systems; barriers Indian tribes and Native Hawaiians face in using public and private grant resources; obstacles to nongovernmental financial support for programs benefitting Native children; issues relating to the validity and statistical significance of data on Native children; barriers to the development of sustainable, multidisciplinary programs designed to assist high-risk Native children and their families; cultural or socioeconomic challenges in communities of Native children; examples of successful program models and use of best practices in programs that serve children and families; barriers to interagency coordination; and the use of memoranda of agreement or interagency agreements to facilitate or improve agency coordination. The commission must use the results of the study and analyses of existing federal data to: (1) develop plans for federal policy relating to Native children informed by the development of accurate child well-being measures; (2) recommend modifications and improvements to programs for Native children that integrate the cultural strengths of Native communities; (3) recommend improvements to the collection of data regarding Native children and the programs that serve them; and (4) identify models of successful programs. When developing plans for federal policy, the commission may not consider or recommend recognition or establishment of a government-to-government relationship with an entity not recognized on or before the date of enactment of this bill. The commission must report its findings, conclusions, and recommendations for legislative and administrative action. The commission is terminated 90 days after the report is submitted.

Congressional Research Service summary (Public Law), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

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Officials and money

Sponsor: Sen. Heitkamp, Heidi [D-ND] · 26 cosponsors

Cost estimate: CBO cost estimate: S. 246, Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act (2015-02-11); CBO cost estimate: S. 246, Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act (2016-08-09)

Cosponsors on this site

Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Brian Schatz (D-HI), John Hoeven (R-ND), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Patty Murray (D-WA), John Thune (R-SD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Susan M. Collins (R-ME), Deb Fischer (R-NE), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Gary C. Peters (D-MI), Steve Daines (R-MT)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Public Law)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-114s246.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/s>

Record fed-us-cong114-s246 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong114 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong114