2015
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 15-001
       
       
       BY SENATOR(S) Steadman, Grantham, Lambert, Aguilar, Balmer,
       Baumgardner, Carroll, Cooke, Crowder, Donovan, Garcia, Guzman,
       Heath, Hill, Hodge, Holbert, Jahn, Johnston, Jones, Kefalas, Kerr,
       Lundberg, Marble, Martinez Humenik, Merrifield, Neville T., Newell,
       Roberts, Scheffel, Scott, Sonnenberg, Todd, Ulibarri, Woods, Cadman;
       also REPRESENTATIVE(S) Rankin, Hamner, Young, Arndt, Becker J.,
       Becker K., Brown, Conti, Coram, Court, Danielson, DelGrosso, Dore,
       Duran, Esgar, Fields, Garnett, Ginal, Joshi, Keyser, Landgraf, Lawrence,
       Lebsock, Lee, Lontine, Lundeen, Melton, Mitsch Bush, Moreno,
       Navarro, Nordberg, Primavera, Priola, Roupe, Ryden, Salazar, Sias,
       Singer, Tate, Thurlow, Tyler, Van Winkle, Vigil, Williams, Wilson,
       Windholz, Winter, Hullinghorst.
       
       
          MEMORIALIZING CONGRESS TO REIMBURSE COLORADO
       FOR THE COSTS OF FEDERAL MANDATES ASSOCIATED WITH
       THE FORT LEWIS COLLEGE NATIVE AMERICAN TUITION
       WAIVER PROGRAM. 
       
       
          WHEREAS, In 1910, the United States Congress created a unique
       connection between Fort Lewis College and Indian Country by giving the
       State of Colorado title to the Fort Lewis Indian School, previously
       operated by the U.S. Department of the Interior, on the condition that the
       school be "held and maintained" by Colorado as a school where Indians
       are admitted "free of charge for tuition and on terms of equality with
       white pupils" (Appropriations Act of April 4, 1910, 36 Stat. 274); and
       
          WHEREAS, Today, Fort Lewis College is a public liberal arts college
       that has, for the past 104 years, provided a tuition-free education to
       qualifying American Indian and Alaska Native students, and in 2014, it
       was the educational home to 1,235 American Indian and Alaska Native
       students from 155 tribes and 234, or 54% of, U.S. Congressional
       Districts; and
       
          WHEREAS, For the past century, the State of Colorado has had the
       distinction of supporting one of only two colleges in the nation that offers
       tuition waivers to American Indian and Alaska Native students from any
       federally recognized tribe, providing the tuition of 965 American Indian
       and Alaska Native students who are residents of 46 other states in the fall
       of 2014; and
       
          WHEREAS, Fort Lewis College awards more undergraduate degrees
       to American Indian and Alaska Native students than any other four-year
       institution in the nation, and awarded more baccalaureate science,
       technology, engineering, and mathematics degrees earned by American
       Indian people than any other baccalaureate institution in the nation; and
       
          WHEREAS, The Fort Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver
       Program has enabled American Indian and Alaska Native students to
       access top-quality educational opportunities and academic success, which
       they might not otherwise have been able to enjoy, and these many
       students have used this education provided to them for the betterment of
       their tribes and Indian Country as a whole; indeed, many of today's
       American Indian leaders are Fort Lewis College graduates or have Fort
       Lewis College students or alumni in their families; and
       
          WHEREAS, Proposed federal legislation in the United States
       Congress would provide funding to help pay for the costs of the federally
       mandated Native American Tuition Waiver Program only for those
       American Indian and Alaska Native students who are not residents of the
       state in which their college is located; and
       
          WHEREAS, Nothing in the federal legislation would relieve the State
       of Colorado of its responsibility to reimburse Fort Lewis College for
       tuition costs for those American Indian and Alaska Native students who
       are residents of Colorado nor for any tuition costs that exceed the
       proposed federal funding for American Indian and Alaska Native students
       who are not residents of Colorado; now, therefore,
       
          Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Seventieth General Assembly of the
       State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:
       
          That, in order to properly and fairly support the Fort Lewis College
       Native American Tuition Waiver Program and to provide for the
       continued betterment of all American Indian and Alaska Native people,
       we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, hereby:
       
          (1)  Encourage Congress to support legislation that would assist the
       State of Colorado in funding its federal mandate to reimburse the Fort
       Lewis College Native American Tuition Waiver Program for tuition costs
       for out-of-state American Indian and Alaska Native students; and
       
          (2)  Recognize the State of Colorado's responsibility to reimburse Fort
       Lewis College for tuition costs for those American Indian and Alaska
       Native students who are residents of the state.
       
          Be It Further Resolved, That copies of this Joint Memorial be sent to
       the Honorable Arne Duncan, Secretary of the United States Department
       of Education; Senator Lamar Alexander, Chairman of the Senate 
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       
       Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; Representative
       John Kline, Chairman of the House Committee on Education and the
       Workforce; and to each member of Colorado's Congressional delegation.
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Bill L. Cadman               Dickey Lee Hullinghorst
       PRESIDENT OF                    SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE
       THE SENATE                        OF REPRESENTATIVES
       
       
       
       
       
       
       ____________________________  ____________________________
       Cindi L. Markwell                     Marilyn Eddins
       SECRETARY OF                CHIEF CLERK OF THE HOUSE
       THE SENATE                        OF REPRESENTATIVES