U.S. Representative Ed Case introduced proposed legislation in the U.S. House to authorize federal grants to Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiian organizations for fostering indigenous history and culture based travel and tourism.

The bill makes corrections to the NATIVE Act to authorize grants to Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiian organizations for recreational travel and tourism activities.

Case said his measure is the House companion to S. 612, introduced by Senators Lisa Murkowski, Chair of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee, and Brian Schatz, Vice Chairman of the Committee. The bill makes important corrections to the NATIVE Act to authorize grants to Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiian organizations for recreational travel and tourism activities.

Case said that Congress enacted the NATIVE Act in 2016 to provide grants, loans and technical assistance to Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, Native Alaskans and Native Hawaiian organizations to assist in developing tourism in indigenous peoples communities and enhancing opportunities for visitors to learn about indigenous peoples’ history, cultures, traditional foods, languages and arts. He said unfortunately, the act did not clearly authorize the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations (ONHR) to issue the grants, which led to implementation challenges.

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