S612-119

Passed Senate

A bill to amend the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act to authorize grants to Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations, and for other purposes.

119th Congress Introduced Feb 18, 2025

Summary

What This Bill Does

This bill adds a Native American tourism grant program to the NATIVE Act. It authorizes the Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make grants and agreements with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations, authorizes the Director of the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations to make grants and agreements with Native Hawaiian organizations, and lets other federal agencies including Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture, HHS, and Labor use the same authority for Native tourism purposes. It authorizes $35 million for FY2025 through FY2029.

Who Benefits and How

Indian Tribes, Tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations benefit from dedicated grant and agreement authority for visitor experience, tourism promotion, cultural tourism, and related economic development. Native American tourism businesses, cultural centers, tour operators, artisans, hotels, and rural Native communities may benefit if grants support tourism infrastructure, marketing, training, or partnerships.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Bureau of Indian Affairs and Office of Native Hawaiian Relations must administer new grant and agreement programs. Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture, HHS, and Labor may also take on grant administration if they use the authority. Federal taxpayers fund the $35 million authorization, and grant recipients must comply with federal grant terms.

Key Provisions

  • Creates a Native American tourism grant program under the NATIVE Act.
  • Authorizes the Bureau of Indian Affairs to make grants and enter agreements with Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations.
  • Authorizes the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations to make grants and enter agreements with Native Hawaiian organizations.
  • Allows Commerce, Transportation, Agriculture, HHS, and Labor to make grants or agreements for Native tourism purposes.
  • Provides $35 million in authorization for FY2025 through FY2029.

Evidence Chain:

This summary is generated from the full bill text using AI analysis. Expand "Detailed Analysis" below for identified beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.

At a Glance

What This Bill Does

Amends the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act to authorize BIA, the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, and other federal agencies to make grants and agreements for Native tourism, with $35 million authorized for FY2025-FY2029.

Key Policy Areas

Tribal Affairs, Tourism, Economic Development, Appropriations

Primary Purpose

Amends the Native American Tourism and Improving Visitor Experience Act to authorize BIA, the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations, and other federal agencies to make grants and agreements for Native tourism, with $35 million authorized for FY2025-FY2029.

Policy Domains

Tribal Affairs Tourism Economic Development Appropriations

Native American tourism grant programs

Identified Gains
  • Indian Tribes
  • Tribal organizations
  • Native Hawaiian organizations
  • Native American tourism businesses
  • Rural Native communities
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Indian Tribes: ,
Tribal organizations: ,
Rural Native communities: ,
Native Hawaiian organizations: ,
Native American tourism businesses: ,
Identified Costs
  • Bureau of Indian Affairs
  • Office of Native Hawaiian Relations
  • Department of Commerce
  • Department of Transportation
  • Department of Agriculture
  • Department of Health and Human Services
  • Department of Labor
  • Federal taxpayers
Model: codex-gpt-5 | Version: bill_summary_v2 | Source: is
Federal taxpayers: ,
Department of Labor: ,
Department of Commerce: ,
Bureau of Indian Affairs: ,
Department of Agriculture: ,
Department of Transportation: ,
Office of Native Hawaiian Relations: ,
Department of Health and Human Services: ,

Legislative Progress

Passed Senate
Introduced Committee Passed
Dec 17, 2025

Held at the desk.

Dec 17, 2025

Received in the House.

Dec 17, 2025

Message on Senate action sent to the House.

Dec 16, 2025

Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S8752; …

Dec 16, 2025

Passed/agreed to in Senate: Passed Senate without amendment by Unanimous …

May 8, 2025

Reported by Ms. Murkowski, without amendment

May 8, 2025 (inferred)

Passed Senate (inferred from es version)

May 8, 2025

Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. …

May 8, 2025

Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Murkowski without amendment. …

Mar 5, 2025

Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered to be reported without amendment …

Stakeholder Effects

cui bono?

How this legislation distributes effects. Mention counts reflect frequency, not effect magnitude.

Government
5 mentions across 2 clauses
+3 positive -2 negative

Bureau of Indian Affairs, Indian tribes, Office of Native Hawaiian Relations

Positive-direction: Indian tribes, Tribal organizations

Negative-direction: Bureau of Indian Affairs, Office of Native Hawaiian Relations

Nonprofits
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+2 positive

Native Hawaiian organizations

General Public
2 mentions across 2 clauses
+1 positive -1 negative

Rural Native communities seeking economic development, Taxpayers

Positive-direction: Rural Native communities seeking economic development

Negative-direction: Taxpayers

Tourism
1 mention across 1 clause
+1 positive

Native American tourism businesses (hotels, cultural centers, tour operators)

2/2
sections analyzed
Full impact breakdown

Bill Structure & Actor Mappings

Who is "The Secretary" in each section?

Domains
Tribal Affairs Tourism Economic Development
Actor Mappings
"bia"
→ Bureau of Indian Affairs
"onhr"
→ Office of Native Hawaiian Relations

We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.

Learn more about our methodology