Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act
Public Law 114-244 · S. 246 · 114th Congress · began in the Senate
Signed by Barack Obama (D) on Oct 14, 2016 · Native Americans
Sponsor: Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Cosponsors (26): Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Sen. Jon Tester,
Passage votes
- HouseVoice vote
- SenateUnanimous consent
Data notes
The final version of the law, as each chamber passed it. A chamber that passed it by voice vote or unanimous consent has no count. “Method not stated” means the record does not say how the chamber voted. Where the record has a member-by-member vote, the “Who voted for it” section shows who voted yea.
Summary
The Congressional Research Service’s plain-language summary of what the law does.
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.
Committees
The committees the bill was sent to, and what each did with it.
Natural Resources Committee · House · markup by, referred to, reported bySubcommittee: Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee
Data notes
A committee links to its page only where it exists in the current Congress; older and renamed committees are named without a link.
Related bills
1 bill the Library of Congress relates to this one.
H.R. 2751Related bill
Alyce Spotted Bear and Walter Soboleff Commission on Native Children Act
Data notes
Related bills are identified by the Congressional Research Service, the House and the Senate: companion and identical bills, bills with similar text, bills that were folded into this law, and rules that brought it to the floor. A bill that is itself a public law in this site’s data links here; the others link to Congress.gov.
Timeline
From introduction to signing, newest first: the committees, the floor and the president. 30 actions.
- Oct 14, 2016Became lawBecame law · Became Public Law No: 114-244.
- Became lawBecame law · Signed by President.
- Oct 3, 2016FloorFloor · Presented to President.
- Sep 29, 2016Resolving differencesResolving differences · Senate agreed to the House amendment to the Senate bill by Unanimous Consent.
- FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- OtherOther · Resolving differences -- Senate actions: Senate agreed to the House amendment to the Senate bill by Unanimous Consent.
- Sep 13, 2016FloorFloor · Message on House action received in Senate and at desk: House amendment to Senate bill.
- Sep 12, 2016FloorFloor · Motion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
- FloorFloor · On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote.
- FloorFloor · DEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on S. 246.
- FloorFloor · Considered under suspension of the rules.
- FloorFloor · Mrs. Radewagen moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
- Sep 6, 2016CalendarCalendar · Placed on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 560.
- CommitteeCommittee · Reported (Amended) by the Committee on Natural Resources. H. Rept. 114-722.
- Jul 13, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Ordered to be Reported (Amended) by Unanimous Consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- Jul 12, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held.
- CommitteeCommittee · Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs Discharged.
- May 18, 2016CommitteeCommittee · Subcommittee Hearings Held.
- CommitteeCommittee · Hearings by Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee of the House Natural Resources Committee
- Jun 19, 2015CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the Subcommittee on Indian, Insular and Alaska Native Affairs.
- Jun 1, 2015FloorFloor · Message on Senate action sent to the House.
- FloorFloor · Received in the House.
- FloorFloor · Passed Senate with an amendment by Unanimous Consent.
- CommitteeCommittee · Referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources.
- May 11, 2015CalendarCalendar · Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 79.
- CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Indian Affairs. Reported by Senator Barrasso with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 114-39.
- Feb 4, 2015CommitteeCommittee · Committee on Indian Affairs. Ordered to be reported with an amendment in the nature of a substitute favorably.
- Jan 22, 2015CommitteeCommittee · Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs. (Sponsor introductory remarks on measure: CR S422-423)
- IntroducedIntroduced · Introduced in Senate
Data notes
Every action the Library of Congress lists for the bill, from introduction to signing, plus the dated committee hearings. The source lists many steps twice (the chamber’s own entry and the Library of Congress copy, or a presidential and a became-law entry with the same words); those are shown once. Amendments are listed in their own section.
Amendments
No amendments to this bill are on record.
Data notes
Amendments offered to this bill in either chamber, as the Library of Congress records them: each with a status read from its last recorded step: agreed to, rejected, withdrawn, ruled out of order, fell with another amendment, or offered with no vote recorded (most Senate amendments are only ever offered). The wording of each amendment is the source’s. Amendments to amendments and amendments to other bills are not listed.
Official record
The bill’s full text is on Congress.gov. Data through Oct 7, 2026.