Title 20 › CHAPTER 56 — AMERICAN INDIAN, ALASKA NATIVE, AND NATIVE HAWAIIAN CULTURE AND ART DEVELOPMENT › SUBCHAPTER I — AMERICAN INDIANS AND ALASKA NATIVES › § 4412
Creates a Board of Trustees with 13 voting members and 6 nonvoting members. The President must appoint the 13 voting members no later than 180 days after October 17, 1986, choosing people from private life who are Indians or others known in Indian art and culture, and who bring different political views and skills like finance, law, fine arts, and higher education. The 6 nonvoting members are two House members chosen by the Speaker (after talking with the Minority Leader), two Senators chosen by the President pro tempore on recommendations from the Senate leaders, the President of the Institute (automatic member), and the student body president (automatic member). The President must consult Indian tribes and organizations, publish notice in the Federal Register at least 4 months before terms end, ask for nominations, try to get regional and tribal balance, and make sure a majority of the voting appointees are Indians. The Board helps with notices and nominations and can make its own recommendations. Members of Congress can attend meetings and advise. Voting members normally serve 6-year terms, except congressional members serve until their congressional term ends. The first members drew lots so 4 had 2-year terms, 4 had 4-year terms, and 5 had 6-year terms. Voting members may serve no more than 2 back-to-back terms but may stay until a successor is named. Vacancies are filled for the rest of the term. Members can only be removed for just cause. The President names the first Chair and Vice Chair for 12 months; after that the voting members elect them for 2-year terms. A majority of the voting members is a quorum. The Board sets policy, runs the Institute, and makes bylaws. Voting members are paid $125 per day when working and get travel pay like other intermittent federal workers. To keep stability, the Board can ask that a member be continued; if the President does not send a Senate nomination within 60 days after a term ends, that member is treated as reappointed for a full term, but extensions cannot reduce the number of Indians on the Board below 7.
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20 U.S.C. § 4412
Title 20, Education
Last Updated
Sep 22, 2026
Release point: 119-110