The Native ELDER Act would amend the Older Americans Act of 1965 to strengthen how federal programs serve Native American and Native Hawaiian elders. The core change is the creation of the Older Americans Tribal Advisory Committee (OATAC) within the Office for American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian Programs. This 11-member advisory body would help shape policy and programming for Native communities, ensure government-to-government consultation with tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations, and coordinate with other federal agencies (like Labor, CMS, and the Indian Health Service). The bill also expands in-home aging support to include necessary home modifications, extends a funding set-aside through 2025, and boosts technical assistance and training for Title VI (grants to support elder services) grantees. It adds reporting requirements to evaluate caregiver support models, in-home services needs, and barriers to tribal access to Title VI programs, and it requires a similar reporting commitment from the Labor Department regarding Title V recipients serving Native Americans. Overall, the bill aims to elevate Native voices in aging policy, improve aging-in-place supports, and increase accountability and coordination across federal programs affecting Native elders.
Key Points
- 1Establishment of the Older Americans Tribal Advisory Committee (OATAC): an 11-member body within the Office for American Indian, Alaskan Native, and Native Hawaiian Programs to advise the Assistant Secretary on Native American-related aging issues; designed to facilitate consultation with tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations without replacing government-to-government processes.
- 2Committee composition and process: appointments by the Assistant Secretary and several congressional leaders (Senate and House) with nominations from Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and Native Hawaiian organizations; emphasis on geographic and demographic diversity, at least one Alaskan Native and one Native Hawaiian; terms of up to three 3-year terms with specific initial terms; meetings at least twice annually; nonfederal, nonvoting representatives from the Office present at meetings.
- 3Advisory duties: identify issues relevant to Native Americans under the Act, provide recommendations on legislative or administrative actions, discuss regulatory changes, advise on Tribal consultation strategies, and coordinate with multiple federal agencies to reduce interdepartmental barriers.
- 4Reporting requirements: annual reports from the Committee to Congress with activities and recommendations; the Assistant Secretary must respond within 45 days; mandatory compensation for committee members equal to the daily equivalent of Executive Schedule level IV pay; exemption from Chapter 10 of Title 5 for the Committee.
- 5In-home aging supports: expands in-home assistance to explicitly include home modifications necessary to help older individuals remain at home (aging in place).
- 6Funding set-aside extended: removes the cap-like language and extends the funding set-aside period to 2025, broadening and extending dedicated resources for certain aging programs.
- 7Training and technical assistance: requires technical assistance and training programs for Title VI grantees to strengthen organizational capacity and cover topics such as program management, data use, grant development, and staff training.
- 8New and related reporting requirements: the Assistant Secretary must study feasibility of modeling certain caregiver support program structures for Native veterans' care, assess in-home services and home modification needs, and identify barriers and funding needs for Title VI programs; the Secretary of Labor must report on how Title V funds serve Native American elders.