II
118THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1554
To grant a Federal charter to the National American Indian Veterans,
Incorporated.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MAY11, 2023
Mr. R
OUNDS(for himself, Mr. THUNE, Mr. CASSIDY, Mr. CRAMER, Mr.
L
ANKFORD, Mr. RUBIO, Mrs. FISCHER, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. BARRASSO,
Ms. M
URKOWSKI, Mr. GRAHAM, Mr. SCOTTof Florida, Mr. HOEVEN, Mr.
S
ULLIVAN, Mr. MORAN, Mr. DAINES, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. LUJA´N, Ms. KLO-
BUCHAR, Mr. WARNOCK, Mr. PADILLA, Ms. WARREN, Ms. SMITH, Ms.
C
ORTEZMASTO, Mr. KELLY, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Ms. ROSEN, Ms. SINEMA,
Mr. B
ENNET, Mr. HICKENLOOPER, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. HEINRICH,
Ms. H
IRONO, Mr. KING, Mr. OSSOFF, and Mr. MULLIN) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the
Judiciary
A BILL
To grant a Federal charter to the National American Indian
Veterans, Incorporated.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National American In-4
dian Veterans Charter Act’’. 5
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SEC. 2. RECOGNITION AS CORPORATION AND GRANT OF 1
FEDERAL CHARTER FOR NATIONAL AMER-2
ICAN INDIAN VETERANS, INCORPORATED. 3
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Part B of subtitle II of title 36, 4
United States Code, is amended by inserting after chapter 5
1503 the following: 6
‘‘CHAPTER 1504—NATIONAL AMERICAN 7
INDIAN VETERANS, INCORPORATED 8
‘‘Sec.
‘‘150401. Organization.
‘‘150402. Purposes.
‘‘150403. Membership.
‘‘150404. Board of directors.
‘‘150405. Officers.
‘‘150406. Nondiscrimination.
‘‘150407. Powers.
‘‘150408. Exclusive right to name, seals, emblems, and badges.
‘‘150409. Restrictions.
‘‘150410. Duty to maintain tax-exempt status.
‘‘150411. Records and inspection.
‘‘150412. Service of process.
‘‘150413. Liability for acts of officers and agents.
‘‘150414. Failure to comply with requirements.
‘‘150415. Annual report.
‘‘§ 150401 Organization 9
‘‘The National American Indian Veterans, Incor-10
porated, a nonprofit corporation organized in the United 11
States (referred to in this chapter as the ‘corporation’), 12
is a federally chartered corporation. 13
‘‘§ 150402. Purposes 14
‘‘The purposes of the corporation are those stated in 15
the articles of incorporation, constitution, and bylaws of 16
the corporation, and include a commitment— 17
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‘‘(1) to uphold and defend the Constitution of 1
the United States while respecting the sovereignty of 2
the American Indian Nations; 3
‘‘(2) to unite under one body all American In-4
dian veterans who served in the Armed Forces of 5
United States; 6
‘‘(3) to be an advocate on behalf of all Amer-7
ican Indian veterans without regard to whether they 8
served during times of peace, conflict, or war; 9
‘‘(4) to promote social welfare (including edu-10
cational, economic, social, physical, and cultural val-11
ues and traditional healing) in the United States by 12
encouraging the growth and development, readjust-13
ment, self-respect, self-confidence, contributions, and 14
self-identity of American Indian veterans; 15
‘‘(5) to serve as an advocate for the needs of 16
American Indian veterans and their families and 17
survivors in their dealings with all Federal and State 18
government agencies; 19
‘‘(6) to promote, support, and utilize research, 20
on a nonpartisan basis, pertaining to the relation-21
ship between American Indian veterans and Amer-22
ican society; and 23
‘‘(7) to provide technical assistance to the Bu-24
reau of Indian Affairs regional areas that are not 25
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served by any veterans committee or organization or 1
program by— 2
‘‘(A) providing outreach service to Indian 3
Tribes in need; and 4
‘‘(B) training and educating Tribal Vet-5
erans Service Officers for Indian Tribes in 6
need. 7
‘‘§ 150403. Membership 8
‘‘Subject to section 150406, eligibility for member-9
ship in the corporation, and the rights and privileges of 10
members, shall be as provided in the constitution and by-11
laws of the corporation. 12
‘‘§ 150404. Board of directors 13
‘‘Subject to section 150406, the board of directors of 14
the corporation, and the responsibilities of the board, shall 15
be as provided in the constitution and bylaws of the cor-16
poration and in conformity with the laws under which the 17
corporation is incorporated. 18
‘‘§ 150405. Officers 19
‘‘Subject to section 150406, the officers of the cor-20
poration, and the election of such officers, shall be as pro-21
vided in the constitution and bylaws of the corporation and 22
in conformity with the laws of the jurisdiction under which 23
the corporation is incorporated. 24
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‘‘§ 150406. Nondiscrimination 1
‘‘In establishing the conditions of membership in the 2
corporation, and in determining the requirements for serv-3
ing on the board of directors or as an officer of the cor-4
poration, the corporation may not discriminate on the 5
basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicap, 6
or age. 7
‘‘§ 150407. Powers 8
‘‘The corporation shall have only those powers grant-9
ed the corporation through its articles of incorporation, 10
constitution, and bylaws, which shall conform to the laws 11
of the jurisdiction under which the corporation is incor-12
porated. 13
‘‘§ 150408. Exclusive right to name, seals, emblems, 14
and badges 15
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The corporation shall have the 16
sole and exclusive right to use the names ‘National Amer-17
ican Indian Veterans, Incorporated’ and ‘National Amer-18
ican Indian Veterans’, and such seals, emblems, and 19
badges as the corporation may lawfully adopt. 20
‘‘(b) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section interferes or 21
conflicts with any established or vested rights. 22
‘‘§ 150409. Restrictions 23
‘‘(a) S
TOCK ANDDIVIDENDS.—The corporation may 24
not— 25
‘‘(1) issue any shares of stock; or 26
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‘‘(2) declare or pay any dividends. 1
‘‘(b) D
ISTRIBUTION OFINCOME ORASSETS.— 2
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—The income or assets of the 3
corporation may not— 4
‘‘(A) inure to any person who is a member, 5
officer, or director of the corporation; or 6
‘‘(B) be distributed to any such person 7
during the life of the charter granted by this 8
chapter. 9
‘‘(2) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this subsection pre-10
vents the payment of reasonable compensation to the 11
officers of the corporation, or reimbursement for ac-12
tual and necessary expenses, in amounts approved 13
by the board of directors. 14
‘‘(c) L
OANS.—The corporation may not make any 15
loan to any officer, director, member, or employee of the 16
corporation. 17
‘‘(d) N
OFEDERALENDORSEMENT.—The corpora-18
tion may not claim congressional approval or Federal Gov-19
ernment authority by virtue of the charter granted by this 20
chapter for any of the activities of the corporation. 21
‘‘§ 150410. Duty to maintain tax-exempt status 22
‘‘The corporation shall maintain its status as an or-23
ganization exempt from taxation under the Internal Rev-24
enue Code of 1986. 25
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‘‘§ 150411. Records and inspection 1
‘‘(a) R
ECORDS.—The corporation shall keep— 2
‘‘(1) correct and complete books and records of 3
accounts; 4
‘‘(2) minutes of any proceeding of the corpora-5
tion involving any of member of the corporation, the 6
board of directors, or any committee having author-7
ity under the board of directors; and 8
‘‘(3) at the principal office of the corporation, 9
a record of the names and addresses of all members 10
of the corporation having the right to vote. 11
‘‘(b) I
NSPECTION.— 12
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—All books and records of 13
the corporation may be inspected by any member 14
having the right to vote, or by any agent or attorney 15
of such a member, for any proper purpose, at any 16
reasonable time. 17
‘‘(2) E
FFECT.—Nothing in this section con-18
travenes— 19
‘‘(A) the laws of the jurisdiction under 20
which the corporation is incorporated; or 21
‘‘(B) the laws of those jurisdictions within 22
the United States and its territories within 23
which the corporation carries out activities in 24
furtherance of the purposes of the corporation. 25
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‘‘§ 150412. Service of process 1
‘‘With respect to service of process, the corporation 2
shall comply with the laws of— 3
‘‘(1) the jurisdiction under which the corpora-4
tion is incorporated; and 5
‘‘(2) those jurisdictions within the United 6
States and its territories within which the corpora-7
tion carries out activities in furtherance of the pur-8
poses of the corporation. 9
‘‘§ 150413. Liability for acts of officers and agents 10
‘‘The corporation shall be liable for the acts of the 11
officers and agents of the corporation acting within the 12
scope of their authority. 13
‘‘§ 150414. Failure to comply with requirements 14
‘‘If the corporation fails to comply with any of the 15
requirements of this chapter, including the requirement 16
under section 150410 to maintain its status as an organi-17
zation exempt from taxation, the charter granted by this 18
chapter shall expire. 19
‘‘§ 150415. Annual report 20
‘‘(a) I
NGENERAL.—The corporation shall submit to 21
Congress an annual report describing the activities of the 22
corporation during the preceding fiscal year. 23
‘‘(b) S
UBMITTALDATE.—Each annual report under 24
this section shall be submitted at the same time as the 25
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report of the audit of the corporation required by section 1
10101(b). 2
‘‘(c) R
EPORTNOTPUBLICDOCUMENT.—No annual 3
report under this section shall be printed as a public docu-4
ment.’’. 5
(b) C
LERICALAMENDMENT.—The table of chapters 6
for subtitle II of title 36, United States Code, is amended 7
by inserting after the item relating to chapter 1503 the 8
following: 9
‘‘1504. National American Indian Veterans, Incorporated .............. 150401’’.
Æ
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