1. A.

   1. 1. If, in any year, the Oklahoma State Regents for Higher Education receive more than 300 applications for the Tulsa Reconciliation Education and Scholarship Program from residents of the City of Tulsa, the Regents shall determine the order of preference of the applicants based on the following factors:

      1. a. the family income of the applicant from taxable sources is not more than Seventy Thousand Dollars ($70,000.00) per year,
      2. b. the applicant attended a Tulsa public school where seventy-five percent (75%) or more of the students enrolled in the school qualify for the free and reduced lunch program, and
      3. c. the applicant resides in a census block area within the City of Tulsa where thirty percent (30%) or more of the residents are at or below the poverty level established by the United States Bureau of the Census.

   2. 2. The Regents may consider as a factor, when determining the order of preference of applicants, whether an applicant is a direct lineal descendant of a person who resided in the Greenwood Area in the City of Tulsa on April 30 through June 1, 1921. If the Regents use descent as a preference factor, it shall be applied to all applicants. The applicants shall be required to present verifiable documentation of their lineage. The Oklahoma Historical Society shall verify the authenticity and accuracy of the documentation submitted by an applicant and shall establish the boundaries of the Greenwood Area. Verifiable documentation shall include, but not be limited to the following:

      1. a. family records including family bibles, vital records, correspondence, memoirs, journals, diaries, unrecorded deeds, diplomas, certificates, or testimonials,
      2. b. public records including censuses, government records, military records, pensions, land bounty records, passport applications, passenger lists, original grants, naturalization or immigration records, records of entry, or state, province, or local records, or
      3. c. institutional records including church records, cemetery records and inscriptions, education institutions, insurance records, or societies and fraternal organizations.
2. B. The Regents shall promulgate rules establishing the application requirements for the program and the system for evaluating applications based on the preference factors.
3. C. Applicants who meet the preference factors listed in this section shall also be required to meet the eligibility criteria established in Section 18 of this act.

Laws 2001, HB 1178, c. 315 § 17, eff. July 1, 2001.