California governor signs bills compelling public universities to return Native American remains and cultural items – JURIST

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed two bills on Tuesday that compel California public universities to comply with the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act of 2001 (Repatriation Act), which requires state agencies that receive state funding to provide a process for the identification and repatriation of Native American remains and cultural items to the appropriate tribes. 

The first bill, AB 226 urges the University of California to report its progress toward completing its Repatriation Act duties annually. The bill also urges the university president to provide funding to support these efforts and urges the university to prohibit using Native American human remains or cultural items for teaching and research. In support of the bill, Assemblyman James Ramos cited two audit reports that reported that the university made “minimal progress” toward its Repatriation Act duties. Ramos authored both bills that Newsom signed on Tuesday.

In response to the bill’s passages, Ramos stated:

It is painfully disturbing that the UC campuses have failed to return the remains of our ancestors after 28 years. UC’s disrespectful and ongoing delays have prevented California’s tribes from fulfilling their sacred duty to rebury our ancestors. After almost 30 years, it is long past time for UC to meet this obligation.

Newsom also signed AB 389, which requires California State University to comply with its various duties under the Repatriation Act. Additionally, the bill prohibits the use of Native American remains or cultural items for teaching and research. This bill follows a 2023 report that the university possesses almost 700,000 remains and items despite its duties to return them. In response to this bill being signed, Ramos stated:

AB 389 will ensure that decades after a federal and state requirement to repatriate the remains of our ancestors, CSU takes this responsibility seriously. These bones are the remains of our ancestors and deserve respectful reburial. It is a fundamental human right to be buried according to the customs of one’s people. I know of no other group denied this right.

Before the California 2001 Repatriation Act, the federal government passed a similar law in 1990 that applies to federal agencies or museums that receive federal funding.