[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2893 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2893

To amend the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to 
 provide for appropriate study and repatriation of remains for which a 
           cultural affiliation is not readily ascertainable.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            November 7, 1997

  Mr. Hastings of Washington introduced the following bill; which was 
                 referred to the Committee on Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to 
 provide for appropriate study and repatriation of remains for which a 
           cultural affiliation is not readily ascertainable.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. OWNERSHIP.

    (a) Repeal of Ownership Based on Aboriginal Lands.--Paragraph (2) 
of section 3(a) of the Native American Graves Protection and 
Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3002(a)) is amended by inserting ``or'' at 
the end of subparagraph (A), by striking ``; or'' at the end of 
subparagraph (B) and inserting a period, and by striking subparagraph 
(C).
    (b) Inadvertent Discovery.--Subsection (d) of section 3 of the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3002) 
is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1), by inserting ``those'' before 
        ``Federal lands''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following 
        new sentence: ``Any person or entity that disposes of or 
        controls a cultural item referred to in the preceding sentence 
        shall comply with the applicable requirements of subsection 
        (c).''.
    (c) Recording and Status of Items Excavated or Discovered After 
November 16, 1990.--Section 3 of the Native American Graves Protection 
and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3002) is amended by adding at the end 
the following new subsection:
    ``(f) Recording and Status of Items Excavated or Discovered After 
November 16, 1990.--Cultural items excavated or discovered after 
November 16, 1990, except those items whose ownership or control is 
established under paragraph (1) or paragraph (2)(A) of subsection (a)--
            ``(1) shall be reasonably recorded according to generally 
        accepted scientific standards;
            ``(2) shall remain under the control of the agency having 
        primary management authority for the land on which the cultural 
        item was excavated or discovered until 90 days after the 
        publication in the Federal Register of a notice setting out a 
        general description of the item, its estimated age, and the 
        general area of discovery; and
            ``(3) are subject to the study provisions of subsection 
        7(b).''.

SEC. 2. LIMITED AUTHORIZATION FOR STUDY.

    The last sentence of section 5(b) of the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3003(b)) is amended by 
inserting ``, except as expressly set forth in sections 3(f) and 
7(b),'' after ``mean, and''.

SEC. 3. STUDY AND RECORDING.

    Subsection (b) of section 7 of the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3005) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(b) Study and Recording.--(1) In cases of human remains and 
associated funerary objects for which no lineal descendants have been 
identified and in cases of other cultural items:
            ``(A) If the cultural affiliation of a cultural item has 
        not been established, studies may be conducted in an attempt to 
        establish such an affiliation or to obtain scientific, 
        historical, or cultural information. If the cultural 
        affiliation of a cultural item is determined pursuant to this 
        subparagraph, the Federal agency or museum having custody of 
        the cultural item shall, not later than 90 days after such 
        determination, notify any culturally affiliated Indian tribe or 
        Native Hawaiian organization of their affiliation. Such notice 
        shall be given in the manner specified in paragraphs (2) and 
        (3) of section 5(d).
            ``(B) If the cultural affiliation of a cultural item has 
        been established with an Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian 
        organization, studies of such item may be conducted if needed 
        for the completion of a specific scientific study, the outcome 
        of which is reasonably expected to provide significant new 
        information concerning the history or prehistory of the United 
        States. If the culturally affiliated tribe or organization 
        requests the return of the cultural item, the Federal agency or 
        museum shall return such item to the Indian tribe or Native 
        Hawaiian organization not later than 90 days after the date on 
        which the scientific study is completed. Study of a cultural 
        item under this subparagraph shall not be permitted to delay 
        return of the item for more than 180 days after the item is 
        made available for study, unless a longer period of study is 
        agreed upon by the culturally affiliated tribe or organization 
        that has requested return of the cultural item.
    ``(2) Not later than 180 days after a study conducted under this 
subsection is completed, the Federal agency or museum with custody of 
the cultural item shall provide a report of the results of the study to 
any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization that has an 
established cultural affiliation with the cultural item studied.
    ``(3) If study of a cultural item pursuant to subparagraph (A) or 
(B) of paragraph (1) is requested, the Federal agency or museum with 
custody of such item must make such item reasonably available for such 
study unless the Secretary determines that the Federal agency or museum 
has presented clear and convincing evidence that the potential 
scientific benefit of the requested study is substantially outweighed 
under the circumstances by curatorial, cultural, or other reasonable 
considerations.
    ``(4) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to require any 
museum to undertake or permit any study of a cultural item that is 
contrary to policies of the museum or to its prior agreements.''.
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