[Congressional Bills 105th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 749 Introduced in House (IH)]







105th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 749

To amend the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to 
 provide for improved notification and consent, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           February 13, 1997

   Mr. Abercrombie (for himself and Mr. Faleomavaega) 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 improved notification and consent, and for other purposes.

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

SECTION 1. AMENDMENTS TO THE NATIVE AMERICAN GRAVES PROTECTION AND 
              REPATRIATION ACT.

    (a) Written Consent Required if Native American Remains Are 
Excavated or Removed for Purposes of Study.--Section 3(c) of the Native 
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3002(c)) is 
amended--
            (1) in paragraph (3), by striking ``and'' at the end of the 
        paragraph;
            (2) in paragraph (4), by striking the period and inserting 
        ``; and''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following:
            ``(5) in the case of any intentional excavation or removal 
        of Native American human remains for purposes of study, such 
        remains are excavated or removed after written consent is 
        obtained from--
                    ``(A) lineal descendants, if known or readily 
                ascertainable; or
                    ``(B) in any case in which lineal descendants 
                cannot be readily ascertained, each appropriate Indian 
                tribe or Native Hawaiian organization.
``The requirement under paragraph (1) shall not be interpreted as 
allowing or requiring, in the absence of the consent of each 
appropriate Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian organization, any 
recordation or analysis that is in addition to any recordation or 
analysis that is otherwise allowed or required under this Act.''.
    (b) Requirements for Inadvertent Discoveries.--Section 3(d) of the 
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 
3002(d)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in the first sentence, by striking ``with 
                respect to Federal lands'' and inserting ``with respect 
                to those Federal lands''; and
                    (B) by inserting after the first sentence the 
                following: ``In any case in which a Federal agency or 
                instrumentality receives notice of a discovery of 
                Native American cultural items on lands with respect to 
                which the Federal agency or instrumentality has primary 
                management authority, the appropriate official of the 
                Federal agency or instrumentality shall notify, in 
                writing, each appropriate Indian tribe or Native 
                Hawaiian organization. The notification required under 
                the preceding sentence shall be provided not later than 
                3 business days after the date on which the Federal 
                agency or instrumentality receives notification of the 
                discovery.''; and
            (2) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following 
        new sentence: ``Any person or entity that controls a cultural 
        item referred to in the preceding sentence shall comply with 
        the applicable requirements of subsection (c).''.
    (c) Review Committee.--Section 8(c)(5) of the Native American 
Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3006(c)(5)) is 
amended--
            (1) by inserting ``and associated funerary objects'' after 
        ``culturally unidentifiable human remains''; and
            (2) by striking ``for developing a process for disposition 
        of such remains'' and inserting ``for developing a process for 
        the disposition of such remains and associated funerary 
        objects''.
    (d) Enforcement.--Section 9 of the Native American Graves 
Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3007) is amended by adding 
at the end the following:
    ``(e) Enforcement.--(1) Subject to paragraph (2) and further 
appropriations by Congress, the amounts collected by the Secretary as 
penalties under this section shall be used to supplement the amounts 
made available by appropriations for conducting enforcement activities 
related to this section.
    ``(2) In carrying out enforcement activities related to this 
section, the Secretary may--
            ``(A) pay any person who furnishes information that leads 
        to the assessment of a civil penalty under this section (other 
        than an officer or employee of the Federal Government or a 
        State or local government, including a tribal government, who 
        furnishes or who renders service in the performance of official 
        duties) the lesser of--
                    ``(i) half of the amount of the civil penalty; or
                    ``(ii) $1,000; and
            ``(B) reduce the amount of a civil penalty that would 
        otherwise be assessed under this section if the violator 
        against whom the civil penalty is assessed agrees to pay to the 
        aggrieved parties involved an aggregate amount of restitution 
        not to exceed the amount of such reduction.''.
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