II

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1970

To amend the National Museum of the American Indian Act to make

improvements in the Act, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 18, 1996

Mr. MCCAIN (for himself, Mr. INOUYE, Mr. THOMAS, and Mr. CAMPBELL) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs

A BILL

To amend the National Museum of the American Indian

Act to make improvements in the Act, and for other

purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES.

4 (a) SHORT TITLE.—This Act may be cited as the

5 ‘‘National Museum of the American Indian Act Amend6 ments of 1996’’.

7 (b) REFERENCES.—Whenever in this Act an amend8 ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment

9 to or repeal of a section or other provision, the reference
2

•S 1970 IS

1 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi2 sion of the National Museum of the American Indian Act

3 (20 U.S.C. 80q et seq.).

4 SEC. 2. BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

5 Section 5(f)(1)(B) (20 U.S.C. 80q–3(f)(1)(B)) is

6 amended by striking ‘‘an Assistant Secretary’’ and insert7 ing ‘‘a senior official’’.

8 SEC. 3. INVENTORY.

9 Section 11(a) (20 U.S.C. 80q–9) is amended—

10 (1) by striking ‘‘(1)’’ and inserting ‘‘(A)’’;

11 (2) by striking ‘‘(2)’’ and inserting ‘‘(B)’’;

12 (3) by inserting ‘‘(1)’’ before ‘‘The Secretary’’;

13 and

14 (4) by adding at the end the following new

15 paragraphs:

16 ‘‘(2) The inventory made by the Secretary of the

17 Smithsonian Institution under paragraph (1) shall be

18 completed not later than June 1, 1998.

19 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘inven20 tory’ means a simple, itemized list that, to the extent prac21 ticable, identifies, based upon available information held

22 by the Smithsonian Institution, the geographic and cul23 tural affiliation of the remains and objects referred to in

24 paragraph (1).’’.
3

•S 1970 IS

1 SEC. 4. SUMMARY AND REPATRIATION OF UNASSOCIATED

2 FUNERARY OBJECTS, SACRED OBJECTS, AND

3 CULTURAL PATRIMONY.

4 The National Museum of the American Indian Act

5 is amended by inserting after section 11 the following new

6 section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 11A. SUMMARY AND REPATRIATION OF

8 UNASSOCIATED FUNERARY OBJECTS, SA9 CRED OBJECTS, AND CULTURAL PATRIMONY.

10 ‘‘(a) SUMMARY.—Not later than December 31, 1996,

11 the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution shall provide

12 a written summary that contains a summary of

13 unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects

14 of cultural patrimony (as those terms are defined in sub15 paragraphs (B), (C), and (D), respectively, of section 2(3)

16 of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatri17 ation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001(3)), based upon available infor18 mation held by the Smithsonian Institution. The summary

19 required under this section shall include, at a minimum,

20 the information required under section 6 of the Native

21 American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25

22 U.S.C. 3004).

23 ‘‘(b) REPATRIATION.—Where cultural affiliation of

24 Native American unassociated funerary objects, sacred ob25 jects, and objects of cultural patrimony has been estab26 lished in the summary prepared pursuant to
4

•S 1970 IS

1 subsection (a), or where a requesting Indian tribe or Na2 tive Hawaiian organization can show cultural affiliation

3 by a preponderance of the evidence based upon geographi4 cal, kinship, biological, archaeological, anthropological, lin5 guistic, folkloric, oral traditional, historical, or other rel6 evant information or expert opinion, then the Smithsonian

7 Institution shall expeditiously return such unassociated fu8 nerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural pat9 rimony where—

10 ‘‘(1) the requesting party is the direct lineal de11 scendant of an individual who owned the

12 unassociated funerary object or sacred object;

13 ‘‘(2) the requesting Indian tribe or Native Ha14 waiian organization can show that the object was

15 owned or controlled by the Indian tribe or Native

16 Hawaiian organization; or

17 ‘‘(3) the requesting Indian tribe or Native Ha18 waiian organization can show that the unassociated

19 funerary object or sacred object was owned or con20 trolled by a member thereof, provided that in the

21 case where an unassociated funerary object or sacred

22 object was owned by a member thereof, there are no

23 identifiable lineal descendants of said member or the

24 lineal descendants, upon notice, have failed to make

25 a claim for the object.
5

•S 1970 IS

1 ‘‘(c) STANDARD OF REPATRIATION.—If a known lin2 eal descendant or an Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian or3 ganization requests the return of Native American

4 unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects

5 of cultural patrimony pursuant to this Act and presents

6 evidence which, if standing alone before the introduction

7 of evidence to the contrary, would support a finding that

8 the Smithsonian Institution did not have the right of pos9 session, then the Smithsonian Institution shall return such

10 objects unless it can overcome such inference and prove

11 that it has a right of possession to the objects.

12 ‘‘(d) MUSEUM OBLIGATION.—Any museum of the

13 Smithsonian Institution which repatriates any item in

14 good faith pursuant to this Act shall not be liable for

15 claims by an aggrieved party or for claims of fiduciary

16 duty, public trust, or violations of applicable law that are

17 inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

18 ‘‘(e) STATUTORY CONSTRUCTION.—Nothing in this

19 section may be construed to prevent the Secretary of the

20 Smithsonian Institution, with respect to any museum of

21 the Smithsonian Institution, from making an inventory or

22 preparing a written summary or carrying out the repatri23 ation of Native American human remains, associated and

24 unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects
6

•S 1970 IS

1 of cultural patrimony in a manner that exceeds the re2 quirements of this section.

3 ‘‘(f) NATIVE HAWAIIAN ORGANIZATION DEFINED.—

4 For purposes of this section, the term ‘Native Hawaiian

5 organization’ has the meaning provided that term in sec6 tion 2(11) of the Native American Graves Protection and

7 Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001(11)).’’.

8 SEC. 5. SPECIAL COMMITTEE.

9 Section 12 (20 U.S.C. 80q–10) is amended—

10 (1) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by in11 serting ‘‘and unassociated funerary objects, sacred

12 objects, and objects of cultural patrimony under sec13 tion 11A’’ before the period; and

14 (2) in subsection (b)—

15 (A) in the matter preceding paragraph (1),

16 by striking ‘‘five’’ and inserting ‘‘7’’;

17 (B) in paragraph (1)—

18 (i) by striking ‘‘three’’ and inserting

19 ‘‘4’’; and

20 (ii) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end;

21 (C) by redesignating paragraph (2) as

22 paragraph (3); and

23 (D) by inserting after paragraph (1) the

24 following:
7

•S 1970 IS

1 ‘‘(2) at least 2 members shall be traditional In2 dian religious leaders; and’’ .

Æ