Calendar No. 564

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1970

[Report No. 104–350]

A BILL

To amend the National Museum of the American

and for other purposes.Indian Act to make improvements in the Act,

AUGUST 2, 1996

Reported without amendment
II

Calendar No. 564

104TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 1970

[Report No. 104–350]

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

AUGUST 2, 1996

Reported by Mr. MCCAIN, without amendment

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,
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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE; REFERENCES.

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

3 ‘‘National Museum of the American Indian Act Amend4 ments of 1996’’.

5 (b) REFERENCES.—Whenever in this Act an amend6 ment or repeal is expressed in terms of an amendment

7 to or repeal of a section or other provision, the reference

8 shall be considered to be made to a section or other provi9 sion of the National Museum of the American Indian Act

10 (20 U.S.C. 80q et seq.).

11 SEC. 2. BOARD OF TRUSTEES.

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

13 amended by striking ‘‘an Assistant Secretary’’ and insert14 ing ‘‘a senior official’’.

15 SEC. 3. INVENTORY.

16 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 11(a) (20 U.S.C. 80q–

17 9(a)) is amended—

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

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

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

21 and

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

23 paragraphs:

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

25 Smithsonian Institution under paragraph (1) shall be

26 completed not later than June 1, 1998.
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1 ‘‘(3) For purposes of this subsection, the term ‘inven2 tory’ means a simple, itemized list that, to the extent prac3 ticable, identifies, based upon available information held

4 by the Smithsonian Institution, the geographic and cul5 tural affiliation of the remains and objects referred to in

6 paragraph (1).’’.

7 (b) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—Section

8 11(f) (20 U.S.C. 80q–9(f)) is amended by striking ‘‘to

9 carry out this section’’ and inserting ‘‘to carry out this

10 section and section 11A’’.

11 SEC. 4. SUMMARY AND REPATRIATION OF UNASSOCIATED

12 FUNERARY OBJECTS, SACRED OBJECTS, AND

13 CULTURAL PATRIMONY.

14 The National Museum of the American Indian Act

15 (20 U.S.C. 80q et seq.) is amended by inserting after sec16 tion 11 the following new section:

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

18 UNASSOCIATED FUNERARY OBJECTS, SA19 CRED OBJECTS, AND CULTURAL PATRIMONY.

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

21 the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution shall provide

22 a written summary that contains a summary of

23 unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, and objects

24 of cultural patrimony (as those terms are defined in sub25 paragraphs (B), (C), and (D), respectively, of section 2(3)
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1 of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatri2 ation Act (25 U.S.C. 3001(3)), based upon available infor3 mation held by the Smithsonian Institution. The summary

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

5 the information required under section 6 of the Native

6 American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25

7 U.S.C. 3004).

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

9 Native American unassociated funerary objects, sacred ob10 jects, and objects of cultural patrimony has been estab11 lished in the summary prepared pursuant to

12 subsection (a), or where a requesting Indian tribe or Na13 tive Hawaiian organization can show cultural affiliation

14 by a preponderance of the evidence based upon geographi15 cal, kinship, biological, archaeological, anthropological, lin16 guistic, folkloric, oral traditional, historical, or other rel17 evant information or expert opinion, then the Smithsonian

18 Institution shall expeditiously return such unassociated fu19 nerary object, sacred object, or object of cultural pat20 rimony where—

21 ‘‘(1) the requesting party is the direct lineal de22 scendant of an individual who owned the

23 unassociated funerary object or sacred object;

24 ‘‘(2) the requesting Indian tribe or Native Ha25 waiian organization can show that the object was
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1 owned or controlled by the Indian tribe or Native

2 Hawaiian organization; or

3 ‘‘(3) the requesting Indian tribe or Native Ha4 waiian organization can show that the unassociated

5 funerary object or sacred object was owned or con6 trolled by a member thereof, provided that in the

7 case where an unassociated funerary object or sacred

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

9 identifiable lineal descendants of said member or the

10 lineal descendants, upon notice, have failed to make

11 a claim for the object.

12 ‘‘(c) STANDARD OF REPATRIATION.—If a known lin13 eal descendant or an Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian or14 ganization requests the return of Native American

15 unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects

16 of cultural patrimony pursuant to this Act and presents

17 evidence which, if standing alone before the introduction

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

19 the Smithsonian Institution did not have the right of pos20 session, then the Smithsonian Institution shall return such

21 objects unless it can overcome such inference and prove

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

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

24 Smithsonian Institution which repatriates any item in

25 good faith pursuant to this Act shall not be liable for
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1 claims by an aggrieved party or for claims of fiduciary

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

3 inconsistent with the provisions of this Act.

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

5 section may be construed to prevent the Secretary of the

6 Smithsonian Institution, with respect to any museum of

7 the Smithsonian Institution, from making an inventory or

8 preparing a written summary or carrying out the repatri9 ation of unassociated funerary objects, sacred objects, or

10 objects of cultural patrimony in a manner that exceeds

11 the requirements of this Act.

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

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

14 organization’ has the meaning provided that term in sec15 tion 2(11) of the Native American Graves Protection and

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

17 SEC. 5. SPECIAL COMMITTEE.

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

19 (1) in the first sentence of subsection (a), by in20 serting ‘‘and unassociated funerary objects, sacred

21 objects, and objects of cultural patrimony under sec22 tion 11A’’ before the period; and

23 (2) in subsection (b)—

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

25 by striking ‘‘five’’ and inserting ‘‘7’’;
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1 (B) in paragraph (1)—

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

3 ‘‘4’’; and

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

5 (C) by redesignating paragraph (2) as

6 paragraph (3); and

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

8 following:

9 ‘‘(2) at least 2 members shall be traditional In10 dian religious leaders; and’’.