The Abridged version:
- AB 977 requires Cal State universities to consult with California Native American tribes on identifying reburial sites.
- The new law builds on the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, passed by the federal government in 1990.
- The Cal State system has allocated more than $3.7 million between 2024 and 2026 to support repatriation and reburial efforts.
Editor’s note: This story was reported by journalism students at Sacramento State University, under the direction of associate professor and Abridged contributor Phillip Reese.
A new law requires the California State University system to consult with California tribes on a policy for reburial sites for Native American human remains, a change that will impact Sacramento State University.
Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assemblymember James Ramos’ bill AB 977 into law in September. The bill focuses on the burial of repatriated remains and instructs the CSU to identify burial sites “in the northern, central and southern regions of the state.”
“This bill would outline a process for tribes who do not have available land to rebury repatriated remains,” Ramos said during an Assembly floor hearing on Sept. 2, featured by CalMatters on its Digital Democracy platform.
According to the CSU’s Native American Repatriation Annual Report published Dec. 20, 2024, the CSU identified 2,245 ancestral remains and over 1 million cultural items across 21 campuses. Sacramento State is one of five campuses that have made significant progress in repatriation efforts, with 1,639 ancestors and 91,235 cultural items reported as of November 2024.
AB 977 was supported by the California Faculty Association, Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi Yokut Tribe, Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, Society for California Archaeology and the CSU Office of the Chancellor. Since 2015, organizations supporting the bill have donated over $5 million to legislators, including $2 million to members of the committee. The faculty association was one of the largest donors, contributing over $3 million.
Building on federal law
Maria Lopez, communications director for Ramos, said the bill is a collaborative process between the CSUs and tribes to identify potential burial sites. Lopez said institutions seem to be aware of the Legislature and the governor’s attention to delays in carrying out repatriation efforts.
“People recognize that (federal law) has not been implemented, certainly in a timely manner,” Lopez said. “Because of Assemblymember Ramos’ interest and focus on this, state institutions have realized it’s not going to be ignored.”
The federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, which became law in 1990, was created to protect and return Native American human remains and cultural items back to their tribes. California passed a similar version in 2001.
CSU campuses must now consult with tribes on how to handle items and remains. Next, they need to compile inventories, work with tribes to determine affiliation and then submit a notice in the Federal Register. Once a valid claim is received, campuses relinquish the items or remains to the tribe.
Mark Wheeler, senior adviser to Sacramento State President Luke Wood and chief administrator of the Office of Tribal Affairs, said AB 977 is helpful to Sacramento State’s efforts to work with Native communities to repatriate.
“Their ancestors are able to rest and find peace,” Wheeler said. “This law is really helpful for us, because it helps to authorize us to do what we were hoping to do.”
Prior to AB 977, Ramos has worked on previous repatriation bills, such as AB 226 and AB 389. Lopez said Ramos is determined to continue spotlighting the Native American community so that remains and objects are returned and properly buried.
“Attitudes are beginning to shift,” Lopez said. “They don’t see the cultural items, and certainly the human remains as trophies anymore.”
Letting the tribes lead
Samantha Cypret, executive director of the Office of Tribal Relations for the CSU Chancellor’s Office, said the policy is centered around a consultation-first approach. She explained the policy was developed through 30 systemwide tribal listening sessions along with formal consultations with any tribe that made a request.
“Tribal voices are not only centered throughout the process, but are really leading the way, in every step of the policy development formation and implementation,” Cypret said.
In support, the CSU allocated $3.7 million for the fiscal years 2024-2026 to the 21 campuses with collections subject to the law. The Chancellor’s Office has directed this funding to support campus repatriation and reburial work, Cypret said. Guidance is provided by the Office of Tribal Relations along with systemwide coordinator Adrienne Tafoya, two outside counsels and an osteologist.
There is no set timeline for repatriation of reburial remains.
“Our directive to campuses is that they need to be ready to move at the pace of the tribes,” Cypret said. “If we were to impose a timeline, I feel like that wouldn’t be as respectful to tribal sovereignty, because they should be the ones imposing a deadline on us.”
An opposing voice
Not everyone is supportive of the effort. Elizabeth Weiss, professor emeritus of anthropology at San Jose State and a National Association of Scholars board member, has written articles such as “The Study of California’s Past is Dead and Reburied.” Weiss said she opposes repatriation and began writing about Native American repatriation laws out of concern that they are being written in a way that places sentiment over science.
“What’s going to happen is basically California archaeology is going to disappear, but also collections that teach students how to identify skeletal remains in a forensic setting are going to disappear,” Weiss said. “We’re going to lose this very important knowledge.”
In 2021, Weiss held a skull and posted a picture of it online, gaining backlash from the Native community, according to the Native American Heritage Commission. This led to her resignation for the 2023-2024 school year after a settlement agreement with San Jose State that resulted from a lawsuit in 2022.
Weiss said she’s always had a love for anatomy as an anthropologist and feels there are ways to respect people other than reburial such as “reconstructing their lives as accurately as possible.”
“We talk about ethnocentrism in anthropology, and I think it’s incredibly ethnocentric to think that the only way to treat skeletal remains is burial,” Weiss said.
For Indigenous students like Isabela Chase, a junior at Sacramento State, the new law is a step in the right direction but a reminder of a long-overdue process.
“I’m concerned about how long it has taken to return remains and items, and I worry that the process hasn’t always been as transparent, respectful or as collaborative with tribes as it should be,” Chase said.
Chase said the law may help other students feel more recognized on campus “but it might also bring up a lot of emotional pain as they’re reminded that their ancestors were taken and stored for so long.”
CSU officials said they understand these concerns and are committed to tackling the legacy head-on.
“We recognize that we have a painful legacy with holding ancestors (remains) and other cultural items within our system,” Cypret said. “And so we’re very grateful for Assemblymember Ramos, for his leadership in working with us, so that we can start to fulfill that responsibility.”