BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2514
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2514 (Eng)
As Amended April 21, 2008
Majority vote
ARTS, ENTERTAINMENT, SPORTS 6-3 LOCAL
GOVERNMENT 5-1
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|Ayes:|Karnette, Coto, Davis, |Ayes:|Caballero, De La Torre, |
| |De Leon, | |Lieber, Saldana, |
| |Ma, Swanson | |DeSaulnier |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Sharon Runner, Plescia, |Nays:|Smyth |
| |Strickland | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Leno, Caballero, Davis, | | |
| |DeSaulnier, Furutani, | | |
| |Huffman, Karnette, Berg, | | |
| |Mullin, Ma, Nava, Solorio | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Walters, Emmerson, La | | |
| |Malfa, Nakanishi, Sharon | | |
| |Runner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Establishes new requirements for the protection of
non-Native American human remains discovered as the result of an
excavation project. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the county coroner, when he/she has reason to believe
that remains not under their authority are not those of a
Native American, to notify the Office of Historic Preservation
(OHP), within the Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR).
2)Requires OHP, in turn, to notify any local cultural and
historical organizations that have informed the office that
they wish to be notified by registering with the office. (OHP
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may charge a fee for this registration service.)
3)Authorizes a local cultural and historical organization, with
the landowner's permission, to inspect the site of the
discovered remains within 48 hours and recommend a means of
treatment or disposition.
4)Requires the landowner, upon discovery of the remains, to
secure the immediate vicinity and to confer with the local
cultural and historical organizations all reasonable options
regarding the preference for treatment.
5)Requires the landowner, whenever an agreement cannot be
reached with the local cultural and historical organizations,
to reinter the remains and any items associated with the
remains with appropriate dignity on the property in a location
not subject to further subsurface disturbance.
6)Authorizes OHP to mediate any dispute regarding the treatment
and disposition of the remains.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, DPR would incur ongoing General Fund costs of about
$60,000 for one-half position to establish the list of local
cultural and historical organizations, contact these
organizations when necessary, and provide mediation services
when requested.
COMMENTS :
1)Prior legislation: AB 2641 (Coto), Chapter 863, Statutes of
2006, requires that a landowner who discovers Native American
human remains on his/her property must ensure that the
immediate vicinity of the remains' discovery site is not
disturbed until he or she has discussed and conferred with the
most likely descendants in a meaningful and timely way
concerning the descendants' recommendations or preferences for
the treatment of the remains. The county coroner is required
to make a determination that the remains are, or are likely to
be, of Native American origin, and to notify the Native
American Heritage Commission, which in turn is charged with
notifying the most likely descendants. The landowner is not
compelled to allow the descendants onto his/her land, and may,
as a result of a lack of identification or participation of a
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most likely descendant or disagreement over the descendants'
recommendations, reinter Native American human remains so long
as he/she takes specified actions to ensure that the site of
the reinterment is adequately protected.
2)Background event: In 2005, Los Angeles Metropolitan
Transportation Authority (MTA) crews unearthed dozens of human
remains during the construction of the Gold Line light rail
system on Los Angeles County property near Evergreen Cemetery.
Artifacts that were discovered at the site were clearly
Chinese and were dated back to the late 1800s and the early
1900s, and many of the human remains were determined to be of
Chinese origin. It is believed that these immigrants were
likely poor railroad workers who were prevented from reuniting
with their families in China as result of the Chinese
Exclusion Act. MTA responded by contracting with an
archeology firm to study the origin of the human remains, and
later formed an ad hoc committee to provide direction on the
issue. However, local community groups expressed concern over
the fact that it took MTA six months to inform them of the
discovery, therefore limiting their role in the deliberations
of how to best handle these important remains.
3)Author's stated need and explanation of legislation: As
California's communities continue to grow and expand, the
author believes that more and more discoveries of human
remains or "lost" cemeteries will occur. The author and
supporters of AB 2514 are concerned because no process
equivalent to the one created by AB 2641 exists to deal with
the discovery of non-Native American human remains.
AB 2514 attempts to create a system modeled on AB 2641 to
allow for proper notification, consultation, and cultural
consideration when human remains are discovered on privately
owned land.
Analysis Prepared by: Dana Mitchell/A.,E.,S.,T. & I.M./ (916)
319-3450
FN: 0004658