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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 6203
January Session, 2021
LCO No. 5527
Referred to Committee on GOVERNMENT ADMINISTRATION
AND ELECTIONS
Introduced by:
(GAE)
AN ACT EXEMPTING CER TAIN RECORDS CONCERN ING NATIVE
AMERICAN CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE FROM PUBLI C DISCLOSURE
UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2021) (a) As used in this section, 1
(1) "records of traditional cultural knowledge" means records containing 2
information central to a community's cultural and social identity, 3
including, but not limited to, religious rites and rituals, location of 4
sacred sites, kinship membership statistics and oral histories and 5
traditions; (2) "tribal nation" means any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian 6
organization, as defined under NAGPRA, or any tribe recognized by 7
one or more state governments; and (3) "NAGPRA" means the Native 8
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 USC 3001 et seq. 9
(b) Any record of traditional cultural knowledge submitted by a 10
member, representative or lineal descendant of a tribal nation to any 11
public agency, as defined in section 1-200 of the general statutes, as part 12
of the consultation process to determine cultural affiliation under 13
NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10, shall not be 14
Committee Bill No. 6203
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deemed a public record and shall not be subject to disclosure under the 15
Freedom of Information Act, as defined in section 1-200 of the general 16
statutes. 17
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2021 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To facilitate the repatriation of Native American remains and artifacts
by enabling state institutions to keep confidential any records provided
as evidence that ancestral remains or artifacts were affiliated with a
particular tribe.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline, except
that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is not
underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. HADDAD, 54th Dist.
H.B. 6203