House Bill No. 6203
Public Act No. 21-114
AN ACT EXEMPTING CERTAIN RECORDS CONCERNING NATIVE
AMERICAN CULTURAL KNOWLEDGE FROM PUBLIC
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) "records of traditional cultural knowledge" means records containing
information central to a community's cultural and social identity,
including, but not limited to, religious rites and rituals, location of
sacred sites, kinship membership statistics and oral histories and
traditions; (2) "tribal nation" means any Indian tribe or Native Hawaiian
organization, as defined under NAGPRA, or any tribe recognized by
one or more state governments; and (3) "NAGPRA" means the Native
American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, 25 USC 3001 et seq.
(b) Any record of traditional cultural knowledge submitted by a
member, representative or lineal descendant of a tribal nation to any
public agency, as defined in section 1-200 of the general statutes, as part
of the consultation process to determine cultural affiliation under
NAGPRA and its implementing regulations, 43 CFR 10, shall not be
deemed a public record and shall not be subject to disclosure under the
Freedom of Information Act, as defined in section 1-200 of the general
statutes. House Bill No. 6203
Public Act No. 21-114 2 of 2