§ 8014

(a) A lineal descendent claiming a relationship with, and requesting return of, Native American human remains or cultural items listed in the inventory or summary of an agency or museum, or that requests the return of human remains or cultural items that are not listed in the inventory or summary of an agency or museum but that are believed to be in the possession or control of the agency or museum, shall do both of the following:

(1) File a claim for the human remains and cultural items with the commission and with the agency or museum believed to have possession or control.

(2) Demonstrate that the claimant can trace their ancestry by means of the traditional kinship or village system of the appropriate California Indian tribe, or by the common law system of descendancy, to a known individual whose human remains or cultural items are being claimed.

(b) A California Indian tribe claiming a relationship, state cultural affiliation, or state aboriginal territory with, and requesting return of, human remains or cultural items listed in the inventory or summary of an agency or museum, or that requests the return of human remains or cultural items that are not listed in the inventory or summary of an agency or museum but that are believed to be in the possession or control of the agency or museum, shall do both of the following:

(1) File a claim for the human remains and cultural items with the commission and with the agency or museum believed to have possession or control.

(2) Demonstrate one or both of the following:

(A) There is a relationship of shared group identity that can reasonably be traced historically or precontact with an earlier identifiable group from which the human remains or cultural items originated and the claiming California Indian tribe. Evidence of state cultural affiliation need not be provided when reasonably established by a finding published in the Federal Register, in compliance with the federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. Sec. 3001 et seq.).

(B) The human remains or cultural items were removed from the state aboriginal territory of the claiming California Indian tribe.

(Amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 79, Sec. 30. (SB 135) Effective July 13, 2026.)