The public has until Wednesday, Jan. 12, 2023, to comment on a proposed rule by the U.S. Department of the Interior that revises a law enacted in 1990 that requires museums and federal agencies to identify Native American human remains and more to repatriate them.

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act requires “a systematic process for returning human remains, funerary objects, sacred objects, or objects of cultural patrimony to Native American and Alaska Native Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations,” a Department of the Interior press release said. Proposed changes would streamline requirements for inventorying and identifying human remains and cultural items. 

Comments on the proposed rule may be made online at www.regulations.gov.

“The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act is an important law that helps us heal from some of the more painful times in our past by empowering Tribes to protect what is sacred to them,” Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland said in the release. “These changes to the Department's NAGPRA regulations are long overdue and will strengthen our ability to enforce the law and help Tribes in the return of ancestors and sacred cultural objects.”

The Department of the Interior received over 700 comments as it had consultations with 71 Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations on the draft proposal, the release said.

“Key feedback from these consultations is now reflected in the updated proposed revisions, including: Strengthening the authority and role of Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations in the repatriation process; addressing barriers to timely and successful disposition and repatriation; documenting and addressing requests of Tribes and Native Hawaiian organizations when human remains or cultural items are discovered on federal or Tribal lands before items are further disturbed, and increasing transparency and reporting of holdings or collections,” the release said. 

The proposed revisions are found on the Federal Register.

“Repatriation is a sacred responsibility for many Indigenous communities. After consulting with Tribal Nations across the United States, the National Park Service welcomes additional input on improvements to the NAGPRA regulations,” National Park Service Director Chuck Sams said in the release. “We hope these changes will make it easier for proper repatriation and reburial of Indigenous ancestors and cultural items.”