Government Affairs

This legislation summary is provided by our state contact for the SAAs, Brad Vierra. Their lobyist sends him
periodic updates which the then passes on to NMAC:

Congress returns from its August recess and the conventions to a short legislative session. It is likely that consideration
of major issues, including the Fiscal Year 2009 appropriations bills, will likely be deferred until after the November
elections, or even until next year. Progress on some bills important to archaeology is still possible, however, including final
action on a measure to authorize Preserve America and Save America's Treasures.

Legislation

S. 1449- Rocky Mountain Science Collections Center Act
Sponsor- Sen. Salazar (D-CO)
Status- hearings held by the Energy and Natural Resources Subcommittee on National Parks November 8, 2007.
The bill would provide a grant to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science in Colorado to construct the Rocky Mountain
Science Collections Center, a secure curation
facility. Federal funds would have to be matched by non-federal funds. A House companion measure (H.R. 2501) was
introduced by Rep. DeGette (D-CO) and is pending before the House Resources Committee.

S. 1860- Violent Crime Control Act
Sponsor- Sen. Cornyn (R-TX)
Status- pending before Senate Judiciary Committee.
The legislation contains a provision that would increase the maximum sentences for those convicted of violating the
Archaeological Resources Protection Act (ARPA). The bill would also strengthen ARPA's asset forfeiture penalties. Similar
legislation was introduced in previous Congresses. The companion measure, H.R. 3156, is pending before the House
Financial Services Committee.

S. 2087 - Native American Omnibus Act
Sponsor- Sen. Dorgan (D-ND)
Status - pending before the full Senate.
The measure contains a provision that would amend the
Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) to change the definition of the term "Native American"
for the purposes of that law. The provision is designed to resolve the controversy that arose from the finding of a federal
district court that the remains known as "Kennewick Man" were not Native American for the purposes of NAGPRA. The
provision would clarify that ancient remains such as Kennewick Man would be considered Native American under the law.
Similar attempts to amend the definition have been made in several previous Congresses.

H.R. 3981- Preserve America and Save America's
Treasures Act
Sponsor- Rep. Miller (D-NC)
Status- passed by full House.
The legislation is designed to codify into law the Preserve America and Save America's Treasures programs, both of which
were created by Executive Order in 2003 and 1998, respectively. A companion bill, S. 2262, is pending before the full
Senate.

H.R. 4027
Sponsor- Rep. Hastings (R-WA)
Status- introduced 10/31/07
The legislation would amend the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act to require a significant
relationship be found between remains discovered on Federal lands and presently existing Native American tribes for those
remains to be applicable under the Act. The sponsor, Rep. Hastings, introduced identical legislation in the last Congress.

In the Agencies

The Advisory Council on Historic Preservation approved a new policy statement, "Archaeology, Heritage Tourism, and
Education", which is designed to increase the public's appreciation of archaeological resources through education and
tourism initiatives. The policy sets out guidelines for using archaeological sites as educational and tourism resources while
taking the sensitive nature and preservation needs of such places into consideration. In July SAA submitted comments on
the proposed policy. You can read the Heritage Tourism Policy at http://www.achp.gov/. ; You can read the SAA
comments at http://www.saa.org/goverment/index.html.

The State Department's Cultural Property Advisory Committee held a public session on July 24 to consider a proposal by
the Republic of Honduras to extend the Memorandum of Agreement between that nation and the U.S. Dr. Rosemary Joyce
of the University of California, Berkeley, testified in favor of renewal on behalf of SAA. You can read Dr. Joyce's testimony
at http://www.saa.org/goverment/index.html.