For Immediate Release
November 29, 2022
Contact:
Manu Tupper or Mike Inacay (Schatz) at press@indian.senate.gov
Schatz: Bipartisan Bill To Help Protect Native American Cultural Heritage Set To Become Law
Senate-Passed STOP Act Strengthens Federal Protections For Tribal, Native Hawaiian Cultural Items
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-Hawai‘i), chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, released the following statement on Senate passage of H.R. 2930, the Safeguard Tribal Objects of Patrimony (STOP) Act of 2021. The Committee favorably reported the bill’s Senate companion last year.
“For too long, the export and sale of sacred and culturally significant items from Native peoples in Hawaiʻi, Alaska, and across Indian Country has deprived these communities of their own history and heritage,” said Chairman Schatz. “Our bill will help stop the black market trafficking of these items and bring them home.”
The bill now heads to the President’s desk to be signed into law.
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