2024-047 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act
The University of California Lacks the Accountability and Urgency Necessary to Promptly Return Native American Remains and Cultural Items
Published: April 15, 2025
Audit Recommendations Disclosure
When an audit is completed and a report is issued, auditees must provide the State Auditor with information regarding their progress in implementing recommendations from our reports at three intervals from the release of the report: 60 days, six months, and one year. Additionally, Senate Bill 1452 (Chapter 452, Statutes of 2006), requires auditees who have not implemented recommendations after one year, to report to us and to the Legislature why they have not implemented them or to state when they intend to implement them. Below is a listing of each recommendation the State Auditor made in the report referenced and a link to the most recent response from the auditee addressing their progress in implementing the recommendation and the State Auditor’s assessment of auditee’s response based on our review of the supporting documentation.
Recommendations to the University of California Office of the President
Recommendation 1
To provide more information and clearer detail to stakeholders, the Office of the President should update the university’s NAGPRA dashboard by June 2025 to include the following information:
- A count of potential cultural items systemwide and by campus.
- The number of accessions or sites systemwide and by campus.
- Details about the counting approach campuses use and the effect that approach has on how the data can and cannot be interpreted.
Agency response status:
Fully implemented
Date of implementation:
June 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Fully implemented
60-Day Agency Response
The UC Repatriation Dashboard has been updated to include the number of accessions or sites systemwide and by campus, and details about the counting approach campuses use and the effect that approach has on how the data can and cannot be interpreted.
Counts of potential cultural items across the UC system are included on the Dashboard. We have not aggregated counts due to incompatible methodologies. For example, some campuses count individual items, such as ceramic sherds, while others count storage containers. Opening containers outside the context of tribal consultation would violate NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA handling restrictions.
Recommendation 2
To ensure that it has a strong system for identifying all undiscovered collections, the Office of the President should direct campuses to develop detailed schedules for searching all locations for undiscovered collections. The campuses should base their schedules on the likelihood that certain areas will house undiscovered collections, with campuses searching the highest risk areas first. Searches should begin no later than June 2025 and all high-risk areas of each campus should be fully searched by June 2026.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
June 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
On May 12, 2025, the Systemwide Repatriation Coordinator notified campus Repatriation Coordinators of the requirement to initiate reviews of campus areas by June 2025.
On June 10, 2025, the System Provost sent a letter to all campus Chancellor’s Designees directing campuses to initiate reviews of campus areas for undiscovered human remains and potential cultural items by June 30, 2025. The letter also required campuses to submit, by July 31, 2025, a full schedule for reviewing all areas. Campuses were instructed to prioritize areas of campus with the highest probability of housing undiscovered human remains and potential cultural items and to complete the review of these areas by June 30, 2026.
Recommendation 3
To ensure that it has a strong system for identifying all undiscovered collections, the Office of the President should ensure that the searches are unfettered and performed by NAGPRA staff and the other qualified individuals they identify as necessary to assist them in the identification of remains and potential cultural items. The Office of the President should track campus progress in performing the searches.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Aug. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
On June 10, 2025, the System Provost sent a letter to all campus Chancellor’s Designees regarding the reviews of campus areas for undiscovered human remains and potential cultural items. The letter directed campuses to ensure that all searches are unfettered and performed by NAGPRA staff and other qualified individuals as necessary to assist them in the identification of human remains and potential cultural items. Campuses were instructed to submit status reports in the currently required campus biannual NAGPRA report, including progress against schedule and notations of any problems encountered.
Recommendation 4
To ensure that it has a strong system for identifying all undiscovered collections, the Office of the President should, as soon as practical, amend the systemwide policy to direct NAGPRA staff to conduct searches of any campus area that they have a reasonable belief may be the location of undiscovered remains and potential cultural items.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Feb. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The recommended amendment has been added to an updated draft of UC’s Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation Policy. The draft policy is under discussion with the UC Systemwide NAGPRA Implementation and Oversight Committee. Once UCOP and the Committee have completed discussions, a copy will be shared with tribes and the Native American Heritage Commission for comment and feedback. The final draft must also be reviewed by the UC Academic Senate in order to complete the revision process.
Recommendation 5
To ensure that it has a strong system for identifying all undiscovered collections, the Office of the President should directly assist any campus that reports encountering resistance to searches for undiscovered collections. Such assistance may include being physically present during the searches to ensure that NAGPRA staff are permitted unfettered access.
Agency response status:
Fully implemented
Date of implementation:
June 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Fully implemented
60-Day Agency Response
On May 12, 2025, the Systemwide Repatriation Coordinator notified campus Repatriation Coordinators that UCOP will continue to provide assistance to any campus that reports encountering resistance to reviews of campus areas. Since that date, no campus has reported encountering resistance, and until a campus reports to UCOP that it has encountered such resistance, UCOP is unable to provide evidence that it assisted the campus in resolving the situation—by being physically present or through other means.
On June 10, 2025, the System Provost sent a letter to all campus Chancellor’s Designees requiring campuses to report any problems encountered while reviewing campus areas, and assured campuses that assistance from UCOP is available as needed to help resolve issues that may arise.
Public Reasoning Behind State Auditor Assessment
The Office of the President has issued requirements for campus to develop schedules for searching high risk areas of campus for undiscovered human remains and potential cultural items, and informed campuses that the Office of the President is available to help resolve issues that may arise. However, the Office of the President reports that campuses have not yet encountered any resistance with respect to conducting searches. As such, our ability to evaluate the Office of the President’s implementation is limited. Although we conclude this recommendation is fully implemented based on the actions the Office of the President has taken thus far, we will consider conducting follow-up work in this area during the next required audit of the University of California’s compliance with NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA.
To provide assurance that the university is properly caring for all collections, the Office of the President should direct university campuses by June 2025 on the proper storage of potential cultural items. This direction should establish that campuses treat such items in accordance with the federal standards that the university has already adopted for remains and associated funerary objects.
Agency response status:
Fully implemented
Date of implementation:
June 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Fully implemented
60-Day Agency Response
On June 10, 2025, the System Provost sent a letter to all campus Chancellor’s Designees directing campuses to ensure that all items potentially subject to NAGPRA / CalNAGPRA are managed and preserved in accordance with the definitions, standards, procedures, and guidelines set out in 36 C.F.R. section 79.9(b)(3) by no later than April 30, 2026, unless otherwise specified by Tribes.
To provide assurance that the university is properly caring for all collections, the Office of the President should ensure that, by April 2026, each campus has stored all collections according to the federal standards. The Office of the President should obtain this assurance through visits to campuses and inspection of storage conditions.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
April 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The Systemwide Repatriation Coordinator will visit the campuses with potential NAGPRA / CalNAGPRA collections and inspect storage conditions by April 30, 2026.
Recommendation 8
To provide assurance that the university is properly caring for all collections, the Office of the President should, as soon as practical, amend its systemwide policy to adopt the federal standards as requirements for how campuses will store potential cultural items.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Feb. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The recommended amendment has been added to an updated draft of UC’s Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation Policy. The draft policy is under discussion with the UC Systemwide NAGPRA Implementation and Oversight Committee. Once UCOP and the Committee have completed discussions, a copy will be shared with tribes and the Native American Heritage Commission for comment and feedback. The final draft must also be reviewed by the UC Academic Senate in order to complete the revision process.
To provide assurance that the university is properly caring for all collections, the Office of the President should, by June 2025, instruct its campuses to identify all cases in which they have loaned NAGPRA collections for which the university has legal responsibility, notify tribes about the loan status, share as much information with them as possible about the location of the remains and items, and begin retrieving remains and items.
Agency response status:
Fully implemented
Date of implementation:
June 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Fully implemented
60-Day Agency Response
On June 10, 2025, the System Provost sent a letter to all campus Chancellor’s Designees directing campuses to identify all cases in which they have loaned remains and items that may be subject to NAGPRA for which the university has legal responsibility, notify relevant tribes to the loan status and share as much information with the tribe(s) as possible about the location of the human remains and cultural items, and begin retrieving those loans. Campuses were instructed to relocate all loans by October 31, 2025, unless relevant tribes object to the relocation.
To provide assurance that the university is properly caring for all collections, the Office of the President should assist the campuses as necessary to relocate all loaned NAGPRA collections by January 2026, unless the campus knows that relevant tribes object to the relocation.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Jan. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
On June 10, 2025, the System Provost sent a letter to all campus Chancellor’s Designees including a requirement to report progress on loan retrieval in the campus biannual NAGPRA report, and assured campuses that assistance from UCOP is available as needed to help resolve issues that may arise.
To address the outdated nature of the campus repatriation plans, the Office of the President should, by June 2025, take the following steps:
- Direct campuses to amend their plans so that they include clear timelines for finishing specific actions, such as dates by which campuses expect to be done with specific repatriations or consultations.
- Establish an annual update process by which the campuses would amend their timelines to reflect updated expectations.
Agency response status:
Fully implemented
Date of implementation:
June 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Fully implemented
60-Day Agency Response
On June 10, 2025, the System Provost sent a letter to all campus Chancellor’s Designees directing all campuses with NAGPRA/CalNAGPRA-eligible human remains and potential cultural items to amend their Repatriation Implementation Plans, in coordination with their Campus NAGPRA Implementation Committee, by December 31, 2025. Campuses were also instructed to establish timelines with target dates for consultations to be completed each year, to update inventories for all Native American and Native Hawaiian human remains or associated funerary objects by December 31, 2028, and to amend their timelines to reflect updated expectations by December 31 of each year.
To effectively monitor and direct the university’s compliance with NAGPRA, the Office of the President should do the following by October 2025:
- Establish systemwide performance goals and metrics for key repatriation activities such as searches, consultation with tribes, and repatriation of remains and cultural items.
- Require at least biannual reports from campuses regarding the performance goals and metrics.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Aug. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
UCOP has had several discussions with campus Repatriation Coordinators, in group settings and one-on-one, regarding goal-setting and establishing timelines. UCOP has also hired a consultant whose primary responsibility is to enhance this coordination, goal-setting and tracking. Campuses will submit their goals and metrics by July 31, 2025 for approval by UCOP and report quarterly thereafter.
Along with each biannual reporting cycle, the Office of the President should assess the university’s progress in meeting its goals. If necessary, the Office of the President should take action to remedy the areas in which the university is not on track to achieve its goals.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Oct. 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
Once goals and metrics have been established (see recommendation 14), UCOP will review campus reports on goals and metrics on a quarterly basis and take action to remedy the areas in which campuses are not on track to achieve their goals.
To maintain the relevance of the university’s performance goals, the Office of the President should annually assess the goals and update them as necessary by revising existing goals and by adding or removing goals.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Feb. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
Once goals and metrics have been established (see recommendation 14) and campuses have reported on their progress, UCOP will review goals and metrics in February of each year and will revise, add, or remove goals as needed.
To facilitate transparency about its performance and promote greater accountability, by no later than the timing of the first performance goal and metric reports from campuses, the Office of the President should post the university’s performance goals and associated metrics to its public website, and it should include supplementary explanation that would assist stakeholders in understanding the metrics and the university’s progress in meeting its goals. If the Office of the President updates its goals or metrics, it should maintain information about the former goals and metrics on its website so that they remain accessible as a record of its performance.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Feb. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
Once goals and metrics have been established (see recommendation 14), UCOP will post the university’s performance goals and associated metrics to its public website by the timing of the first performance goal. The website will include supplementary explanations to assist stakeholders in understanding the metrics and the university’s progress in meeting its goals. When goals are revised or removed, UCOP will maintain information about the former goals and metrics on its website.
To ensure that campus budgets are sufficient to achieve repatriation in an efficient and effective manner, the Office of the President should, beginning for fiscal year 2026–27 and annually thereafter, consider campus performance relative to the systemwide goals when reviewing campus budgets. For areas in which the campus is not meeting the performance goals, the Office of the President should document its consideration of whether changes to the campus’s planned spending would help the campus achieve the goals and, if so, direct the campus to change its budget.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
June 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
Beginning fiscal year 2026-27, UCOP will consider campus progress on goals and metrics during its annual review of campus budgets. If the most recent quarterly report indicates that the campus is not on track to achieve its goals, UCOP will assess whether changes to the planned budget would help the campus achieve its goals and if so, direct the campus accordingly.
To ensure that all campuses provide adequate support to tribes for the expenses related to repatriation, the Office of the President should engage tribes to study the costs the tribes incur, and by January 2026, it should provide a report to the Legislature that includes at least the following information:
- A full list of the types of tribal costs for which the university proposes to provide funding and the total amount of funding that the university would need annually to pay for such costs.
- The total amount of funding required annually to compensate tribes for the time they spend in consultation.
- The total amount of funding required annually to compensate tribes for reburial costs.
- An accounting of the amount of funding the university has available to provide toward these costs and the amount of funding it needs, if any, from the Legislature.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Jan. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
UCOP will create an online survey regarding repatriation-related expenses that will be sent to California tribes by September 2025, which will be available for 60 days. Tribes will also be invited to contact UCOP directly to provide comment via email or to schedule calls or meetings with UCOP staff. UCOP will also meet with campuses to understand what costs their tribal partners usually request to be covered and what the campuses have been able to pay or reimburse. A report to the legislature on tribal costs related to repatriation will be submitted by January 2026.
To align its systemwide policy with revised federal regulations, as soon as practical, the Office of the President should engage stakeholders to revise the policy to acknowledge that repatriation of remains and associated funerary objects with no affiliation to a federally recognized tribe to California tribes is no longer allowed by NAGPRA. The revisions should also specify that in cases where the only affiliations are to California tribes, the campuses should initiate consultation with those tribes regarding reinterment of the remains and associated funerary objects.
Agency response status:
Not fully implemented
Date of implementation:
Feb. 2026
State Auditor assessment status:
Pending
60-Day Agency Response
The recommended amendments have been added to an updated draft of UC’s Native American Cultural Affiliation and Repatriation Policy. The draft policy is under discussion with the UC Systemwide NAGPRA Implementation and Oversight Committee. Once UCOP and the Committee have completed discussions, a copy will be shared with tribes and the Native American Heritage Commission for comment and feedback. The final draft must also be reviewed by the UC Academic Senate in order to complete the revision process.
Recommendations to UC Santa Barbara
To ensure that Santa Barbara provides information to tribes on all potential cultural items in its collections, by June 2025, the campus should review its collections and determine whether it possesses potential cultural items about which it has not notified the national NAGPRA program or the NAHC. If the campus determines that it has not provided information on all potential cultural items as required, it should submit this information.
Agency response status:
Fully implemented
Date of implementation:
June 2025
State Auditor assessment status:
Fully implemented
60-Day Agency Response
UC Santa Barbara has completed a comprehensive review of its collections to determine whether there are any potential cultural materials in its collections which have not been reported to the national NAGPRA program or the NAHC as required by law. Itemized lists of ancestral human remains and associated funerary objects, and summaries of cultural items and items that may potentially meet the definition of cultural items, have been shared with tribal governments, accompanied by an open invitation for consultation. This information is also available through the Native American Heritage Commission’s online database, and has been submitted to the National NAGPRA Program Office to ensure transparency and compliance.
Public Reasoning Behind State Auditor Assessment
Santa Barbara provided our office evidence indicating that it had reviewed its collections and informed potentially affiliated tribes of NAGPRA-eligible collections that the campus had previously not reported. Specifically, we saw that Santa Barbara had reported to the national NAGPRA program and the NAHC potential cultural items that it had not previously reported. Although Santa Barbara did not retain documentation that would allow us to evaluate how complete its review of its collections was, based on our review of the available evidence, we conclude this recommendation is fully implemented.
Recommendations to the Legislature
To ensure that the university appropriately prioritizes NAGPRA, the Legislature should consider appropriating to the university funding specifically for NAGPRA and CalNAGPRA compliance while also placing conditions on that funding. Such conditions could include the following:
- The university must maintain information on its public website about its progress in repatriation that includes counts of sites or accessions, counts of potential cultural items, and disclosures about counts of remains, cultural items and potential cultural items that would be necessary to properly understand its progress.
- Campus repatriation staff must conduct searches of high-risk areas of campus within a certain period of time.
- Specific handling and storage requirements.
- The university must develop and maintain a system of performance goals and related metrics about which it publicly reports.
Agency response status:
pending
