Sponsors (27)
Introduced February 26, 2025 by Lisa Murkowski · Last progress February 26, 2025
This bill creates a federally funded Commission and advisory structure to document Indian boarding school harms, strengthen Tribal participation, and support repatriation and healing—trading taxpayer-funded investigations and agency workload (and some limits on remedies and transparency) for official recognition, records, and policy recommendations that may lead to future reparative action.
Survivors, descendants, and Tribal communities gain a federal Commission to investigate Indian boarding school policies, create an official historical record, identify and share burial sites, and document harms.
Tribes and survivors receive formal participation and consultation rights through advisory committees, statutory definitions, and co-stewardship authorities, increasing Tribal input and control over records, sites, and remedies.
Survivors and families are more likely to receive trauma-informed, culturally appropriate services and protections during testimony and convenings, improving access to healing and reducing harm from participation.
Taxpayers and the federal budget will fund the Commission — authorized spending (about $90 million) plus recurring reimbursements and administrative costs — increasing federal expenditures.
Survivors and Tribal communities may be retraumatized as investigations, testimony, and record collection reopen painful histories.
Recommendations are non-binding and the bill prohibits private lawsuits for reburial/co-stewardship enforcement, meaning Tribes and individuals may have limited legal remedies and could face delayed or incomplete relief.
Based on analysis of 10 sections of legislative text.
Creates a congressional Truth and Healing Commission to investigate Indian boarding school policies, document harms, recommend federal actions, and support repatriation, reburial, and co‑stewardship.
Creates a congressional Truth and Healing Commission to investigate the history and long-term effects of Indian boarding school policies, document harms to Native American and Native Hawaiian peoples, develop federal recommendations, and promote healing for survivors and their communities. The law defines covered schools and policies, sets up the Commission and two advisory bodies (one Native American, one federal/religious), requires consultation and nomination processes with Tribes and Native organizations, and includes provisions on repatriation, reburial, and co-stewardship of burial sites and cemeteries related to boarding schools.