Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Legislative Response topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Lawmakers press UC on using budget and oversight to force progress on repatriation
Summary
Legislators at the hearing pressed UC and the state auditor about whether the legislature can use appropriations and other levers to require progress, and asked for clearer, reportable milestones and enforceable consequences if campuses do not spend allocated NAGPRA funds.
Members of the Select Committee asked whether the legislature can compel UC to spend appropriated funds on NAGPRA work, require performance targets and set enforceable consequences for noncompliance.
The auditor suggested the legislature could use its appropriations power to incentivize progress, recommending greater transparency on how UC campuses spend NAGPRA funding and possibly earmarking or conditional appropriations. Committee members noted constitutional limits on mandating how UC spends its base budget and asked the auditor and UCOP for more constitutionally valid options.
Legislators repeatedly asked for short, reportable milestones rather than distant target dates: "If you don't know what you're shooting for, you're never gonna know if you get there," the auditor said, and committee members pressed UC to embed repatriation goals into strategic plans and routine budget reporting.
