Florida State to Repatriate Iowa-Found Native Remains to Tribes
Published Date: 3/16/2026
Notice
Summary
The Florida Department of State has finished checking and listing Native American human remains and related items connected to three individuals. These remains, found in Iowa but now in Florida, can be returned to Native tribes starting April 15, 2026. If you want to request the return, you need to contact the department by then—no money changes hands, just respect and care.
Analyzed Economic Effects
2 provisions identified: 2 benefits, 0 costs, 0 mixed.
Named tribes and descendants can request repatriation
The Florida Department of State completed an inventory of human remains representing at least three Native American individuals and two associated funerary (unmodified faunal) objects. Repatriation may occur on or after April 15, 2026, and written requests must be sent to Tea Kaplan, Florida Department of State, 2100 W Tennessee Street, Tallahassee, FL 32304, email [email protected]. The notice identifies cultural affiliation with the following tribes: Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe; Citizen Potawatomi Nation; Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe; Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin; Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska; Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma; Lower Sioux Indian Community (MN); Miami Tribe of Oklahoma; Omaha Tribe of Nebraska; Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians (OK); Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma; Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma; Ponca Tribe of Nebraska; Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation; Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska; Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahoma; Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa; Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraska; Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate; Spirit Lake Tribe; The Osage Nation; Three Affiliated Tribes (Fort Berthold); Upper Sioux Community; Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska; and Yankton Sioux Tribe.
How competing repatriation requests are resolved
If more than one eligible requestor seeks repatriation, the Florida Department of State must determine the most appropriate requestor before repatriation; joint requests are treated as a single request. Eligible requestors include any one or more of the tribes listed in this notice or any lineal descendant or tribe/organization not named that shows cultural affiliation by a preponderance of the evidence.
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