Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act of 2026
Sponsored By: Representative Cole
Introduced
Summary
Investigate and address harms from Indian boarding school policies. This bill would create a Truth and Healing Commission to document histories, center survivors, recommend federal action, and promote culturally informed healing.
Show full summary
- Survivors and families would have guaranteed trauma‑informed, culturally appropriate convenings with access to support services and private spaces. A 15‑member Survivors Truth and Healing Subcommittee would help design those protocols and advise the Commission.
- Tribal communities and descendants would get coordinated efforts to locate, document, and preserve burial sites and interment records. The bill clarifies that the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act applies to boarding‑school cultural items and allows reburial and co‑stewardship on Federal land when agreed.
- Federal coordination and accountability increase through a 19‑member Native American advisory committee, a 20‑member Federal and Religious advisory committee, and required annual, initial, and final reports. Secretaries of Interior, Education, Defense, and Health and Human Services must respond in writing to final recommendations.
*Would authorize $90.0 million to carry out the Commission and related activities.*
Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
8 provisions identified: 5 benefits, 2 costs, 1 mixed.
Investigate boarding schools and burials
If enacted, the Commission would investigate Indian boarding school policies and their social, cultural, economic, emotional, and physical effects. It would hold public and private, trauma-informed hearings and regional convenings, including at least one in each of the 12 Bureau of Indian Affairs regions and in Hawaiʻi. Quarterly convenings would begin one year after enactment. The Commission must try to locate and document marked and unmarked burial sites and share burial locations and identities with lineal descendants, Tribes, and the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to the extent practicable. The Commission must file annual activity and funding reports, an initial report no later than four years after a majority of members are appointed, and a final report before it terminates. Specified federal agencies must respond in writing to final recommendations within 120 days.
New Truth and Healing Commission
If enacted, this bill would create a Truth and Healing Commission in the legislative branch. It would authorize $90,000,000 to carry out the Commission's work. The Commission could accept gifts, make contracts, and approve a spending plan with a 3/5 vote. The General Services Administration could provide reimbursable administrative support. Federal employees could be detailed to the Commission with agency approval. The Commission would end six years after enactment.
Pay and protections for commission members
If enacted, Commission members would be paid at a daily rate equal to the GS-5 annual rate for up to 10 days per month and get travel and per diem. Members of the Native American advisory committee would get a GS-7, step 1 daily rate up to 14 days per month. Survivors subcommittee members would get GS-7, step 1 pay up to 10 days per month. Commission employees and named advisory members would be treated as covered employees under the Congressional Accountability Act.
Repatriation and cemetery stewardship rules
If enacted, the bill would say that NAGPRA applies to cultural items tied to Indian boarding schools regardless of a prior agency interpretation. Federal agencies would be allowed to permit reburial of repatriated items on Federal land if the parties agree. Agencies could enter co-stewardship agreements for cemeteries or school sites. The Commission could contract to hold or care for privately held artifacts for repatriation, but federal funds could not be used to buy privately held items.
Tribal nominations and appointment timing
If enacted, tribes and Native Hawaiian groups would have 90 days after enactment to submit nominations. The Secretary of the Interior would send the nominee list to Congress within 7 days after that deadline. Commissioners must be appointed no later than 180 days after enactment. The Commission would hold an initial business meeting within 90 days after all members are appointed. If the Commission fails to appoint required members, the Chair of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, with the Vice Chair's concurrence, would fill vacancies within 30 days. Vacancies generally must be filled within 90 days.
Certain advisory records exempt from FOIA
If enacted, records and communications held by the Federal and Religious Truth and Healing Advisory Committee would be exempt from parts of the Privacy Act and would not have to be disclosed under a FOIA exemption cited in the bill. This would limit public access to those committee records.
No private lawsuits under this Act
If enacted, nothing in the Act would create a private right to sue. Individuals could not bring administrative or judicial claims under this Act's provisions.
Advisory groups exempt from FACA
If enacted, the Commission and three named advisory groups (the Survivors Subcommittee, the Native American advisory committee, and the Federal and Religious advisory committee) would be exempt from the Federal Advisory Committee Act. That means some FACA requirements on meetings, membership, and formal procedures would not apply to those groups.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Cole
OK • R
Cosponsors
Davids (KS)
KS • D
Sponsored 2/3/2026
Ciscomani
AZ • R
Sponsored 2/4/2026
Fleischmann
TN • R
Sponsored 2/4/2026
Newhouse
WA • R
Sponsored 2/4/2026
Bergman
MI • R
Sponsored 2/4/2026
Langworthy
NY • R
Sponsored 2/4/2026
Bacon
NE • R
Sponsored 2/4/2026
Yakym
IN • R
Sponsored 2/9/2026
Fine
FL • R
Sponsored 2/10/2026
Houchin
IN • R
Sponsored 2/20/2026
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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