The bill establishes the Native American boarding school research
program in the Colorado commission of Indian affairs (commission) to research the events, physical and emotional abuse, and deaths that occurred at Native American boarding schools in Colorado, including the victimization of families of youth forced to attend the boarding schools and the intergenerational impacts of the abuse.
The bill requires the commission to enter into an agreement with
an organization to research events, abuse, and deaths that occurred at the Native American boarding school at Fort Lewis, which was known as the Fort Lewis Indian school. After receiving the results of the research, the commission shall make recommendations, which may include legislation, necessary to better understand the abuse and victimization that occurred at, and is related to, Native American boarding schools and to support healing in tribal communities. The commission must make its recommendations publicly available.
The commission shall consult with the Southern Ute Tribe and the
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe before selecting and entering into an agreement with a research organization and before making its recommendations.
The department of human services owns and operates a regional
center on the property that was formerly the Teller institute Native American boarding school. The bill requires the department to vacate the property and sell all or a portion of the property, or transfer all or a portion of the property, to a state institution of higher education, a local government, a state agency, or a federally recognized tribe in Colorado. The department is not permitted to sell or transfer the property until after the identification and mapping of any graves of students buried at the Native American boarding school that was located on the property and until after the department develops a plan, in consultation with tribal governments, to acknowledge the abuse and victimization of students and families related to the operation of the school.
