Davis Backs Bill to Protect Sacred Sites

Bucking major economic interests, Gov. Gray Davis on Monday endorsed a proposed bill aimed at protecting some 1,500 religious sites in California that are sacred to American Indians.

Last year, Davis vetoed a similar bill after opponents charged that it would give Indian tribes unprecedented authority to block highways, parks and other private and public projects that they felt threatened sacred places.

At the time, the governor said he would support legislation that struck a balance between the tribes’ need to keep such locations secret, so the sites would not be vandalized, and developers’ need to know of the sites in advance, so they could make planning adjustments.

Davis and administration officials indicated Wednesday that those concerns had been overcome in the newest version of the bill (SB 18) by Senate leader John L. Burton (D-San Francisco).

Davis said the bill’s major thrust was to involve developers, government planners and regulators and tribal officials in the identification of potential sacred sites at the beginning of projects so that “concerns” would not explode into “conflicts” and result in time-consuming and costly litigation.

Davis and his advisors suggested that the new tack would cause no additional delays in getting projects started. Likewise, they indicated it would not result in new costs to developers or taxpayers.

Sacred sites, which are different from historical and archeological places, typically were used for religious purposes and can include such geographic features as rock formations. They might also include bodies of water or even the confluences of ancient running trails, supporters of the bill said.

Several hours after the governor announced his support of the bill, however, the Assembly Natural Resources Committee balked at putting the newly drafted proposal to a vote. The bill drew strong opposition at the committee meeting from representatives of some of California’s biggest industries, including officials with private and public electric utilities, loggers, miners, home builders, real estate agents and professional planners.

They complained that the complex bill, which would fold protection of sacred sites into the state’s environmental protection and planning laws, threatened to add expensive delays to such projects as hanging new electrical transmission lines and cutting timber.

Assemblywoman Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), committee chairwoman, delayed a vote until at least July 28, calling on advocates and opponents to get together and work out their disagreements by then.

Sen. Denise Ducheny (D-San Diego), who presented the bill for Burton, complained that there had been a “lot of misunderstanding” about the newly amended bill, but reminded the committee that it was “not our place” as lawmakers to rule on the legitimacy of a site that is held sacred by people of another religion.