WE NEED YOUR HELP TODAY
We are fighting for our very existence and we urgently need your help.
As currently written, AB 52 requires the State of California to consult with all California Native American Tribes, both federally and non-federally recognized, regarding policy concerning cultural resources, environmental protection, and more. ytt Northern Chumash Tribe is a non-federally recognized California Native American Tribe.
Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry (District 4), in collaboration with three federally-recognized Tribes, has proposed amendments to the existing Assembly Bill 52 (AB 52) which threaten our sovereignty, and our very existence as a Tribal Nation.
Click here to view the proposed amendments to AB52.
The proposed amendments would exclude us and all non-federally recognized California Tribal Nations from government-to-government consultation processes and give arbitrary “deference” to federally-recognized Tribes on lands they have no ancestral relationship to or knowledge of.
OPPOSE AB 52 AMENDMENTS
Feel free to customize this template or write your own letter! Personal notes go a long way.
We also encourage you to share this information with individuals and organizations in your network and ask them to write letters, too.
WHAT YOU CAN DO TODAY.
Here are two things you can do today (as an individual or as an organization):
Contact the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources and ask them to oppose and withdraw the proposed amendments to AB 52:
Click the green “Submit Position Letter” button to submit your letter via the California Legislature Position Letter Portal
Create an account
Select “AB 52”
Select recipient committees: “Natural Resources” and “Local Government”
Select stance: Oppose
Upload and submit your letter
2. Email your Assemblymember and ask them to oppose and withdraw the proposed amendments to AB52:
Assemblymember Dawn Addis (District 30): SLO, Monterey, and Santa Cruz Counties
Website: https://a30.asmdc.org/contact
Email:assemblymember.addis@assembly.ca.gov
Click here to find and contact your California Representative.
ACKNOWLEDGE OUR SOVEREIGNTY
yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe are the documented lineal descendants of what is now San Luis Obispo County. Our families have lived in this region since time immemorial. We have stewarded this land for many thousands of years and we are still here. We are still stewards. Many of our families have never lived anywhere else. We are uniquely equipped to protect our sacred places and provide unassailable consultation on both projects and policy which affects our ancestral homelands.
The proposed amendments to AB 52 are a blatant continuation of colonial violence and erasure. If passed, they would be a fatal blow to our sovereignty, our human rights and freedom of religion as Tribal Nations. We would essentially have no legal right to consult on policies and projects related to Tribal cultural resources - including burial grounds and sacred sites - and environmental protection.
au’ au’
(thank you)
LETTER TALKING POINTS
POINTS TO CONSIDER FOR A LETTER FROM YOU, YOUR TRIBE OR ORGANIZATION
(IF YOU REPRESENT A TRIBE OR ORGANIZATION, PLEASE PROVIDE THAT INFORMATION IN YOUR LETTER).
PLEASE STATE THAT YOU OPPOSE PROPOSED AMENDMENTS TO AB 52
strong opposition to the proposed amendments to Assembly Bill 52 (AB52), sponsored by Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry.
The proposed amendments to AB 52 act to exclude California Tribal Nations with longstanding and irreplaceable knowledge of their ancestral homelands from critical decision-making processes related to Tribal cultural resources and environmental protection.
In opposing the proposed amendments to AB52, I stand in solidarity with yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe of San Luis Obispo County and Region (ytt Northern Chumash Tribe). ytt Northern Chumash Tribe are the documented lineal descendants of what is now San Luis Obispo County. Their families have lived in this region since time immemorial.
yak titʸu titʸu yak tiłhini Northern Chumash Tribe are uniquely equipped to protect their sacred places and provide unassailable consultation on both projects and policy which affects their ancestral homelands.
The proposed amendments violate the Tribal sovereignty, freedom of religion, and human rights of non-federally recognized California Tribes with documented lineal descendancy to their ancestral homelands.
The amendments as currently written directly contradict the objectives outlined in Executive Orders B-10-11 and N-15-19, which prioritize the protection of Native American cultural heritage and promote meaningful government-to-government consultation for all California Native American Tribes.
The bill’s division between federally and non-federally recognized Tribes arbitrarily prioritizes federally recognized Tribes while relegating non-federally recognized Tribes to a secondary, inferior status despite non-federally recognized Tribes’ legitimate connections to and knowledge of their homelands. The bill reinforces a hierarchical consultation process by giving “deference” to federally recognized Tribes for lands where there exists no federally recognized Tribe.