45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2002

RELATING TO EDUCATION; REQUIRING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO SEEK REPARATIONS FOR INDIAN CHILDREN IN NEW MEXICO FOR THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT'S PROVISION OF SUBSTANDARD EDUCATION AND EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES ON TRIBAL LANDS IN NEW MEXICO.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. TEMPORARY PROVISION--REPARATIONS FOR SUBSTANDARD EDUCATION.--The attorney general shall seek reparations in the amount of five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000) from the federal government for more than one hundred thirty years of providing substandard education and educational facilities for Indian children in New Mexico, the state or the former territory, on behalf of all Indian children and adults who are now receiving, who should be receiving or who should have received an education pursuant to federal treaty obligations and the federal government guardianship policies that began in the nineteenth century and of which vestiges remain today in the control that the federal government exerts over the activities, land and assets of Indian nations, tribes and pueblos and their members.