The state Assembly has approved a bill that would give California Indians a chance to protect their sacred sites.
The measure by Senate President Pro Tem John Burton of San Francisco would set up a process to identify and catalog those sites and require local governments to consider ways to protect them when a development is proposed.
The bill would allow a local agency to approve a project that would harm a sacred site if all feasible mitigation measures had been taken and there was an overriding environmental, public health or safety reason to go ahead.
Wednesday´s 53 to 12 vote returned the bill to the Senate for a vote on Assembly amendments.
This post was last modified on 01/31/2009 5:33 pm