Native American Heritage Commission v. Board of Trustees

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB), a state governmental entity, decided to develop a 22-acre site on its campus. The California Native American Heritage Commission (NAHC), another state agency, and several individual Native Americans, filed this case under chapter 1.75 of the Public Resources Code seeking an injunction “to prevent severe and irreparable damage to, or assure appropriate access for Native Americans to, a Native American sanctified cemetery, place of worship, religious or ceremonial site, or sacred shrine located on public property.” (§ 5097.94, subd. (g).) The statutes creating NAHC authorize it to seek such relief to mitigate proposed development of state-owned land so the development will not irreparably damage, or prevent appropriate access to, the land for Native American religious worship. If no such mitigation is possible, and the public interest so requires, development can proceed.

In an earlier opinion, we modified and affirmed the trial court’s issuance of a preliminary injunction. (Board of Trustees v. Superior Court (Feb. 24, 1994) B078402 [nonpub. opn.] (NAHC /).) We remanded the case for the trial court to hold a trial regarding…