And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
From: Aura Kanegis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
Subject: FCNL Native American Legislative Updates for September 23, 1999
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 15:48:59 -0400
Return-Receipt-To: Aura Kanegis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
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The following are updates and action suggestions from the Friends Committee
on National Legislation (FCNL) regarding Indian affairs legislation for the
coming two weeks. These messages focus on selected legislation which
Congress is considering now, and suggest some points that you may wish to
make in your communications with Congress. These messages are intended as a
supplement to other FCNL Native American Program materials and do not
reflect FCNL's complete policy position on any issue, nor do they include
all pertinent facts on any topic. For more information, or to request the
FCNL Indian Report and other background documents, please contact Aura
Kanegis, FCNL Legislative Associate for Native American Affairs: (202) 547-
6000 ext. 112; 245 2nd St. NE, Washington, DC 20002; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
STATE TAXATION OF TRIBAL GOVERNMENTS. On May 13th, Rep. Visclosky (IN)
introduced HR 1814, a bill which would require Indian tribes to collect and
pay state sales taxes on goods sold on tribal lands. It would instruct the
Department of Interior to take tribal lands out of trust status if a retail
establishment on that land is not paying "qualified state taxes", and would
give tribes that have compacts with surrounding state governments priority
in receiving federal grants. While the Supreme Court has ruled that states
may collect taxes on sales made to non-Indians by reservation businesses if
the burden of collection does not fall on the tribe, the law does not
require states to do so.
States accept the sovereign authority of other states to establish their own
tax laws. Likewise, the sovereign authority of tribal governments to
establish their own tax laws should be recognized by state governments.
Several states have worked out voluntary agreements with tribes for the
collection of taxes equivalent to sales made to non-members, while other
states have waived their claim to collect these taxes in deference to tribal
sovereignty. HR 1814 would undermine these decisions.
Tribal trust lands are critical to tribal survival and cultural
preservation, and their status should not be threatened as a means to force
tribes into tax agreements with state governments. If enacted, H.R. 1814
would shift important aspects of the federal trust responsibility into state
government hands. Tribal governments would have no recourse against state
and local governments that refused to negotiate the required tax agreements
or that proposed unfair tax compacts. Unlike the federal government, states
are not accountable to the trust responsibility. Petroleum marketers,
convenience store associations, and truck stop owner associations are
pushing for the House Resources Committee to consider HR 1814 this fall.
ACTION: Contact Rep. Visclosky, members of the House Resources Committee,
and your representative to voice opposition to HR 1814. Congress should be
encouraging tribes to reclaim trust lands and consolidate their
reservations, not pursuing legislation which threatens the removal of trust
status on tribal lands.
INTERIOR APPROPRIATIONS. Last week the Senate resumed debate on H.R. 2466,
the FY 2000 Interior appropriations bill, which includes funding for many
important tribal programs. The bill has now been set aside indefinitely in
response to disagreements over issues unrelated to Indian affairs. When
final action is completed on the bill a House-Senate conference committee
will meet to work out a compromise between House and Senate versions of the
bill.
Several policy provisions of concern to tribes are contained in either the
House or Senate versions of these bills. These include the following:
An amendment by Sen. Graham (FL) would block the Secretary of the
Interior from implementing procedures for tribes to pursue when a state does
not act in good faith to negotiate tribal-state compacts as required by the
Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.
Section 125 of the Senate bill calls for a redistribution of Tribal
Priority Allocations (TPA)funding. Due to a recently released study
highlighting the administrative faults of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the
already underfunded Bureau has been called to clean up its management
problems at the expense of Indians who rely heavily on TPA, their most
important source of federal funds. The Federal government should increase
funding for TPA to meet the demonstrated shortfalls in funding this
important aspect of the Federal government's trust responsibility to tribes.
Section 324 of the Senate bill would continue the moratorium on new
and expanded 638 tribal contracting. The contracting at issue enables
tribes to provide general services like health care for themselves in place
of federally directed services like the Indian Health Service. Due to the
reduced cost of providing general services through a single provider, the
BIA, the Bureaus' budget does not account for the increased administrative
costs inherent to multiple providers. Congress enacted the moratorium on
new contracting last year to conserve costs, but in doing so it sacrificed
tribal self- determination.
An amendment offered by Sen. Gorton (WA) provides a 0.34% reduction
to each account, program, activity and project provided for in the bill.
ACTION: Contact members of the House-Senate conference committee on Interior
Appropriations to ask that the Graham amendment, section 324, and section
125 be dropped from the final bill. Ask that aspects of the federal trust
responsibility to tribes be funded at the highest possible levels, and that
no further policy provisions be attached to the final conference report.
Likely participants in the conference committee could include the following:
Senators Gorton (WA), Stevens (AK), Cochran(MS), Domenici (NM), Burns (MT),
Bennett (UT), Gregg (NH), Campbell (CO), Byrd (WV), Leahy (VT), Hollings
(SC), Reid (NV), Dorgan (ND), Kohl (WI), and Feinstein (CA), and
Representatives Regula (OH), Young (FL), Obey (WI), Kolbe (AZ), Skeen (NM),
Taylor (NC), Nethercutt (WA), Wamp (TN), Kingston (GA), Peterson (PA), Dicks
(WA), Murtha (PA), Moran (VA), Cramer (AL), and Hinchey (NY).
CALL FOR HOUSE ACTION. On September 15, the full Senate, by unanimous
consent, passed five Indian affairs measures:
S. 299, legislation to elevate the position of the Director of the
Indian Health Service to that of Assistant Secretary for Indian Health
S. 401, legislation to provide for business development and trade
promotion for Indian tribes, and create a Native American Business
Development Office in the Department of Commerce
S. 613, legislation to address Secretarial review of Section 81
contracts concerning Indian lands, and eliminate the current requirement
under the Indian Reorganization Act for attorney contract and attorney fees
approval by the Secretary of the Interior
S. 614, legislation which directs the comprehensive review of the
laws and regulations affecting investment and business decisions on tribal
lands; and
S. 406, legislation to amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act
to make permanent and expand the demonstration program that allows for
direct billing of Medicare/Medicaid and other third party payors.
While the Senate has an Indian Affairs Committee which prioritizes issues
affecting Native American tribes, there is no such committee in the House.
Instead legislation of concern to tribes is generally considered by the
House Resources Committee. Because of this, companion legislation for these
and other measures of concern to tribes have not been passed through
committee or sent to the House floor for consideration.
ACTION: Please contact your representative to ask that Native American
concerns be given a higher priority for action in the House, beginning with
passage of companion legislation to the above bills.
R. Aura Kanegis
Legislative Associate for Native American Affairs
Friends Committee on National Legislation
245 2nd St. NE
Washington, DC 20002
(202)547-6000 ext. 112
FAX: (202)547-6019
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.fcnl.org
Reprinted under the Fair Use http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html doctrine
of international copyright law.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
UPDATES: CAMP JUSTICE
http://shell.webbernet.net/~ishgooda/oglala/
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