CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENTS
How We Got Here
Proposed Amendment to
Article IV, Section 2
by Chairman Delores Pigsley
This amendment will modernize the
Tribal Court provisions of the Siletz
Constitution and give the tribe and Tribal
Court more flexibility to meet the needs of
the tribe and tribal members. Current
constitutional language does not expressly
address creating an appellate or specialty
courts, and does not provide for establishing
different categories of judges. The
Although the Siletz Constitution
I has served the governmental needs of
I the Siletz Tribe very well since it was
I adopted more than 20 years ago, it has
I become clear that certain provisions
I need to be modernized and clarified.
J
With this in mind, a process was
started two years ago when the Council
I established an ad hoc committee to
I identify and make recommendations on
the provisions of the Constitution that
I need to be amended.
!
Although the Tribal Council very
I early on reviewed the provisions of the
I Constitution and made some preliminary
recommendations for changes, the Ad
I Hoc Committee was charged with
conducting community meetings to
I obtain general membership input.
Based on community input and ad
I hoc committee recommendations, the
I Tribal Council held a workshop devoted
I entirely to discussing and reviewing
I constitutional issues. Every Council
I member participated by prioritizing and I
I recommending the change he or she
I believed to be the most critical I
I and needed.
j
Each proposed change was then
I evaluated. The resulting prioritized I
I changes will be the ones submitted to I
all qualified tribal members in a special
election. Each section will be voted on I
individually by the members.
I
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The process that the Tribal
Council pursued complies with Article
I VIII, Amendment of the Constitution,
which states that “the Constitution may
be amended by a majority vote of the I
qualified voters” of the tribe “at an
election called for that purpose by the I
Secretary of the Interior.” And further, the I
“election shall be conducted in I
accordance with rules and regulations I
as set forth by the Secretary of
the Interior.”
!
We have asked the secretary to I
authorize an election on the proposed I
amendments to give every qualified tribal I
member an opportunity to vote on these I
proposed amendments.
I
What follows is an explanation of I
the proposed constitution changes I
prepared by Tribal Attorney Craig Dorsay. I
18
amendatory language allows the Tribal
Council to create new courts to address
specific needs.
The proposed language clarifies that
the court’s jurisdiction is to be found in the
Constitution or in express ordinance
authorization. It allows for additional
categories of court employees and permits
the chief judge to delegate court
administrative duties to a court
administrator. It fixes judges’ compensation
and prohibits that compensation from being
reduced during the term of office. Finally, it
allows the Tribal Council as well as the chief
judge to draft court rules of pleading. Other
language stays the same.
Proposed Amendment to
Article VI, Section 3
This section changes the date of the
annual election to the first Saturday in May.
The reason for this change is to avoid the
inclement weather that often occurs during
the current election date in February. The
date for announcement of candidacy is
changed to match.
Proposed Amendment to
Article VI, Section 5
This section authorizes a temporary
extension of office for Tribal Council
members currently in office to bridge the
gap between February and the proposed
May annual election date. This extension will
continue for three years after the
constitutional amendment passes, until the
three-year selection cycle for election of a
new Tribal Council has been completed.
Proposed Amendment to
Article V, Section 2 (B)
The current Constitution vests
considerable power in the tribal chairman.
At some points, the current Constitution
gives the chairman veto authority over the
actions of the rest of the Council. For
example, since the chairman has authority
under the Constitution to call meetings, he
or she can prevent the rest of the Tribal
Council from conducting the tribe’s business
by refusing to call a Tribal Council meeting
when requested. This happened two years
ago after the recall was completed. The
proposed change will restrict the power of
the chairman by requiring that a special
Tribal Council meeting be held when three
Tribal Council members request it. If the tribal
chairman refuses to call the meeting, the
remainder of the Tribal Council can go
forward and hold the Tribal Council meeting
without the chairman’s approval.
Proposed Amendment to
Article V, Section 2 (D)
The purpose of the proposed change
is to make sure that your governing body -
the Tribal Council - can operate even when
there are fewer than the full nine members.
The current Constitution requires five
members before the Tribal Council can meet.
There may be times, however, when the
Tribal Council may have fewer than nine
members for a short period of time (until
replacement members can be nominated
under Article VI, Section 6), such as death,
sickness,recall, or expulsion.
When there are fewer than nine
members, it is harder to reach a quorum of
five to conduct tribal business. It can also
allow a minority of the Council to prevent
the Tribal Council from conducting its
business. For example, if the Tribal Council
has six members, two can prevent the Tribal
Council from conducting business by
refusing to meet. The proposed change will
prevent this occurrence from happening by
changing the quorum from five at all times
to a majority of the number of seated
members of the Tribal Council.
One other change is being proposed
to this section. If the Tribal Council ever falls
below five members - as happened during
the recall two years ago - the proposed
change will not allow the remaining members
to conduct the business of the tribe until the
Council gets back to five members. It is
appropriate that at least a majority of the
Council (five members) be seated before the
Tribal Council conducts the business of the
Tribe. The proposed change would limit the
authority of any remaining members to
appointing replacement Tribal Council
members to bring the Tribal Council back to
five members. At that point, the Tribal Council
could conduct business and then discuss
how the remaining four vacancies can
be filled.