June 15, 1998
Native News
3
More anti-sovereignty bills emerging
Gorton's new five-pronged assault on Tribes
By Oscar Johnson
In an attempt to regroup on his fail
ing legislative attack against tribal
sovereignty, Sen. Slade Gorton (R
WA) has rescinded his controversial
'Indian Equal Justice Act' in favor of
five separate bills.
The act, better known as Sovereign
Immunity Bill S.1691, sought to strike
down tribal exemptions from certain
federal regulations based on treaty
agreements between U.S. and Native
governments.
"I have decided that a somewhat
different approach is appropriate. As
a consequence, I suggest that the com
mittee should not vote on my bill to
day," Sen. Gorton last month told a
Senate Indian Affairs Committee
likely to vote down his bill. "Instead
I will introduce five new bills on five
different aspects of sovereign immu
nity over the next several weeks."
Far from backing down, Gorton's
latest maneuver is more a case of the
old adage 'he who fights and runs
away lives to fight another day.'
Despite the likelihood of the bill be
ing voted down by committee mem
bers, the indication is that Gorton is
just getting started, according to
Mark Phillips of Edwards Associates,
Inc.
The Washington D.C.-based lobby
ist for the Confederated Tribes of
Grand Ronde told Smoke Signals that
postponing the vote accomplished
three things and none of them were
good news.
"It avoided a humiliating defeat at
the hands of the committee. It spread
the issues out across a much broader
spectrum giving (Sen. Gorton) a
greater ability to maneuver. And it
preserves a promise that (he) made
to Sen. Ben Campbell (R-CO) to
bring S.1691 up to a committee
vote," Phillips said. "Sen. Gorton's
request to postpone the vote really is,
I think, a success for Slade Gorton
and against the tribes best interest."
The five tribal immunities that
Gorton now hopes to pass in the form
of five separate bills include a fed
eral mandate forcing many tribes to
collect taxes on sales to non-tribal
members and remit them to states.
Native lobbyists argue, however,
that losing the much needed income
that comes from tax-free, reservation
sales on items such as cigarettes, com
bined with additional administrative
costs in managing the taxes would
ravage the coffers of poor reserva
tion communities.
Other bills will seek to do away
with tribal court immunity to U.S.
federal appeals with regard to civil
- rights cases and violations of U.S. en
vironmental regulations.
Two more bills will aim to end tribal
immunity to federal claims courts and
invoke mandatory liability insurance
for tribes. And make federal rules
for business contracts and transac
tions extend across the boarders to
Indian Country.
Similar to other sovereign govern
ments, tribes currently adjudicate civil
rights and torte claims in their own
courts and set their own environmen
tal policies.
In addition to assaulting basic rights
of self-governance, sovereignty ad
vocates say opening up tribal govern
ments to federally regulated law suits,
which usually involve large sums of
money, could bankrupt many tribes
in no time. It has also been noted
that many tribes have voluntarily
waived their exemption to U. S. torte
claims by securing insurance for their
establishments on their own initiative.
Council gives go-ahead for teen shelter
By Oscar Johnson
Tribal and state agencies may
soon be joining forces to open
a much needed group home
for Native teens in Grand Ronde, ac
cording to tribal Community Re
source Division (CRD) , officials.
Confederated Tribes of Grand
Ronde Tribal Council gave the green
light for CRD to precede with the
early planning stages of the project
and the agency met with Oregon
Youth Authority (OYA) officials to
begin the process last month.
Plans for the youth shelter include
a 10-bed facility that would tempo
rarily house Indian youth of any tribal
affiliation who are awaiting placement
with foster parents or to be reunited
with their natural parents. The home
would also give transitional housing
and services to Native youth who
have recently completed inpatient
chemical dependency programs.
"Three tribal youth are currently
on the run or in jail, and at least two
others are in immediate need of place
ment. Others who have recently
turned 18 and 19 are either abusing
drugs, homeless or involved in ques
tionable legal activities," read an ab
stract that CRD Manager, John
Spence, proposed to officials at a
May 21 meeting.
Citing that two out of four recent
youth suicide victims at Hillcrest
Youth Correctional Facility in Salem,
Oregon were Native, the CRD sum
mary stressed a "critical need (for) a
local youth shelter home where a
youth in need of care can be placed
on a temporary basis."
According to tribal Foster Care Co
ordinator, Carmen Mercier, the group
home has "been a need for a few
years."
"It's difficult to place children be
tween the ages of 13 and 17 in foster
care because they have needs that re
quire people with special skills," said
Mercier. "If we had a shelter we'd
have a place that was always avail
able and staff with the necessary skills
that children in that age range need."
Although the youth under her ju
risdiction are currently all accounted
for, Mercier indicated things could
change at any moment. Without ad
ditional transitional housing she said
some youth who are released from
correctional facilities will be at a
greater risk of becoming runaways
and some former adolescent sub
stance abusers just out of inpatient
treatment may return to their old so
cial patterns and relapse.
The proposed shelter would be trib
ally staffed and provide evening
group counseling sessions as well as
weekend recreation therapy such as
white water rafting, beach trips, pow
wows, camping, and hiking. In ad
dition to a full-time coordinator and
secretary, the around-the-clock facil
ity will also be staffed by two evening
and weekend "house parents," ac
cording to the proposal summary.
Group home planners also hope
that staff from other tribal programs
such as Health & Human Services,
Education and Maintenance will help
out once the new project is on-line.
Finding and constructing or re
modeling a building for the program
make projecting the overall cost, and
developing a time line for the project,
a difficult task to accomplish during
these early stages of planning.
"The shelter could take up to two
years before it comes on-line," said
Bob McElderry, grant writer for the
tribe's Policy and Planning depart
ment. He said that in addition to find
ing a site for the home, he is currently
waiting for a description of state
guidelines to help determine site cri
teria that are essential for projecting
the real, overall cost of the project.
Once the facility is in place, Spence
roughly estimates costs for the first
year of the program to be in the
neighborhood of $225,025 or about
$1,875 a month per youth. Tribal
gaming revenues will pay part of the
cost, according to Spence who ex
pects state agencies such as OYA,
Oregon State Office of Revenue and
Oregon State Department of Educa
tion to pick up the rest of the bill.
Although there is no official pledge
from these state departments yet, the
pressure the shelter would take off
of a state-wide shortage on transi
tional housing for youth leaves many
like Mercier confident the cost will
be shared.
Much of this confidence in cost
sharing and in the proposed joint
tribalstate effort behind the facility,
is rooted in an executive order signed
into effect by Gov. John Kitzhaber
two years ago. The order mandates
that state Cabinet level departments
develop relations with Oregon's nine
federally recognized tribes in order
to jointly identify and address mutual
problems, resolve potential conflicts
and exchange ideas and resources.
The CRD proposal is a direct result
of the executive order and comes on
the heals of a first-time meeting be
tween the Native American Advisory
Committee and OYA officials last
April at MacLaren Youth Correc
tional Facility in Woodburn, Oregon.
Among key issues brought forward
by the committee were the notifica
tion of tribes when young members
are incarcerated and tribal involve
ment in developing transition pro
grams for Indian youth.