S moke S ignals
JUNE 1, 2016
15
Ballots to be mailed June 13
SESSIONS continued
from front page
of General Council and enrollment
requirements.
Since this is a BIA election, Tribal
members have to register with the
BIA to vote. On Tuesday, May 18,
voter registration packets were
mailed to eligible Tribal members
and the registration forms must be
received at the designated post of-
ice box in New Mexico by Tuesday,
June 7, for a Tribal member to vote
in the election.
Tribal Attorney Rob Greene
urged Tribal members not to wait
until the last minute to send in
their registration forms since they
have to be mailed.
Ballots will be mailed on Monday,
June 13, to Tribal members who
registered to vote with the BIA,
and ballots must be received at the
Grand Ronde post ofice by Friday,
July 8, to count.
Greene and Senior Staff Attorney
Deneen Aubertin Keller split duty
in explaining the two proposed
constitutional amendments, which
were approved by identical 5-2
Tribal Council votes on April 6.
The first proposed amendment
would reduce the General Council
participation requirements for
exercising the power of initiative
or referendum and the calling of
special General Council meetings.
Greene said that initiatives are
something new, such as if General
Tribal members are strongly encouraged to
watch the 47-minute video of the educational
session on the Tribal website at www.gran-
dronde.org by clicking on the News tab and
then Video.
Council wanted to pass its own
ordinance, and referendums are a
reconsideration of something that
Tribal Council proposed or previ-
ously enacted.
The amendment would reduce
the number of General Council
signatures required for an initia-
tive or referendum petition from 33
percent of the voting-age member-
ship to 15 percent. Greene said that
using current Tribal enrollment
numbers, the amendment would
reduce the number of signatures
needed from 1,323 to 601.
In addition, the amendment
would reduce the number of qual-
ified voters who must vote in an
initiative or referendum election
from at least 30 percent – or 1,202
Tribal members using current en-
rollment numbers – to 20 percent,
or 802 Tribal members.
The amendment does not affect
the required margin of approval,
which would remain at 66.7 percent
of those actually voting to make the
election results binding on Tribal
Council.
However, Greene said, there are
exceptions to the amendment. Or-
HELP BUILD OUR FLOAT
2016 Spirit Mountain Grand Floral Parade
June 8 – 9, 2016
VOLUNTEERS
Room for 30 Employees (First Come First Served). All volunteers will be
entered in a rale for City Fair passes with unlimited carnival rides or Rose
Cup Race tickets. Folding chairs will be available for those who can not
stand for any length of time.
WHERE
Meet at the Main Entrance (by Mountain View Sports Bar) at 7:45am.
he bus departs at 8:15am and returns to the casino at 4:30pm.
A continental breakfast and box lunch will be provided. When calling to
reserve your space, please specify what kind of sandwich you prefer
(Ham, Turkey, Roast Beef or Tuna).
PTO
If this is your regularly scheduled day to work, you must request PTO
from your department.
CONTACT
Please call Sponsorship Administrator Jocelyn Hufman at 503-879-3054
by June 6, 2016 to register.
Don’t forget to place your lunch order, and get any necessary PTO approved.
dinances and resolutions related to
“fundamental decisions,” changes
to Tribal reserves and endowments,
sale or disposition of natural re-
sources or enrollment requirements
will still require at least 30 percent
of the General Council membership
to sign a petition. “Fundament de-
cisions,” as deined by the Tribal
Constitution, include such unlikely
events as termination or diminish-
ment of the Tribe’s Reservation, for
example.
The amendment also reduces the
number of General Council member
signatures required to call a special
General Council meeting from 33
percent to 15 percent.
Greene ielded a question from a
Tribal member regarding the pro-
posed amendment.
The more complex constitution-
al amendment proposal is about
changing Tribal enrollment re-
quirements.
Currently, Tribal membership
requirements for new applications
include, among other things, that
applicants have at least 1/16th
Grand Ronde blood quantum, were
born to a parent who was a mem-
ber of the Tribe at the time of the
applicant’s birth and at the time
of application, unless the parent is
deceased.
Grand Ronde blood is currently
deined as “all Indian blood derived
from a direct ancestor whose name
validly appears on the oficial Trib-
al membership roll prepared under
the Restoration Act, which may be
corrected by Tribal Council with
approval from the Secretary of the
Interior.”
The proposed amendment would
eliminate the requirements that an
applicant be born to a parent who
was a member of the Grand Ronde
Tribe at the time of their birth, as
well as the requirement that their
parent be a Tribal member at the
time of their application.
It also would change the deini-
tion of Grand Ronde blood to allow
applicants to use all Indian blood
derived from a direct ancestor who
not only validly appears on the
Restoration Roll, but also the Tribal
membership roll prepared by the
Tribe between Nov. 30, 1984, and
Sept. 14, 1999.
The effect, Greene said, could be
that applicants who have previous-
ly been denied membership because
they did not meet the current en-
rollment requirements may qualify
if they re-apply and new applicants
may apply and now qualify.
How many? Greene said the num-
ber of descendants who could be
enrolled if the amendment passes is
unknown. Other unknowns include
the possibility that some Tribal
members will face disenrollment
for dual enrollment or other rea-
sons when research is completed
regarding “other blood” to be in-
cluded as Grand Ronde blood and
whether DNA testing of nonTribal
ancestors to prove “other blood”
may be required.
The number of applications de-
nied admission into the Tribe be-
tween September 1999 and March
2016 include 113 people for having
less than 1/16th Grand Ronde blood
quantum, 25 applicants for not hav-
ing an ancestor on the Restoration
Roll, 114 people for not having an
ancestor on the Restoration Roll
and not having a parent on the roll
at the time of their birth, and 176
applicants for not having a parent
on the roll.
Before handing the education-
al presentation over the Keller,
Greene reminded Tribal members
that the burden to provide docu-
ments and other evidence to prove
that they meet the enrollment
requirements will remain on all
applicants.
Keller then guided attendees
through examples of how adopting
the proposed enrollment require-
ments could beneit hypothetical
applicants in some situations, as
well as have no effect in other sit-
uations.
“Changing the deinition of Grand
Ronde blood for purposes of enroll-
ment will increase some individu-
al’s Grand Ronde blood quantum or
Indian blood listed on the Tribe’s
roll,” she said. “The changed dei-
nition would allow an applicant
to include all Indian blood from
ancestors who were on the Res-
toration Roll or the Tribe’s roll
between Restoration and Sept. 14,
1999 (date of the irst constitutional
amendment), to calculate whether
an applicant meets the minimum
blood quantum requirement.”
However, Keller said, the amend-
ment, if approved, would still allow
for situations where irst cousins
with the same lineage and blood
quantum could be treated differ-
ently in that one cousin could be
enrolled and the other cousin could
not based on the date of their re-
spective parent’s enrollment.
After the educational presenta-
tion, Greene, Keller and Member
Services Manager Penny DeLoe
ielded questions from the audience.
In closing, Greene said that since
this is a BIA election, Tribal mem-
bers with questions should contact
Administrative Oficer Lori Ander-
son at the Warm Springs Agency at
541-553-2439.
Tribal members are strongly en-
couraged to watch the 47-minute
video of the educational session on
the Tribal website at www.gran-
dronde.org by clicking on the News
tab and then Video.
In addition, Tribal Council signed
an authorization to proceed to mail
out a special edition of Tilixam
Wawa that will include the Pow-
erPoint presentation used at the
educational sessions. The special
section was sent to the Tribe’s
printing contractor on Tuesday,
May 24, and will be mailed first
class.