6
S moke S ignals
NOVEMBER 1, 2018
Tribal Council sends constitutional amendment proposal to Interior
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
Tribal voters will have a seventh
opportunity to amend the Tribal
Constitution in early 2019 after
Tribal Council voted on Wednes-
day, Oct. 24, to move forward with
a proposed amendment designed
to address the issue of siblings who
are not Tribal members despite
having brothers and sisters who
are and have the same parent(s).
The proposed amendment to the
Tribal Constitution would amend
Article V to allow for the enrollment
of applicants who have enrolled
brothers and sisters by the same
Tribal parent(s) who were enrolled
before Sept. 14, 1999, and who meet
pre-1999 constitutional enrollment
requirements.
Applicants also must meet the
five-year relinquishment require-
ment if they have enrolled in an-
other Tribe.
Tribal Council was encouraged
to move the proposed amendment
forward by a positive Sept. 8 advi-
sory vote. Tribal voters favored a
similarly worded proposal 839 to
365, for a 69.7 percent majority.
To change the Tribal Constitution,
two-thirds of those voting must
approve of the change.
Only two proposed constitutional
amendment changes have ever
received sufficient yes votes to
pass — the July 1999 enrollment
requirements and the February
2008 proposal to increase the re-
linquishment period from one to
five years.
Other proposals have either
failed to garner the two-thirds
majority mandated by the Tribal
Constitution or have been defeated.
The proposed amendment will
be submitted to the Secretary of
the Interior for the calling of an
election. Once the Bureau of Indian
Affairs receives the Tribal Council
resolution, the election must be
held within 90 days.
Since the election will be super-
vised by the BIA, Tribal members
wanting to vote on the issue will
have to specially register. Then,
two-thirds of those who vote will
Previous Tribal Constitution elections
Date
July ’99
Feb. ’08
Feb. ’08
Feb. ’08
Nov. ’11
June ’12
March ’15
March ’15
July ’16
July ’16
Yes
No
% yes
Topic
757
292
72.1
Enrollment
636
513
55
Grand Ronde blood
700
450
60.9
Parent on the roll
880
277
76
Relinquishment period
457
536
46
Enrollment
407
222
64.7
Primary election
391
220
64
Term limits
230
381
37.6
Remove BIA
382
670
36.3
Initiatives, etc.
412
639
39.2
Enrollment
(Bold signifies successful amendment elections)
have to approve for the amendment
to pass, as well as 30 percent of
those who registered must cast a
ballot for the election to count.
“This is the next step,” Tribal
Council member Kathleen George
said during the Tuesday, Oct. 16,
Legislative Action Committee
meeting. “It is much more formal.
… This is the same issue raised in
the advisory vote even though we
now have to work through this very
formal process.”
Tribal Council Vice Chair Chris
Mercier said that he has always
wondered why Tribal members
make the effort to register to vote
in BIA-supervised constitutional
amendment elections, but then
do not follow through by actually
voting.
In the last three constitutional
amendment elections held in 2016,
2015 and 2012, an average of 1,248
Tribal members have registered
to vote, but the turnout has only
averaged 61.3 percent.
“For whatever reason when peo-
ple register, there is always a
drop-off in the number of people
that actually vote, which I’ve never
understood because you’re usually
voting within several weeks of
registering,” Mercier said during
the Legislative Action Committee
meeting. “A lot of people register
and don’t cast their ballots.”
As of the Sept. 8 Tribal Council
election, more than 4,150 Tribal
members were 18 or older, making
them eligible to vote in a Tribal
Ad created by George Valdez
election.
In a complementary action, Trib-
al Council also voted to appoint the
Tribe’s Election Board – Deanna
Johnston, Michael Mercier, Sharon
Hanson, Victor Cureton and Daniel
Strobel – to serve on the constitu-
tional amendment Election Board.
Tribal Council is planning yet-
to-be scheduled educational ses-
sions regarding the constitutional
amendment election in Grand
Ronde, Portland and Eugene.
In other action, Tribal Council:
• Approved restoration and preser-
vation work on the Grand Ronde
Depot as the Tribe’s proposed
project for a $100,000 Spirit
Mountain Community Fund
Oregon Tribal Grant. The depot,
which housed the Tribe’s first of-
fices following 1983’s Restoration,
is the only building in Grand
Ronde on the National Register
of Historic Places.
• Approved an amendment to the
already approved Green Shark
Logging Unit that is now estimat-
ed to bring the Tribe $417,713 in
revenue. The sale was amended
to reflect lower timber prices
since the sale was originally ap-
proved in September.
• Authorized the Tribal Attorney’s
Office to contract for legal services
with Sonosky, Chambers Sachse,
Endreson & Perry to represent the
Tribe in a multi-district opioid lit-
igation on a contingency fee basis.
• Approved the agenda for the 11
a.m. Sunday, Nov. 4, General
Council meeting to be held in
the Tribal gym. The meeting will
review the proposed 2019 Tribal
budget.
Also included in the Oct. 24 Trib-
al Council packet were approved
authorizations to proceed that
appointed Tribal Council member
Steve Bobb Sr. to the Chemawa
Station LLC Board of Directors and
OK’d a letter to Pembina Pipeline
Corp. accepting the company’s
invitation for the Tribe to partici-
pate on the Jordan Cove Cultural
Resources Working Group.
Tribal Council Chairwoman
Cheryle A. Kennedy made the
cultural presentation to open the
meeting, reading background on
the Tribe’s historical relationship
with Willamette Falls and ceremo-
nial fishing at the site.
Kennedy said the Tribe’s current
construction of a fishing platform
at Willamette Falls is about “our
right to exist as a people. Fishing
at the falls means all of that. … It’s
a wonderful time for Grand Ronde.”
The entire meeting can be viewed
by visiting the Tribal website at
www.grandronde.org and clicking
on the News tab and then Video.
Ad created by George Valdez