Legislature(2023 - 2024)DAVIS 106
03/06/2023 03:00 PM House TRIBAL AFFAIRS
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| Audio | Topic |
|---|---|
| Start | |
| Presentation(s): Alaska Natives 101 | |
| Presentation(s): Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Overview | |
| Presentation(s): Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes | |
| Adjourn |
* first hearing in first committee of referral
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
+ teleconferenced
= bill was previously heard/scheduled
ALASKA STATE LEGISLATURE
HOUSE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON TRIBAL AFFAIRS
March 6, 2023
3:05 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT
Representative CJ McCormick, Chair
Representative Ben Carpenter
Representative Sarah Vance
Representative Jamie Allard
Representative Maxine Dibert
Representative Jennie Armstrong
MEMBERS ABSENT
Representative Josiah Patkotak
COMMITTEE CALENDAR
PRESENTATION(S): ALASKA NATIVES 101
- HEARD
PRESENTATION(S): ALASKA NATIVE CLAIMS SETTLEMENT ACT OVERVIEW
- HEARD
PRESENTATION(S): TLINGIT & HAIDA INDIAN TRIBES
- HEARD
PREVIOUS COMMITTEE ACTION
No previous action to record
WITNESS REGISTER
BARBARA 'WAAHLAAL GIIDAAK BLAKE, Director
Alaska Native Policy Center
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a presentation on Alaska Natives
101.
KIM REITMEIER, President
ANCSA Regional Association
Anchorage, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Provided a presentation overviewing the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act.
RICHARD CHALYEE ÉESH PETERSON, President
Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
Juneau, Alaska
POSITION STATEMENT: Presented on the Tlingit & Haida Indian
Tribes.
ACTION NARRATIVE
3:05:55 PM
CHAIR CJ MCCORMICK called the House Special Committee on Tribal
Affairs meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. Representatives
Carpenter, Allard, Dibert, Armstrong, and McCormick were present
at the call to order. Representative Vance arrived as the
meeting was in progress.
^PRESENTATION(S): Alaska Natives 101
PRESENTATION(S): Alaska Natives 101
3:07:15 PM
CHAIR MCCORMICK announced that the first order of business would
be the Alaska Natives 101 presentation.
3:08:57 PM
BARBARA 'WAAHLAAL GIIDAAK BLAKE, Director, Alaska Native Policy
Center, emphasized the lack of learning spaces for the complex
community of the Alaska Native peoples, institutions, and
governments. She stated that the only resources to learn were
either the university systems in Alaska or through organizations
like First Alaskans Institute, and said she hoped the Alaska
Natives 101 presentation [hard copy provided in the committee
packet] would provide information of the diversity and
complexity of the Alaska Native community.
3:10:15 PM
MS. BLAKE began the presentation on slide 4, and played a video,
titled "Basketball Awareness Test," which highlighted the
difficulty to focus on something unless told to look at it, and
how the same concept applied to Alaska Natives when they go
unnoticed with policy decisions.
3:12:43 PM
MS. BLAKE moved to slide 5, "What all Alaskans need to know,"
and stated the Alaska Native people have over 10,000 years of
carbon-dated and DNA-tested proof of stewardship within the
state of Alaska. She emphasized that the Alaska Native Tribes
are not one monolith, and the differences in culture within the
Alaska Native Tribes between her people and the Inupiaq are as
different as her people and the Maori of New Zealand. She
stated there are some cultural values shared between the Alaska
Native Tribes and described them as "human values" that could be
seen in cultural groups across the globe.
3:15:38 PM
MS. BLAKE displayed slide 6, "3 Sovereigns," which listed three
forms of government: tribal, state, and federal. She stated
there are sophisticated forms of governance structure within the
229 Tribes within Alaska. She said the three forms of
government could be thought of as three thirds, or that it could
be thought of as three wholes looking to care for the people of
Alaska.
3:17:28 PM
MS. BLAKE moved to slide 7, which showed a map of the 229
federally recognized Tribes in Alaska and stated over one half
of the Tribes across the U.S. are located in Alaska. She
highlighted that many of the communities are not accessible by
road and must use air or boat to travel in and out, and that
each community has its own forms of caretaking and cultural
values. She added that many of the Tribes in Southeast Alaska
are part of the Tlingit Nation but have chosen to be separate
Tribes under the federal government because of their differences
in laws, cultural values, and care taking.
3:20:29 PM
MS. BLAKE followed with slide 8, "We know who we are," and
stated that all the Tribes in Alaska were orate and did not have
a written language. She emphasized that generations of
knowledge and value systems were passed down orally, and elders
ensured the stories were known word for word. She stated that
the elders who fight for Alaska Natives have value systems that
were passed down from the generations before them. She said
that when the language, songs, dance, ceremonial wear, and
Native vests were outlawed, the Alaska Native people had hidden
their values in the aspects of the culture they were allowed to
retain.
3:22:45 PM
MS. BLAKE moved to slide 9, which showed a diagram depicting the
different languages in Alaska and the connecting groups between
them. She stated under the Athabascan languages, Ahtna and
Gwich'in could understand some of the words between each other,
but many words are different. She said that Alaska Natives are
22 percent of the state population.
3:24:38 PM
MS. BLAKE continued to slide 10 which displayed a map of the
different languages across Alaska, Canada, and some states in
the Lower 48. She stated that the border between Alaska and
Canada divide many of the communities physically, but the Tribes
do not recognize the divide as separating their communities
culturally.
3:27:01 PM
MS. BLAKE moved to slide 11, "Our Relationship," and clarified
the distinction between the Alaska Native racial and political
status, as the political status is based on the inherent rights
of Alaska Native governments, where the racial status is based
on the civil rights in the U.S. She commented that many
individuals speak of the race-based rights of Alaska Natives
when it should be towards their political status, and that the
favoritism seen within Alaska towards Tribes is political, not
racial.
3:28:45 PM
MS. BLAKE showed slide 12, "Opportunities to Strengthen," and
described the "three C's of Tribal sovereignty." She said that
"consultation" is talking to Tribal governments before making
decisions that would affect the Tribes, while recognizing that
both entities are sovereign. She explained the difference
between "compacting" and "contracting," as compacting focuses on
recognizing the sovereignty of the entities and agreeing to make
measures towards a goal, while contracting does not pertain in
the sovereignty between entities, as it focuses on specific
agreements.
3:31:39 PM
MS. BLAKE moved slide 13, "Types of Alaska Native
Organizations," and stated there are 229 Tribal governments, 12
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA) regional
corporations, close to 180 ANCSA village corporations, and 12
regional native nonprofits. She said it is important to know
the distinction between Alaska Native Tribes and corporations,
as the Tribal governments have an inherent sovereignty
acknowledged by the federal and state government, and the
regional and village corporations are the result of ANCSA in
1971 to give Alaska Natives direct control of some land in
Alaska. She added that the distinction between village and
regional corporations is that the village corporations own the
surface land, while the regional corporations own the subsurface
land. She noted there was a former thirteenth regional
corporation for individuals outside of Alaska, but it was
dissolved when ANCSA was amended to allow individuals to join
their home corporations.
3:36:09 PM
MS. BLAKE stated the regional and village corporations are the
entities that received and retain the land settlements from the
federal government. She said the regional corporations have
7(i) Revenue Sharing, which distributes 70 percent of each
corporation's natural resource profits to each of the 12
corporations, and the village corporations have 7(j) Revenue
Sharing, which distributes the 7(i) funds to the village
corporations. She added that the regional nonprofits can
negotiate for federal funding, such as Indian Healthcare
funding, through the authority of the Tribes in the regional
nonprofits' area.
3:39:57 PM
MS. BLAKE showed slide 14, which displayed a map of Alaska with
the different regions of Alaska Native languages and the borders
of the ANCSA regional corporations overlayed on it. She
commented that the borders of the regional corporations almost
align with the borders of languages, with some exceptions.
MS. BLAKE skipped to slide 16, "Understanding the Layers," and
stated all the Tribes in Alaska are autonomous, independent,
inter-dependent and have concurrent community care. She said
although there are distinct differences between the goals of
individual Tribes and ANCSA corporations, there is still a
recognition of all entities being Alaska Native and working
together to provide community care. She said that the
relationships between municipal governments are a form of
community care and can amplify the voices of Alaska Natives.
3:42:22 PM
MS. BLAKE moved to slide 17, "PL 280," and said Public Law 83-
280 (PL 280) was enacted within 8 states and grants Tribes
concurrent jurisdiction alongside state and federal government
for Tribal members. She added that a lot of federal funds
Alaska is given are on behalf of Alaska Natives through PL 280,
and the State of Alaska had a responsibility to maintain a level
of care for the Indigenous population.
3:45:20 PM
MS. BLAKE displayed slide 18, "Alaska Law Enforcement," and
stated the Alaska State Troopers and Village Public Safety
Officers are a state function, while the Village Police Officers
and Tribal Police Officers began as a pilot program from U.S.
Senator Lisa Murkowski with direct federal law enforcement funds
for Tribes.
3:46:26 PM
MS. BLAKE moved to slide 19, "Our Ways of Life," and stated the
ways of life for Alaska Native people isn't just hunting and
fishing but a wholistic coverage of Alaska Native culture. She
told a story of when her son was able to return from a
subsistence harvest with enough food to feed the entire family,
and an elder said that he was old enough to have his manhood
ceremony. She stated she was a single parent to her son his
entire life, and when he went through his manhood ceremony, he
gained a different recognition of who he was expected to be.
She said that he understood it wasn't about his ability to catch
a fish, but about his ability to care for the community. She
emphasized that during his manhood ceremony others in the
community provided help and guidance on how to be a man and
surrounded him with their ways of life. She said the ways of
life of Alaska Natives are incredibly important to the
spirituality, culture, people, and the future of how to care for
those in the community.
3:49:40 PM
MS. BLAKE displayed slide 21, "Solutions for all Alaskans
Exist," and emphasized co-management solutions, combining the
effects of Tribal, state, and federal governments to amplify the
ability to care for the Alaska people.
^PRESENTATION(S): Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Overview
PRESENTATION(S): Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Overview
3:51:48 PM
CHAIR MCCORMICK announced that the next order of business would
be the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act Overview
presentation.
3:52:15 PM
KIM REITMEIER, President, ANCSA Regional Association, began the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act presentation [hard copy
included in committee packet] on slide 2, "Who Are We?" and
stated the ANCSA Regional Association was created in the late
'90s to represent the 12 ANCSA regional corporations. She
continued with slide 3, "Board of Directors," and said the
presidents and CEOs of each regional corporation are part of the
board of directors to ensure collaboration between the
presidents and CEOs for the betterment of the Alaska Native
people.
3:54:50 PM
MS. REITMEIER moved to slide 4, "Alaska's Unique Constellation,"
and emphasized the need for the regional corporations, village
corporations, regional nonprofits, Tribes, and statewide native
organization to come together to represent the Alaska Native
people. She said that through ANCSA the regional corporations
own the subsurface rights to land, and the village corporations
own the surface rights.
MS. REITMEIER displayed slide 5, "The Settlement and Its Unique
Features," and stated that ANCSA is a unique federal Indian
policy signed by former President Richard Nixon in 1971. She
emphasized not all Alaska Native people or regions voted to
support ANCSA, as they viewed it as a land giveaway, but after
years of discussion they came together to sign the Act. She
read off slide 5, which was as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
43.7 Million Acres of Land
Land held in fee simple title
$962.5 Million Dollars
Moneys paid for lands that cannot be returned to
Native ownership
12 Regional Corporations
Private, for-profit corporations
211 Village Corporations
Private, for-profit corporations
MS. REITMEIER added that the regional corporations' boundaries
are defined by heritage and common interests, and all the
regional and village corporations are disconnected from each
other. She emphasized the corporations are different from
traditional corporations, as the corporations were dictated in
ANCSA to provide economically, socially, and culturally to
shareholders.
3:58:09 PM
MS. REITMEIER moved to slide 6, "Alaska Native Regional
Corporations," which contained a map depicting the boundaries of
the 12 ANCSA regional corporations. She stated the thirteenth
regional corporation that was established for Alaska Natives
outside of Alaska was not provided any land, but was compensated
with funds, and later dissolved. She added that Sealaska was
formerly the largest regional corporation by members, but it has
been surpassed by the Calista Corporation, which has nearly
35,000 members. She noted that Doyon is that largest regional
corporation by landmass with 12,500,000 acres of land.
3:59:41 PM
MS. REITMEIER continued to slide 7, "Alaska Land Status," which
contained a map depicting who owns what sections of land in
Alaska. She stated corporations had dealt with frequent
trespassing issues, such as Ahtna Inc., which owned excellent
hunting lands.
MS. REITMEIER followed with side 8, "Who Owns Alaska?" and said
Alaska is unique as it is the state with the most federally and
state-owned land, but ANCSA corporations own 92 percent of all
privately owned land. She emphasized the importance of
consultation between the state and Tribes because of the large
amount of land owned by ANCSA corporations.
4:01:22 PM
MS. REITMEIER moved to slide 9, "Our Shareholders," and said
that ANCSA calls members of the regional and village
corporations "shareholders." She added each ANCSA corporation
was given two years to enroll shareholders that have at least
one quarter Native blood quantum and are born on or before
December 18, 1971, and to give each shareholder 100 shares.
MS. REITMEIER displayed slide 10, "Socially Responsible, For-
Profit Corporations," and stated there was a 20-year period
given to ANCSA to work out its issues, which ANCSA used to pass
the 1991 Amendment which extended the period of stock alienation
to preserve Alaska Native ownership of the corporations. She
said the boards of directors of the regional and village
corporations are elected by the Alaska Native shareholders. She
added that the ANCSA corporations are different from other
corporations as they diversify the Alaska economy, are
headquartered in Alaska, do business on an international scale,
employ Alaskans, and bring in money for the state. She
emphasized that undeveloped land is not carried on a balance
sheet for the corporations, in contrast to traditional
corporations.
4:03:45 PM
MS. REITMEIER followed with slide 11, "Revenue Sharing (7i &
7j)," and stated that 70 percent of natural resource development
is shared between the 12 corporations and a minimum of 50
percent of the shared revenue is passed on to the village
corporations. She said revenue sharing was created by the
elders to ensure the natural resource disparities between
corporations is distributed to take care of each other
regardless of location. She added that the five-year average is
over $200 million dollars shared between the regional and
village corporations under 7(i) revenue sharing, and this is the
key support to village corporations.
MS. REITMEIER moved to slide 12, "Benefits for Our People and
Communities," and emphasized the different programs that ANCSA
corporations provide for communities in Alaska, such as elder
benefits, culture camps, language revitalization, scholarships,
training activities, and advocacy efforts.
4:05:26 PM
MS. REITMEIER displayed slide 13, "ANCSA Regional Corporations:
By the Numbers," which read as follows [original punctuation
provided]:
Shareholders
from 64,000 to +150,000
Scholarship Funds Awarded
from $2.5m to $14m
Scholarships Awarded:
5,000+ in FY21
Dividends Paid to Shareholders:
from $52.5m to $217m
Donations:
Five-Year Average of $22m/year
Alaska Employees
+16,000
Employees Worldwide
+57,000
4:06:47 PM
MS. REITMEIER moved to slide 14, "Cultural Values at Work," and
stated out of the top 49 performing private corporations in
Alaska, 25 are either Alaska Native regional or village
corporations. She added over $4 billion in dividends had been
paid to Native shareholders, more than 58,000 individual
scholarships had been awarded to shareholders, and over $119
million in scholarship money had been awarded to Alaska Native
people.
4:07:44 PM
MS. REITMEIER ended her presentation on slide 15 and added that
there was a 30-minute video available celebrating 50 years of
ANCSA.
^PRESENTATION(S): Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes
PRESENTATION(S): Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes
4:08:55 PM
CHAIR MCCORMICK announced that the final order of business would
be a presentation on the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes.
4:09:06 PM
RICHARD CHALYEE ÉESH PETERSON, President, Central Council of the
Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, described when he was
elected mayor of his village at 19 years old, people talked
about Tribes in whispers in the capitol, and to see that the
House Special Committee on Tribal Affairs existed went to show
the progress that had been made in relationships between Tribes
and the State of Alaska.
MR. PETERSON stated that Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska
("Tlingit & Haida") is the largest Tribe in all of Alaska with
over 35,000 enrolled Tribal citizens and is unique as it
represents all Southeast communities. He added that Tlingit &
Haida is federally recognized as a government by Congress in
1975, making it the oldest Tribe. He said the governing body
comprised 116 Tribal delegates elected from 19 Southeast
communities, Seattle, and San Fransico. He stated that Seattle
and San Fransico were included because of historical
extermination efforts made to relocate Native Alaskans and "Kill
the Indian, Save the Man."
4:12:15 PM
MR. PETERSON stated the Tribe has offices in Juneau, Haines,
Craig, Ketchikan, Sitka, Anchorage, and soon in Seattle. It has
over 500 employees and over 1,600 government contracted
employees outside of direct employees. He added that Tlingit
and Haidi have established community navigators in each
community to serve as a point of contact to access scholarships,
opportunities, programs, and general help.
4:13:49 PM
MR. PETERSON stated Tlingit & Haida have government-to
government-relationships with federal, state, and municipal
governments, and that compacting is a government-to-government
agreement to administer programs. He expressed his
disappointment with State of Alaska suing the federal government
over the approval of Tlingit & Haida's application for land-to-
trust, and he added that the sovereignty of Alaska Native Tribes
should not be in question, as the State of Alaska has sued
Alaska Native Tribes before and lost. He stated gratitude for
the state recognizing Tribes during the [Thirty-Second Alaska
State Legislature] and upholding the sovereignty of Alaska
Native Tribes. He stated Tlingit and Haidi made compacts with
the federal government on behalf of the communities it served,
as well as administering Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF), employment training, childcare, natural resources,
economic development, Tribal court, public safety, broadband
deployment, and community behavioral services. He added that
although Tlingit & Haida compacted with the federal government,
it sought to have economic sovereignty, so that it would not be
bound by the restrictions placed on federal funds.
4:17:02 PM
MR. PETERSON said as the president of Tlingit & Haidi, he is
responsible for serving all 35,000 Tribal citizens regardless of
where they reside. He added that Tlingit & Haida is the sole
owner of Tlingit Haida Tribal Business Corporation and KIRA, it
has and used the funds to fill service gaps. He emphasized the
most significant use of Tlingit & Haida sovereignty was the
Tribal Courts established in 2010, which covers most civil case
types, such as guardianship, adoption, paternity, child welfare,
child custody, divorce, marriage, domestic violence, protection
proceedings, and child support; the Tribal Courts have 15 titles
of statutory law.
4:18:07 PM
MR. PETERSON stated an additional act of sovereignty had been
buying back land in the Juneau Indian village and putting it
into trust status at the direction of the Tribal Assembly. He
explained the reasons for putting land into trust is so to
protect traditional homeland, provide eligibility for federal
funds, and to ensure the land stayed in Tribal hands for
perpetuity. He said that many services provided in rural Alaska
were because of Alaska Native Tribes, and having access to
federal funds would be beneficial to every Alaskan. He
expressed frustration with the lawsuit against the Tribe and
stated that it was disingenuous to frame land-to-trust as
allowing nefarious goals, he added that the restrictions placed
on land-to-trust made development of the land more difficult,
was cumbersome to manage, and would not allow the construction
of a casino in downtown Juneau.
4:25:04 PM
MR. PETERSON, in response to a question from Representative
Vance, stated the benefit to putting land into trust was to
qualify for Indian Country which allowed for access to federal
funding. He added that the approved application was one of nine
and emphasized the difficulty of the land-to-trust process. In
response to a follow up question from Representative Vance, he
clarified that the land would not be a reservation but would be
counted as Indian Country for funding eligibility.
4:27:03 PM
MR. PETERSON emphasized the sophistication of the Tlingit &
Haida and stated the Tribes ran the Head Start program, a
behavioral health department, and multiple businesses in Juneau.
4:29:22 PM
ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business before the committee, the House
Special Committee on Tribal Affairs meeting was adjourned at
4:29 p.m.
| Document Name | Date/Time | Subjects |
|---|---|---|
| HTRB Alaska Natives 101 03.01.23.pdf |
HTRB 3/6/2023 3:00:00 PM |
Alaska Natives 101 |
| HTRB ANCSA Presentation 03.06.23.pdf |
HTRB 3/6/2023 3:00:00 PM |