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Senator Heinrich and Congressman Grijalva Introduce the Tribal Tax Incentive for Renewable Energy Act

On July 13, Senator Martin Heinrich (D-NM) and Congressman Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ) took another step to further allow Tribes to exert their energy autonomy by introducing the Tribal Tax Incentive for Renewable Energy Act.  This Act would permit Tribal Governments to take advantage of federal renewable energy tax credits by allowing tribes to transfer their share of the production tax credit to private entities that finance joint venture renewable energy projects on tribal lands.  Tribes would then be able to offer 100 percent of the tax credit to their partners.  Under the current regime, the tax credit is wasted:

Disenrollment Causes Tribal Classism, Income Inequality

“One hundred fifty years ago, this was utopia — with no (social) classes, no rich, no poor, no starving people. Everyone lived together in 1,000-foot longhouses, and they knew the difference between right and wrong.” —NCAI President Brian Cladoosby, Seattle Times

Disenrollment is destroying the remaining vestiges of the American indigenous utopia.

Tenth Circuit to Utah: "Stop Illegally Prosecuting Indians. Or Else."

By Jared Miller

“Because of the local ill feeling, the people of the States where [Indians] are found are often their deadliest enemies.” U.S. v. Kagama, 118 U.S. 375 (1886).

In a scathing opinion, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday condemned the State of Utah for ignoring decades-old law preempting state prosecution of tribal members on Ute tribal lands.

Spokane Tribe Bans Disenrollment

On Saturday, the Spokane Tribe of Indians General Council passed a Referendum that amended the Tribe's constitution to generally prohibit disenrollment. The new Spokane constitutional provision provides: "Except in instances where a citizen transfers enrollment to another Tribe, no Spokane Tribal law shall operate to strip citizenship from any person who has previously been recognized to possess citizenship . . ."

Anthony Broadman Publishes on "Gaming, Pot and Tribal Resistance"

Anthony Broadman has published, "Gaming, Pot and Tribal Resistance As Economic Development," in this month's King County Bar Bulletin.

Rather than the sensational, even hysterical, writings about tribal recreational marijuana legalization since the Wilkinson Memo issued in December, Anthony gives the topic proper context.  An excerpt:

Red Tide is Turning Against Tribal Disenrollment

This spring there has been a surge of tribal public opinion against the practice of tribal disenrollment.  The tide of tribal public opinion is dramatically turning on that non-indigenous mode of Indian self-termination, and those tribes and tribal leaders who extinguish their kin. Most recently, Marty Two Bulls drew and pubished this political cartoon:

Gabe Galanda to Urge “Finding a Cure for Tribal Disenrollment” in Phoenix

Gabe Galanda will advocate for “Finding a Cure for Tribal Disenrollment,” at the Annual Meeting of the Native American Bar Association-Arizona in Phoenix on June 26.  Gabe will speak from the Arizona Law Review article that he recently published with Ryan Dreveskracht.  SeeNABA Annual Meeting Flyer.

Gabriel S. Galanda and Amber Penn-Roco practice Indian law with Galanda Broadman, PLLC, in Seattle. Gabe is an enrolled citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes, and Amber is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation.