Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
By Associated Press
Monday, February 02, 2004
ANCHORAGE - Alaska Native groups are preparing for a new law setting up a commission to draw up a new legal and governmental system for rural Alaska.
The law was adopted by Congress in January as part of a massive federal spending bill. It also calls for a government review of federal funding for Alaska Natives and seeks recommendations for consolidating delivery of services.
Another section of the budget rider, tacked on the spending bill by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, could eventually have a far-reaching impact on the flow of funds to rural Alaska. The law calls for creation of an Economic Development Committee, composed largely of finance and business people, who would funnel grants and loans to "promote private-sector investment to reduce poverty in economically distressed rural villages."
Funding for this would pass through the Denali Commission, a Stevens brainchild that in the past has concentrated more on public health investments in the Bush.
Since the federal spending bill was passed, most attention in Alaska has focused on the new Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission, which was told to complete its work by January 2005.
The commission has been told to make recommendations on creating "a unified law enforcement system, court system and system of local laws or ordinances for Alaska Native villages and communities of varying sizes including the possibility of first-, second- and third-class villages with different powers."
Some Native leaders said that sounds like an assault on the sovereignty of tribally run villages.
"People are still scrambling to figure out 'What the heck does this mean?' " said Heather Kendall Miller, a lawyer with the Native American Rights Fund. "When he says 'unified,' it sounds like he wants to do away with tribes in Alaska and do it by an appropriations rider."
She said the proposal calls for "carving out a different policy for Alaska tribes from every tribe in the Lower 48."
But Mike Irwin, a vice president with the Alaska Federation of Natives, said the mission is wide open. Irwin said it would be up to appointees to the commission to give it focus.
In remarks added to the bill on the Senate floor, Stevens said the commission was not set up to take sides in the dispute over the proper legal standing of tribes in Alaska. "Rather it seeks a practical solution to the issue of rural justice and law enforcement," he said.
The nine-member commission is to be appointed by U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and have one tribal representative. Alaska Attorney General Gregg Renkes is to be the state co-chairman.
The commission is being administered by the Alaska Native Justice Center, an Anchorage-based nonprofit advocacy group. Denise Morris, the justice center's president, said Friday it's too early to say what direction the group will take in examining governance questions. She said conversations about appointing members have barely begun.
Any recommendations would go back to Stevens and to the Alaska Legislature.
The challenge of merging state and tribal legal systems in Alaska has proved daunting, with neither side eager to give up its separate sovereign power.
Political jockeying stepped up two years ago, when Stevens said funding for Alaska Natives was being dispersed too broadly among tribal governments. He called for consolidation of funding and attached budget riders to bills ordering consolidation. Stevens dropped the riders in exchange for the language creating the new commission.
Native groups met last year in response to calls from Stevens for change. But few recommendations came forward. Most Native leaders have defended the status quo, saying federal self-determination policies have helped develop village-based economies by funding tribes rather than regional organizations.