Budget Woes… The Governor dropped his budget today. It has a lot of vague description – look for $294.6 million in undesignated cuts, a future bond package, a full PFD, and a massive raid on the earnings reserve. Press release here. Battle lines are drawn in race to organize It was just a few short years ago when we all …
PCE and Rural Alaska is in the hands of new lawmaker With the election results settled pending recounts, the question now becomes just how a divided House might organize. This is particularly important to Tanana Chiefs Conference as rural Alaska is in the crosshairs of the majority of Alaskan Republicans due to their insistence of using the PCE endowment to …
Biden Transition Team Includes Chickasaw Tribal member With the transfer of power taking place in our nation’s capital, the President-elect has charged a team with making recommendations for key positions within the soon to be President’s cabinet. Kevin Washburn, who served as the assistant secretary for Indian Affairs for the Obama/Biden administration, has been tapped to assist in leading a …
PROGRESS ACT signed…but no real progress President Donald Trump finally signed S.209, the Practical Reforms and Other Goals To Reinforce the Effectiveness of Self-Governance and Self-Determination for Indian Tribes Act, into law, a month after the bill cleared its final hurdle in Congress. S.209, also known as the PROGRESS Act, implements long-overdue reforms to help tribes exercise greater self-governance over …
First Presidential Debate President Trump and Vice President Biden had the first Presidential Debate of 2020 and it was…..not great. Moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News appeared to be babysitting at times when the two candidates both tried to speak over one another. Name-calling, family bashing, price-gouging, with a hint of racism mixed in. Story here and another here. President …
Murkowski writes NCAI a letter…tells them to shape up As you guys know there is a battle being waged over who gets COVID money that was set aside for “tribal governments”. Needless to say, lower 48 Tribes (and NCAI) were upset with Alaska Native Corporations tried to get in on the money. So upset that they took them to court. …
It’s Budget Crunch Time It’s that time of year…it used to be the time of year when I would report out to you what the DOI/BIA/IHS budgets were going to be for the next fiscal year, but now more often than not it is the time of year to talk about government shutdowns and short term appropriation bills to get …
News happened…… State Reports: Federal Reports: News Links: State News: Tribal groups sue over ANWR decision Alaska Attorney General is yuck Fairbanks Police Chief resigns after only one year on the job Oil Tax Initiative Wins Court Battle Long time Fbks Senator gets ousted in the Republican Primary National News: Companies can pollute all they want because of COVID Interesting …
State Sues Over Hunting Decision The State of Alaska has filed a preliminary injunction against the Federal Subsistence Board decision that gave local federal land managers the authority to open federal lands in their respective jurisdictions for fishing and hunting by emergency or temporary regulations to lessen food insecurities due to COVID19. The state alleges that this act constituted an …
Early Voting IS OPEN!!! Not only is early voting open, but a record number of Alaskans have signed up to vote by mail in this year’s statewide primary election on August 18th. In Alaska, you can sign up to receive a mail-in ballot for any reason AND you can do it online here. By mail or in person, TCC is …