CN committee passes Career Readiness Act; council to vote in Sept.

Sara Serrano, Tahlequah Daily Press, Okla.
·2 min read

Aug. 26—The Cherokee Nation Rules Committee met on Aug. 25 and passed an expansion of the 2019 Career Readiness Act, adding the proposed construction of a campus in Tahlequah.

The committee heard reports from the Marshal Service, Office of the Attorney General, Freedom of Information and Governmental Records, Tax Commission, Gaming Commission, and Human Resources.

Deputy Attorney General Chrissi Nimmo said the CN joined four other Indian Nations — Quinault, Morongo, Oneida and Navajo — in filing a brief in the Brackeen v. Haaland Supreme Court case, of which the CN is a party. This is a pending case challenging the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Case.

"In addition to our brief, there was a tribal amicus brief filed, and I think the final number was 494 tribes, making it the largest tribal brief ever filled in front of the Supreme Court since [Native American Rights Fund] has started this process of drafting briefs and having tribes sign on," said Nimmo.

Nimmo reported that as of Aug. 24, the office has filed 2,418 misdemeanor and criminal cases this year, not including traffic citations.

"Our total for all of last year was 3,011, so that brings us to 5,429 criminal cases since the Hogner decision," she said.

Samantha Hendricks, executive director of Human Resources, answered a question from District 7 Councilor Joshua Sam about reaching the goal of a $15 minimum wage by 2025.

"We're right on target with our schedule to do that," said Hendricks. "We have a plan, an extensive plan on timelines and dates, and we're actually ahead of schedule."

Hendricks said there currently about 832 CN job vacancies.

"We're working on getting those down," she said. "The main thing was the communication that we were trying to increase our staff that direction so people know the status of where their applications are."

In old business, the committee tabled a legislative act creating Title 21, section 1835.2 of the Cherokee Nation code annotated relating to offenses against property, until the next meeting.

In new business — because of an inadequate number of listed sponsors — the committee withdrew the following motions to be added back for next month's meeting:

—A resolution to elect the Office of Secretary of the Tribal Council.

—A resolution confirming a Tribal Council appointment to fill the board member seat of the Cherokee Nation Sequoyah High School Board of Education.

The committee passed the Career Readiness Act of 2019 with 2022 amendments. This act expansion will be voted on during the next CN Tribal Council meeting.

What's next

The next meeting of the Cherokee Nation Rules Committee is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, Sept. 29 at 1 p.m.