Council’s fall session underway
TSÉBIGHÁHOODZÁNÍ
Tsídii Tóhí, Arizona, native, and member of the 24th Navajo Nation Council, started his fall session with some rain on the ground.
“Fall session is a good time to come together after summer, after monsoon,” said Delegate Thomas Walker Jr., who represents Béésh Haagééd, Na’ni’á Hasani, Tsiizizii, Tsídii Tóhí, and Tónehelį́į́h.
Navajo Times File
Inside the Navajo Nation Council chambers in Window Rock, Ariz., on Feb. 11, 2019, during the session to assign standing committee members.
Walker said nine legislations, two of which are veterans-related, are on the fall session agenda this week.
The first one is amending the selection process for the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration executive director and amending the Veterans Advisory Council. The second is requesting tribal communication with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to establish direct services in the Nation for Diné veterans.
“The veterans-related legislations are fairly important to all veterans across the Navajo Nation,” Walker said. “The decisions made for those legislations are immediately impactful at the local chapter levels where our veterans are.”
Walker said Diné veterans would govern their activities and address their needs locally.
“So, it’s important the Nation sees it from that angle,” he said. “It’s not just a program where veterans can apply for, and the government responds.”
Tónaneesdizí Delegate Otto Tso and Walker said they’re eager to hear reports from the president, chief justice, speaker, and the acting controller. The reports were all given earlier today. In addition, Tso said he was looking forward to the attorney general’s report.
“We as delegates also have an opportunity to have a direct dialogue for the public,” Walker added. “It’s an excellent time for Navajo leaders to engage respectfully and start a dialogue or close out a dialogue on some matter that they’ve been advocating for in the past.”
“The main thing is that this is the very last Council (fall) session of the 24th Navajo Nation Council and the legislations we’ll be addressing,” Tso said. “There are over nine legislations (and) they all impact the livelihoods of the Navajo citizens across the Nation in aspects of veterans and many other areas.
Tso said the upcoming Nov. 8 general elections could change the leadership in the executive branch. Several of his colleagues have decided not to run again or have been defeated in the Aug. 2 primaries, which would change several legislations the Council has tackled over the last four years.
During the previous two years, Tso and Walker have dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic, stalling many projects.
“But the issue is the government continues to operate and continues to run even though leadership is at the point where change of officials may happen,” he said. “The leadership roles and the services to the Navajo people continue.”
Tso said the idea is not to interfere with services to the Diné to ensure a smooth transition in January 2023.
“That’s what I look forward to,” Tso added.
Highway 264,
I-40, WB @ Winslow