State officials: AZ legislative session good one for tribes

CHINLE

After a short legislative session (some called it rushed) during which the leanest budget in recent history was passed (some called it overly austere), Arizona’s three Diné legislators, all Democrats from Dist. 7, had different takes on how it will affect Arizona Navajos.

Freshman Rep. Jennifer Benally called the recent session “an education both good and bad” and promised to “strengthen my voice on the floor” the next time the house meets.

Rep. Albert Hale graciously refrained from voicing any affront at having his delayed birth certificate bill passed over in favor of an identical one sponsored by Sen. Carlyle Begay, preferring to concentrate on the fact the bill was passed.

The bill, signed into law last Tuesday, will allow Native Americans born before 1970 to use tribal enrollment records that contain information on their birth as the starting document for a request for a delayed birth certificate.

Many Native elders who were born at home and have no documentation of their birth have been unable to obtain birth certificates, which are required for passports and other official documents. The new law will help them to prove the circumstances of their birth.

“This is a very important issue to all Native American communities in Arizona. I am grateful that the governor and my legislative colleagues made correcting this hardship a priority,” Hale said in a prepared statement.

Both Hale and Begay gave credit to Coconino County Supervisor Lena Fowler for crafting and advocating for the legislation.

Added Begay in an email to the Times, “A generation of elders now will have clear guidance about what kinds of tribal documents to include in their application.”

While the new budget gives a close shave to many state programs, including public education, Begay — who cast the deciding vote for it in the senate — managed to get included some provisions that will benefit the state’s Native Americans.

SB 1220, for example, directs 15 percent of unclaimed state lottery prize money into the new Tribal College Dual Enrollment Fund, allowing tribal colleges to offset tuition for high school students who obtain college credit by simultaneously enrolling in college classes.

Begay, the only Democratic senator to see his bills passed this session, heralded a new era in the relationship between state government and the state’s tribes.

“With the conclusion of the 1st Regular Session of the 52nd Legislature a big priority of the legislative session has been to continue to build the relationship between the tribes in Arizona and the State Legislature, especially the Navajo Nation,” Begay wrote. “Our futures as governmental bodies, whether we realize it or not, are most assuredly intertwined.”

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