Wabanaki leaders are endorsing proposals to add a new tribal representative to the Maine Legislature and to enhance tax exemptions for tribal members following lengthy negotiations with the administration of Democratic Gov. Janet Mills.
But the compromises fall far short of the broader sovereignty and self-governance goals that tribal leaders have been pursuing for years only to run into opposition from the Mills administration.
“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get to a place to address the substantive issues of the sovereignty bill,” Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis told a legislative committee on Tuesday. “But I don’t see this as a replacement of that bill or a substitute for it but more of a vehicle to get the good things that we were able to accomplish.”
Members of the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee voted to endorse two versions of bills that emerged from those negotiations between representatives of the tribes and Mills, who is in her final year as governor but who is running for U.S. Senate.
One bill would create a new tribal representative seat in the Legislature for the Mi’kmaq Nation. The Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians already have non-voting tribal seats in the Legislature, although only the Passamaquoddy and Maliseet currently send representatives to Augusta. Tribal representatives can introduce bills, serve on committees and vote on measures in committee. But they cannot cast votes on the House and Senate floors.
The same bill, LD 395, would also expand certain income tax and sales tax exemptions that are currently offered to tribal members and tribal entities. Those would include new or expanded exemptions for manufactured homes on tribal lands as well as on lands owned or held in trust by the tribes.
The committee endorsed that bill in a 9-4 vote, with the four dissenting members supporting amended versions of the bill.
The committee also voted unanimously to endorse a bill that would create a new commission to examine limitations on how federal laws apply to the Wabanaki Nation in Maine.
Wabanaki leaders have long argued that the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act has harmed their communities by preventing them from automatically benefiting from federal laws that apply to other tribes nationwide. That’s because the 1980 settlement negotiated between the state, several of the tribes and the Carter administration blocks the applicability of any tribal-related laws passed by Congress that would preempt or affect the state’s jurisdiction unless Congress explicitly applies the law to the Wabanaki tribes.
The Mills administration has opposed lifting that preemption clause altogether, arguing that it could cause significant disruption and legal challenges. Instead, the Mills administration has supported a more piecemeal approach.
On Tuesday, the governor’s office and tribal leaders agreed to a compromise in which a task force — comprised of leaders of the five Wabanaki tribes, four lawmakers and several non-voting members of government — would dive into the issue. The commission would then make recommendations to the Legislature.
The panel would be modeled after an earlier commission that spent several years reviewing the 1980 settlement and whose 2020 recommendations have served as the foundation for some of the push toward tribal sovereignty or greater self-government since then. While the tribes have made significant progress on multiple fronts in recent years, they have been unable to overcome opposition from Mills — a former attorney general — to ending the preemption.
Chief Clarissa Sabattis with the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians said she hopes the task force will enable an ongoing discussion on the issue.
“I really think that it changed the narrative when it comes to sovereignty when we had the task force before,” Sabattis said. “So I am hoping this will have the same kind of outcome.”
Chief William Nicholas Sr of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk, or Indian Township, said he appreciated the work of the various tribal leaders, the governor’s office, lawmakers and the Wabanaki Alliance to work out compromises.
“We look forward to continued work on the efforts to be able to get to the point where the Passamaquoddy Tribe along with all of the Wabanaki Nations, at some point, are recognized as full sovereigns in the state,” Nicholas told lawmakers. “And it’s important that we keep that mind at all times in making decisions and moving forward.”
Francis with the Penobscot Nation said he hopes it will lead to more substantive changes during the next legislative session.
“The tribes of Maine continue to be second-class citizens even in our own space so we really are appreciative of this continued conversation,” Francis said.
The bills now go to the full Legislature for consideration.
