Posted on August 27, 2012 by AIGA News Editor
(Blog) Dave Palermo: AKAKA FIX: Mixing the Internet with a Carcieri fix can be tricky
Widespread speculation among Capitol Hill insiders is that Sen. Daniel Akaka, (D-Hawaii), is hoping to use draft Internet legislation as leverage to get Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) to engineer a congressional fix to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Carcieri v Salazar.
Akaka, chairman of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs, also is pressing to get Congress to officially recognize native Hawaiians. Akaka is half Hawaiian.
“Loretta Tuell [staff director to the committee] has made it clear the committee’s priorities are a Carcieri fix and Native Hawaiian recognition,” said a Washington lobbyist who requested anonymity. “Nothing happens until those issues are taken care of.
“It is my belief this whole Internet gaming bill is meant to be a negotiating tool with Harry Reid to try to get Carcieri done.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that,” said a second tribal lobbyist who also requested anonymity. “That’s common knowledge.”
With little consensus among American Indian tribes on Internet wagering, many lobbyists are curious why Akaka’s committee would rush to draft a bill and hold a July hearing on the matter.
“A lot of people are shaking their heads, you know, wondering, ‘What is she [Tuell] doing?’” said the second lobbyist.
“I understand the concept of a draft bill – a place-holder – being Reid has a draft he won’t show anybody.
“But I disagree with the strategy of putting out a draft bill. On a substantive level, it’s hard to put out a draft on behalf of Indian country when Indian country, as a whole, doesn’t know what it wants.”
Akaka initially attempted to attach a Carcieri fix to the Hearth [Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Home Ownership] Act, legislation allowing tribes to lease restricted lands for residential and other purposes without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior.
The move angered tribal officials convinced controversy surrounding the Carcieri ruling, which severely hinders tribal efforts to place land in trust, would generate congressional opposition to the Hearth legislation. The hearth was fast-tracked through Congress by Reid over Akaka’s objections.
Few give much hope to getting a Carcieri fix through Congress.
Congressional opposition to Carcieri is fueled by the expansion of tribal government gambling beyond existing reservations. Tribal leaders are seeking a “clean” legislative fix that does not require amending the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act to further limit off-reservation casinos.
“That’s simply not going to happen,” a lobbyist said. “You have a number of state-by-state, tribe-by-tribe concerns. So getting that (Carcieri) done is going to be very, very difficult.”
Carcieri essentially states that the Interior cannot place land in trust for Indian governments not “under federal jurisdiction” with the passage of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. The act creates legal issues beyond the approximately 50 tribes that have been officially recognized since IRA.
Carcieri has complicated land/trust cases with the Interior. But the agency under the Obama Administration has managed to place some 157,000 of land in trust for the tribes.
While Congress has traditionally treated Native Hawaiians in a manner similar to American Indians and Alaska Natives, the federal policy of self-governance and self-determination has not yet been formally extended to Native Hawaiians.
“The people of Hawaii have waited for far too long for an opportunity to participate in a government-to-government relationship similar to that already extended to this nation’s other indigenous people,” Akaka said.
Reid has reportedly promised Akaka the issue of Native Hawaiian recognition would hit the Senate floor before the end of the year.
But he’s reportedly not happy with the draft Internet bill out of Akaka’s committee.
“My understanding is Reid’s people are not pleased that this Indian Affairs bill is being bandied about,” the Capitol Hill lobbyist said.
“At the end of the day, getting Harry Reid to draft a bill that’s fair to the tribes is, at least in my view, is folly.”
