|
Senate bill recognizes Abenaki crafts and arts |
|
Written by Administrator
|
|
Friday, 07 May 2010 |
Senate bill recognizes Abenaki crafts and arts — legislation now goes to governor
By Press Release
May 6, 2010
Update:
On Tuesday, May 4, the Vermont Senate concurred with the House version of S.222 with amendment. The amendment was the result of discussions with members of the “Alliance”, and has made the bill more complete. Concessions made in negotiations have addressed important issues to the Abenaki, including but not limited to protecting their geneology in a way that allows it to be used for recognition purposes but does not allow it to be entered into the public record. Also written into the bill was language that will restart the Vermont Native American Commission this fall, as well as clarifying the criteria for applying to the commission.
On Wednesday morning, the bill was returned to the General, Housing & Military Affairs committee for further review. After a short discussion, we voted to concur with the further amendment and declared so on the floor. With this, a final voice vote was taken and S.222 passed the House. The bill will now be messaged to the Governor and he will decide whether to sign or veto the bill.
We are extraordinarily proud of the work we have done in concert with the Senate on this bill. Recognition of our local Native Americans has been an extremely complex issue, with differences of opinion on the direction S.222 should take, differences of opinion on the criteria and process, and finally, differences of opinion as to what the words within the bill actually mean. In the end, the process worked as it is designed to do, and we are prepared to see this bill submitted to the Indian Arts and Crafts Board for their approval of the criteria we will use to recognize tribes. If the law passes muster, we can begin, once again, to legally recognize our Native Americans so they may pursue their own lives and culture in a formal and established way. With this recognition, our Native Americans will inherit rights and responsibilities they have been denied for generations.
We are pleased to pass S.222 to the Governor for signing and moving forward on this long and decidedly arduous path.
Rep. Tom Stevens
Washington-Chittenden 1
12 Winooski Street
Waterbury, VT 05676
(802) 244-4164 (H)
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it
http://vtdigger.org/2010/05/06/senate-bill-recognizes-abenaki-crafts-and-arts-legislation-now-goes-to-governor/ |
