By Lea Kopke
Staff Writer
GREEN BAY – Two tribal elders said they’re troubled by an emergency act the Oneida Nation Business Council (OBC) passed, which they said was crafted to take away the power of the General Tribal Council (GTC).
Yvonne Metivier, a tribal elder, said while she understood the purpose of the OBC’s emergency resolutions at the start of the pandemic, she believes they were eventually used as a way to circumvent the GTC.
Metivier said under Oneida law, the GTC is the supreme governing body over the OBC.
Typically the OBC crafts resolutions and presents them for approval by the GTC to become law.
However, since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, the GTC has not been allowed to meet due to health concerns, so the OBC has been the sole body in charge of passing amendments and resolutions.
Ed Delgado, former Oneida Nation chairman, said he understood the need to put a pause on GTC meetings, however, he did not agree with the OBC making such big changes.
“But I can’t understand using the pandemic to drastically change laws,” Delgado said. “to drastically change laws whereby the power of the General Tribal Council is somehow diminished and the power of the Oneida Business Committee is enhanced.”
Delgado said the emergency General Welfare Exclusion was to make sure Nation members don’t have to pay taxes on Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act money and other government funds, a purpose he supports.
However, he said portions of the exclusion contain phrases that take away the power of the GTC.
In the General Welfare Exclusion, 1001.3 Definitions (f) defined general welfare need as a need “in the sole discretion of the Oneida Business Committee…” and 1001.3 Definitions (g) said the meaning of “lavish” or “extravagant” is determined by the OBC “in its discretion and based on the circumstances.”
Delgado said he takes issue with the use of the phrases “in the sole discretion” and “in its discretion.”
“They didn’t need to put these two provisions into law, giving them all those powers,” he said. “Because it’s always been the General Tribal Council determines the benefits, and so does the Business Committee, but they bring it to the General Tribal Council.”
The emergency General Welfare Exclusion Act was adopted Aug. 12, 2020, and amended Feb. 10, 2021, which Metivier said means at some point in the near future the OBC will vote to either extend it or put it into law.
“The GTC will have no power to consider this resolution by the OBC because the pandemic prohibits GTC meetings,” she said.
Budget cuts
At an April 8, 2020, meeting, the OBC passed emergency resolutions to:
• Halt General and Elder 62 per-capita payments for the fiscal year 2020 (FY20), which began Oct. 1, 2019, and ended Sept. 30, 2020.
• Halt GTC meeting stipends for FY20 and FY21.
• Defer the Oneida Life Insurance Plan Plus (OLIPP) and Elder Endowments trust contributions to the Oneida Trust Department.
• Reduce the Higher Education Scholarship.
These cuts were mirrored in a resolution for FY21, according to a memorandum from Cristina Daforth, OBC Treasurer.
“The Nation now faces an unprecedented financial loss,” Chairman Tehassi Hill said, for the meeting record April 8, 2020. “The Oneida Nation has been operating without gaming revenues for three weeks now. This has depleted our financial resources in a manner which leaves us with no choice, but to cease payments for obligations we do not have money to cover.”
Metivier said she believes these resolutions and the Nation’s cut of $20.4 million from its wages budget may not have been necessary.
“There were other things that they could’ve reduced spending on, like land acquisition,” she said. “They were spending millions and millions on it, and they took these things away from the people.”
Metivier said she felt ashamed of the Oneida leadership for trying to take away the power of the GTC and benefits for members, especially at present because she said there has been an uptick in evictions.
“We’re supposed to be helping the people during the pandemic,” Metivier said. “Instead, time is given to generate a law given to take away, just to take away.”
GTC meetings and stipends
Delgado said even if there was a GTC meeting to consider the emergency General Welfare Exclusion, he worried there would not be enough support to vote it down, due to the OBC halting GTC stipends at its meeting April 8, 2020.
The GTC stipend pays tribal members of voting age $100 to attend GTC meetings.
Delgado said before the stipend was created in 2007, few people attended meetings, but afterward, each saw at least 1,000 in attendance.
“My worry is when the pandemic is over, (the emergency resolution) will still be enforced until it’s overturned by General Tribal Council if it’s ever brought to General Tribal Council,” he said. “So there’s a very good chance that all of this will hold without the stipend because people who show up are family and friends and supporters. The average person doesn’t show up.”
At an emergency OBC meeting June 30, the council voted to schedule a GTC meeting for either Aug. 24 or 26 and a budget meeting Sept. 30 or Oct. 3.
A stipend for this first meeting was not budgeted.
However, at the emergency meeting, Chief Counsel Jo Anne House said the money could potentially come from leftover funds intended to provide technology for GTC meetings.
At the meeting, Larry Barton, the chief financial officer said GTC stipends after Oct. 1 would be included in the FY21 budget.
Metivier said she was excited to get back to GTC meetings, so tribal members could again have access to the petition process to address problems they have with laws, but she said it would be months before the GTC can get caught up.
“Our government has tribal laws and the GTC to direct the OBC,” she said. “That is what we will have to fix in the next year and a half, and that is how long it will take, until the next election.”
The Oneida Nation did not return requests for comment on this story.