Lawmakers and tribal representatives fill the floor and gallery of the Arizona Senate on Jan. 15, 2025, as the 30th annual Indian Nations and Tribes Legislative Day got underway. Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy | Arizona Mirror
From a well-negotiated gaming compact and working on building a secure water future for Arizona to securing funding for widening Interstate 10, tribal leaders from Arizona sought Wednesday to remind state legislators of the importance of state and tribal partnerships.
“The issues that we’re bringing up as tribal leaders today, all of these issues should be nonpartisan and working together in a positive way,” Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis said during his speech on the floor of the Arizona Senate during the annual Indian Nations and Tribes Legislative Day at the state Capitol.
“It’s only through partnership that we get things done,” Lewis said, adding that every tribe in Arizona has examples of how they have worked together with the state on priorities and solutions that serve all of the people.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
“I look forward to working with you to bring innovative solutions to long-standing problems,” he said, adding that innovation within tribal nations has kept them alive and thriving for generations.
Cooperation and collaboration is key, said Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation President Sandra Pattea.
“As leaders, we may come from different backgrounds and perspectives, but we share a common purpose to leave our communities better than we found them,” she said. “Let us continue to engage in open and respectful dialogue.”
Tribal leaders, community members and organizations from across Arizona gathered at the Capitol on Jan. 15 to celebrate the 30th annual Indian Nations and Tribes Legislative Day, hosted by Gov. Katie Hobbs’s Office on Tribal Relations.
Lewis, Pattea and Colorado River Indian Tribes Chairwoman Amelia Flores delivered a tribal nations address to a packed house on the Arizona Senate floor, with Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and Speaker of the House Steve Montenegro presiding over the session.
“Tribal nations are essential partners to the state of Arizona,” Montenegro said. He said tribes contribute to Arizona by creating jobs, generating revenue and helping shape Arizona’s future in critical areas like energy and water resources.
“This gathering reflects the strong and enduring partnership between the state and tribal communities,” Montenegro added.
Petersen said he values the state’s continued partnership with Arizona’s tribal nations and looks forward to hearing about additional opportunities for them to collaborate for the betterment of Arizona.
Arizona is home to 22 tribal nations, and Indigenous people make up 6% of Arizona’s overall population. Some of the key issues tribal leaders highlighted included water, voting, missing and murdered Indigenous peoples and gaming.
Pattea reminded the lawmakers and tribal representatives in attendance how tribal members from the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation secured voting rights after suing the state. This led to the Arizona Supreme Court upholding native voting in 1948, a landmark decision that allowed Indigenous people in Arizona to participate fully in elections.
“While challenges still exist in ensuring that all Arizonans have equal access to the ballot and can exercise their right to vote, our tribal nations continue to work with elections officials and other initiatives to educate and encourage participation in our federal, state, local and tribal elections,” she added.
Tribal legislative day brings together resources for the Indigenous community and provides an opportunity for Arizona’s tribal leaders to meet with state legislators to discuss the year’s priorities.
Jason Chavez, who leads Hobbs’ Office on Tribal Relations, said it’s been amazing to see how much tribal legislative day has grown in the last two years. He said it has quickly grown to more than 1,000 people gathering at the Capitol, several times more than in prior years.
“It’s an incredible moment to witness tribes coming together,” Chavez said, explaining they are coming together as a unified voice sharing their priorities with the state.
“As sovereign nations, I think it’s really important for the state to be willing to listen and be good partners too,” he added, which is why he is happy his office helps facilitate that government-to-government exchange.
Among those in attendance was Navajo Nation Speaker Crystalyne Curley, who said she was happy to meet with representatives and Hobbs to discuss the Navajo Nation Council’s priorities for the Arizona Legislature this year.
This year, the Navajo Nation has three representatives in the legislature: Sen. Theresa Hatathlie, Rep. Mae Peshlakai and Rep. Myron Tsosie.
Curley said it’s important that the Navajo Nation work with its representatives on issues that impact its community. The council’s three top policy initiatives are tax parity, education and elections.
“We’re ready to meet with our state leaders to see where we can get most of these important bills that could help us address a lot of the issues that we want this session,” Curley said, adding that the tribal legislative day is a good foot in the door to make it happen because they’re all there together.
Lewis said having the state legislators from both sides of the aisle in attendance shows respect for Arizona’s 22 tribal nations.
Lewis said that, in his 12 years of tribal leadership, he has learned that tribes must always protect their specific interests, rights and solutions to Arizona’s problems. However, he said he has also discovered that solutions to those problems are often found only when the state and tribes find common ground through innovation and leadership.
Lewis said a perfect example of the state, federal and tribal partnership is when the Gila River Indian Community worked alongside state and federal leaders to secure the funding needed to widen the 22 miles of Interstate 10 that pass through their tribal land.
“We were able to find the path forward to get that critical project off the ground,” Lewis said, adding that attempts to secure funding had failed in the past because the Gila River Indian Community was not directly involved.
“ It was only when we, as the Gila River Indian Community, developed a closer collaboration that our efforts ultimately bore fruit,” Lewis said. “I think that is a best practice to show that when states and municipalities bring in tribes, we can bring true solutions to the table.”
Lewis said he hopes that the efforts made for Interstate 10 will serve as a positive example as the new legislative session begins.
“Let’s all commit ourselves as leaders to work together on the major transportation problems we all face,” he added.
Another clear example of state and tribal partnership shared by tribal leaders was through water policies. The tribal leaders talked about the importance of their existing water settlements as well as advocating for the passage of future settlements, such as the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act of 2024.
During her address, Flores talked about how the state has been able to work with the Colorado Indian River Tribes to get their water settlement signed, allowing them to gain control of their water resources.
Flores said that the act finally allowed CRIT to obtain the right to determine how, when, and where its water would be used.
“CRIT will protect our water rights,” she said. “We always have and we always will.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.