Bill proposes to eliminate Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs

Friday, January 28, 2011  

A Nebraska lawmaker wants to eliminate the Commission on Indian Affairs and replace it with a Commission on Indian and Multicultural Affairs.

Sen. Bill Avery said the new commission will represent all minority groups. He said tribes will have six representatives, more than any other group.

At a hearing on the bill, Avery said "we have a a special obligation, I think, to Native Americans," The Lincoln Journal Star reported.

But Judi M. gaiashkibos, the executive director of the Commission on Indian Affairs, said it was a bad idea. "We are not a minority," she said. "We are sovereign citizens. We have legal standing that no one else in America has."

The Commission on Indian Affairs has 14 members.

Get the Story:
Legislative committee discusses doing away with Native American, Latino commissions (The Lincoln Journal Star 1/28)