Maine’s Democratic Gov. Janet Mills has vetoed laws that will have afforded the state’s tribes better entry to federal helpful legal guidelines. Mills’ rejection of the invoice (ID 2004) Friday occurred regardless of overwhelming bipartisan help within the Home and Senate.
Maine Gov. Janet Mills argued ID 2004 would trigger extra authorized bother than it’s price, a stance that has angered the tribes who expertise a narrower model of sovereignty than tribes elsewhere within the US. (Picture: Bangor Each day Information)
The 4 Wabanaki tribes have lengthy demanded the identical rights as different tribes within the nation. The governor’s choice to veto a invoice whose approval was described by Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis as “a landmark victory within the pursuit of Wabanaki self-determination” has mystified observers and angered the tribes.
It’s the second time Mills has vetoed a invoice that will have expanded sovereignty for the tribes, whose sovereign rights are restricted in comparison with Native American teams in different states.
‘Battle and Litigation’
In a six-page veto letter, Mills mentioned the invoice “contained a sophisticated sequence of provisions that, for my part, pose a really severe threat of battle and litigation reasonably than collaboration and communication.”
ID 2004 would have positioned Maine’s tribes on the identical footing as the opposite 570 federally acknowledged tribes within the US, giving them entry to federal advantages they’ve been denied by a 1980 land claims settlement.
Or virtually on equal footing.
The invoice wouldn’t enable the tribes to prepare Class II gaming on their reservations beneath the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). That was a concession added by the invoice’s authors to win the help of Maine Republicans.
Sports activities Betting Redress
Underneath the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act (MICSA), the tribes had been afforded a narrower model of sovereign rights loved by many different Native American tribes, together with the precise to prepare gaming. Presently, their reservations are handled like municipalities, which implies they continue to be topic to state legal guidelines.
MICSA additionally stipulated that federal legal guidelines enacted after 1980 wouldn’t apply to the Wabanaki tribes except the regulation talked about Maine particularly. 1988’s IGRA, which codified Native American gaming rights on tribal lands, didn’t.
Mills tried to partially redress this imbalance when she led negotiations with the tribes on the legalization of sports activities betting and agreed to offer them exclusivity over cell wagering. Maine legalized sports activities betting within the spring of 2022, but it surely has but to launch within the state.
Override Doable
ID 2004 handed the state legislature with a supermajority, garnering the two-thirds of the vote wanted to override the governor’s veto.
However there’s no assure that may occur. Lawmakers who had been beforehand persuaded to help the invoice might now waver when requested to vote towards the governor, and there’s not a lot room for maneuvering.
“…[a] bipartisan, supermajority of the Legislature handed this invoice and [that’s] precisely why I’ll work tirelessly to harness that very same group of legislators and override this veto,” Home speaker Talbot Ross (D-Portland) mentioned in an announcement.
