United Tribes News
Leaders consider trust reform bill10 January 2006
GREAT PLAINS REGION: Tribal leaders met January 9 in Bismarck, ND to consider the Trust Settlement and Reform Bill, S. 1439, introduced last year in Congress. Standing from left: Orville Coyote, Omaha Tribal Vice-Chair; Carl F. Venne, Crow Tribal Chair; Jim Gray, Osage Principal Chief and chair of the Inter-Tribal Monitoring Association; Tex G. Hall, MHA Nation Chair; Robert Cournoyer, Yankton Tribal Chair; and Clarence Skye, United Sioux Tribes CEO. Seated: Myron Williams, Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate; Cecilia Fire Thunder, Oglala Sioux Tribal Chair; and Myra Pearson, Spirit Lake Nation Chair. The measure provides an, as yet, unspecified amount to settle the class-action Cobell lawsuit and a detailed blueprint for reforming the government's future trust relationship with tribes and individual Indian landowners. The Senate Indian Affairs Committee hopes to have the bill out of committee by the end of March. Tribes have been asked to provide comments about the legislation. Another session is scheduled for January 30. United Tribes News photo.
