Hmm?

I just want to give any words. Oh, Tammy, and very powerful room right now with all this education and the sacrifice. sacrifice that it took all of you to get where you're at, especially you women.

I don't discriminate, but when it comes to the women, we have jobs that are 24/7, and that's being a mother.

So thank you for your dedication.

For the people.

For our children, for the future.

And always remember that, um, when you go home and you're exhausted, that means you're doing your job.

When you can't wait to get home to just lay down and not, not plan for tomorrow.

Then you don't belong.

And this is the part of your wellness because you love it.

You love what you're doing, and that is part of your wellness. But remember, your mental wellness comes first. And I'm an educator also. That's where I started. So that this— my heart is really dear here.

And for all those that are supporting our Lakota language and our traditions and our way of life.

Keep doing it.

We need to make a change here. It needs to be made now.

So thank you, thank you very much. And for those that are far away across, thank you. Young, for our children too. So thank you, thank you, all of you. Very appreciative. Thank you.

Amy.

A lot of the things that you do and how you act and treat them reflects on their life for the rest of their life. I can name every teacher I've had from the time I was in kindergarten till I was in high school. my college years. So I want you all to know how special you are to our young people and how important of a role you played to us here. And while we're sitting around this table doing whatever it is we do, talking in circles. You're there doing what you need to do for our youth and our future generations. So I thank you so much for that. I know it goes I know it goes, uh, um, it doesn't go unseen, it goes untalked about.

And the acknowledgement isn't always there, but just know that we do appreciate you all every day.

Royal, go stand.

היה לי אהבה. לדעת אהבה. מצ'וטקוט חוקק לך כי לאירועך.

Shall I learn?

הנה, איזה רואה את זה, אה? או, בואי היום, יותר הקטן, דקה או שתיים צ'קת, נראה את זה, הוגנה. וואוספי, וואוספי הוא כתב צ'או הפלו.

Today I want to say that, uh, my daughter Lydia is part of this group.

And taking college courses and being with her, uh, her undergrad and her master's, uh, college is not easy, uh, when you Taking coursework and putting your mind towards those courses and Miami University and UCLA. Hata, way up. And being a father.

Supporting education because

At that time, on Lakota Hata, your expectations of a Lakota are hard to come by.

Uh-oh.

When you pursue your education, higher education, people don't think that our Indian kids are capable.

Of pursuing those.

Higher ed and, uh, knowing what it takes to take those courses and being away from, from home and, uh, pursuing her master's and going with Going down there and having a lot of worry because LA traffic, although it took you guys hard driving LA, big state of how bad the traffic was. But yeah, I give a good

Good, uh, positive, the ones who educate the Oyate and have that belief.

And our education code, one of the things that I talked to Treasurer Boyd was, uh, language. We have fluent speakers here.

Due to COVID, we lost a lot.

The tribe is not a, uh,

Tribes, not a university, but, uh, with that code, uh, and maybe a course to teach a fluent speaker That lesson plans, syllabus.

Having that way of classroom teaching for native speakers, because it's there where we still have that fluency and we still have speakers.

But for me, all our kotapalo, we're deep down, everything about us is we're Native American. We're not Spanish, German. French or Cree or Crow. So I want to say that much and thank you for all your work that you do for the people.

Thank you.

I also want to say thank you to all our educators.

Education is very important. I've had an opportunity to look at some of the school districts here in St. Francis County.

SGU knows their school electrician.

I got here, and yeah, I just want to echo— thank you.

I want to lend each other a hand. I believe our project is a way to help each other. And I was— that's really important.

I am a multi-language speaker. Ah, everybody love our project. Oh, I love our Mahalia cat. Now, this is the last one. Do I give her a lap?

Um, Uh, I'm gonna hold her and forget the ashtray.

Oh, we booked her.

I want to say Thank you to all of you that are here today, and it's really a beautiful day. It means a lot and it makes me really proud. My heart is just really happy.

And, um, I was, um, telling that, um, I, I come from a sprinkler community and I grew up down there.

And my first education has been lots of them. The language, all of us kids down there, if they could only have studied, somebody studied something back then.

I'm so blessed, I tell you. Ma'uspe, that's learning. That's been our— people have always taught.

Our children, our young people, our adults.

We always taught, and ma'uspe is one of the very valuable virtues of our culture, and we're here, survive today because of those virtues: generosity, fortitude, bravery.

And ma'uspe, that's the main thing of learning. It starts from when you're a wakayja through our circle, our circle of life, 4 directions. So we come in the south direction we're born, and then we go to the west, north, and east, and south. I'm starting to be in my east direction now as, as the older I get. And so I'm so blessed to have you all here, and education is something so valuable, and always learning, it's so valuable to all of us. And our young people, my grandchildren, all of you, many of the superintendents that are daughter-in-laws of mine, Bobby and Rosemary, she went to school school, I was the higher education scholarship officer, and Rosemary was one of the students then that I funded many of

them, uh, students. I didn't even recognize her when I saw her a couple of years ago, but I'm so proud of all of you educators. It's a challenge and it's, uh, work every Every day you do your studies at home, you're for the students, and I'm so proud of all of you. My granddaughter also being honored, and it's something that I hope will happen annually. is to honor, continue to honor all of our educators. Thank you. You have a good rest of your day. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else?

Thank you all for coming. We're going to continue with our Senate of Indian Affairs Committee. Come around and shake hands. Yeah, okay, I'm good. All right, go ahead and line up, guys.

Okay, and see if I can get back for you. Okay, perfect. Thank you.

She's recovering.

The best one, the best one.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's excellent.

Any more? Hi.

Yeah.

Where's my relaxing?

Wait.

Aggressive. What? That's really aggressive.

Fine and cheap. I'll fix it up. I'm excited that you did.

Ben, with mixed delivery.

All day, politician, right to the end, stretching the truth.

There's donuts up there.

just a couple of days. And what a beautiful, what a beautiful territory and lands you guys have to offer to us to come visit, that we might do the work of this committee. And so before I begin, I I want to just tell you what the work of this committee is. This was created only about 10 years ago, the State Tribal Relations Committee, so that the legislature may help to be a conduit to state government. And that the tribes, that to the extent that tribal governments and tribal peoples choose, can stand shoulder to shoulder with the state. We do not have the same relationship with the federal government to the states. We recognize the areas of sovereignty among tribal nations, and we view it as an exercise of that sovereignty to stand shoulder to shoulder and find areas that we can cooperate.

Michelle Hellbender. I'm the council representative for the Grass Mountain community. This is my first term on the school board. I've met a couple of you. Glad you're here. Thank you.

I'm Charles DeBray in the Winter Ideal area, representing Ideal community. Good to see you guys here. Thank you. Thank you for coming. Wayne Frederick, Oak Creek community representative.

You caught me on my way out. One more week in office. Okay, now you'll be untethered to say what you really think.

Stan Littlemore.

Of course, I need to leave.

Good morning. I'm glad to see you all here and welcome you also. My name is Marion Little Thunder and I'm from the Far West Community Reservation. Nice to see you. Thank you.

My name is Lila Kills In Sight, and I'm a representative for the Spring Creek community, one of the smaller communities over in Clark State Ranches. It's good to have you all here. Here, sitting with one of our own over there, Eric. But, um, it's good to see you all, and I'm thankful to have a productive day. Good to see what you guys do over there too as well. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good morning. My name is Totes Waln and I'm the council rep for Animal Community, the largest community here.

And, um, very thankful that you're here. This is a meaningful morning, face to face, and we get to actually address you with some issues because, uh, Needs to happen more often. It really does. Then maybe things will move a little bit more quicker for our people on reservation. But thank you for coming and thank you for, for listening and sharing your time with us.

Good morning. Um, thank you for being here. My name is Emily Boyne. I represent our Parmelee community. Sorry, hope you can hear me. Um, I just agree with my colleagues I think this is a really important time for us. I think we heard a lot this morning about sharing spaces, and I think this is literally an opportunity for us to share space. Oftentimes we're scared or asked Asked us, I should say, to join the space up in here or elsewhere. And I think it's really meaningful to take the step to also join you and welcome you to our nation and welcome to our space. And hopefully it's just the first of many. So thank you and just welcome and safe travels home.

Good morning. Welcome. Good to see you all here this morning. Shout out to my blood relative over there on the end, Ms. Derek. And again, good to see you. Thank you.

Good morning, Councilor Tamaleon Wilcox for Soldier Creek Community. Nice to meet you.

Good morning. My name is Sherry Redpoint from the Rosebud Community. Thank you for being here today.

Yeah, okay.

I greet you with a handshake from my château in, uh, good morning and, uh, a royal yellow Hawk, uh, served on this body from 2008 to current and, um, took breaks here and there, but, uh, there's times where I visited the During Daugaard's administration, we went to the mansion and had supper with Daugaard and also Worked with Flute on, uh, on the, uh, when he was Tribal Relations, uh, Tribal Chairmen's Association. Um, so when it comes to state issues, uh,

Hi.

My bloodline.

Comes from, uh, uh, He Dog, and here's a prominent leader amongst our people, believed in traditional government.

Uh, there's a structure that our people had, and then, uh, when it came to laws, that's what we call law.

We have our, our way our people believe.

And then, uh, so when it comes to state tribal issues, uh, I know, well, you're familiar with Kneip, the, uh, Knight versus Rosebud Sioux Tribe, uh, Democratic governor at that time, uh, took 5 counties from our tribe. And, um, so I look at that as a ways that we can talk with the state and tribe and have that mutual relationship.

So I'm gonna applaud myself. Welcome and thank you for coming.

Good morning. Welcome. Very glad that you're here to take the time to be with us. My name is Wayne Boyd. I'm the treasurer of the tribe.

And we have a lot of issues that we need to, to discuss, and I hope this is the beginning of several things so that we finally get to a point. We met with the governor of Last week and we had this discussion, so this is kind of— and I've been here a long time and, um, yeah, a lot of drumming, a lot of committees.

I hope that these ones can be different, that when times do get tough, that people won't stop coming to meetings. We need to get through the hard part because What impacts you impacts us. Welcome. Glad to see you here. Marshall. I am the secretary. I've been here for about a year, going on a year and a half. Um, one of the things that I've— in my experience here, the hardest thing to do is get business done because of our elections. You know, people go out of office or their terms end and everything. So that was one of the things I wish I could see, you know, change. Where our terms are a little bit longer, so the things that work on with all of you can get done. But it's good to see you. Nice to meet you.

Good morning. My name is Lisa White Pipe. I'm the Vice President of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, and I'm very honored to have all of you here in our chambers, the Senate Indian Affairs Committee. I think this is a very historic moment. I don't think the committee has ever been here within our chambers to have an actual hearing. And as far as I know, I don't know, Wayne, my family goes pretty far back in tribal politics. I don't know if you've ever had a committee here. So this is a very historic moment. I hope it builds a stronger relationship between the tribe and the state, and we can work together. So thank you for being— coming down here and And visiting us and seeing what Rosebud is about. I don't know if you've seen any of the storm damages, but we did get hit with that pretty hard storm. So thank you all.

Hello everybody, it's good to be here. I, um, I used to work in, um, Sioux As we refer from Oglala. So it's good to be back in this capacity, and it's been an honor and a privilege to represent not just District 27 but also Indian Country. And so, as, as was stated, that this is historic, that this is the first time we're here. And I would really say that's a testament to the leadership and that commitment to working with Indian Country and making sure that we are working together within the state legislature because as sovereign people, we're not just tribal members, but we're also state citizens. And I think that, as you see, is the makeup of this committee.

Of also holding that dual citizenship. They take that very seriously, and so it's an honor to be here.

Good morning.

It's good to be back. I am Senator Tamara Grove, and I appreciate that you have once again opened your doors to us to come and speak and share.

what's happening on the state side. Um, it's been a true honor getting to serve each and every one of you, um, as your state senator, and hopefully Today we can have some really open conversation, and I pray that more solutions come to build the bridge.

between the state and, and Rosebud and the other reservations in South Dakota. So again, thank you for allowing us to be here.

And I think you guys also— now I understand.

Uh, so my name is Mike Roll. Uh, I live just north of Aberdeen. I'm now in my 3rd term in the, in the Senate. Um, after this fall, I'll be going into my 4th and final. I've now served on the committee, uh, 6 years.

I think we've certainly come short in different areas at different times, but I have noticed in the last few years specifically as we've been able to reach out to different tribes and have these meetings and open communication and start talking and meeting each other, we've actually started to get some policy passed, and that's kind of a hopeful sign for me for the future. So I'm happy to be here today to start those lines of communication and open them up. I'm looking forward to the meeting.

How long are your terms? We have 3 staggered terms, 2 3-year terms.

Said before, the secretary and the treasurer, those have 2-year terms.

Secretary and treasurer, and the council president, vice president have staggered terms, and they're 3 years each.

And are president and vice president elected separately, or are they elected by the council?

You're elected at large. That's why earlier I was on my way up. Uh, 2 consecutive terms, you either have to retire or sit out a term or seek Office of the executive branch. Okay, so 6 years. 6 years.

Any other questions of the committee?

I guess I have one if I can. Is your guys' election set up similar, I guess, to state elections where you have different political parties, or is it more of an open— No, it's all open.

We have 100 people running. We do too.

Uh, yeah, the overview of basically— yeah, yeah. Um, just out of curiosity, is there— and I don't know if this fits or not, so Hopefully doesn't disagree, but, um, are there, um, issues that are kind of at the top of your list that are most pressing, um, and/or issues that we can connect with on a state level. And we prioritize our issues. I think our most number one issue is public safety, um, homelessness. Healthcare. Yeah, we have healthcare. Yeah, we have each one of our council representatives kind of take an issue and advocate for that. But I would say our most pressing one is public safety.

So the tribal law enforcement, could you tell me the organization of that? Is there a— 638? Yeah, this one is under 638. 638. Yeah, so the tribe is funded in 3 different ways. And our treasurer can correct me if I'm wrong, but our programs are funded in 3 different ways, either grant, um, federal grant, um, or, um, um, non-federal grant and, um, federal funds.

And the federal funds that come down come in different ways if it's just direct federal funding or if it's filtered through the BIA. And some of those BIA funds that we get are 638 638 contracted, which means that the tribe's overseeing the contract, and that's the instance with our law enforcement. Okay, and that's when you say 638, that's what you mean? Yeah, that it's partnership BIA? Yes.

Yeah, they were, they were former, former BIA activities that the tribe, uh, under 638 law took over and manages.

We currently manage it.

And there's 2 ways we can do that. We could either contact or contract. And the difference is contracting, they follow the same contract that they created for the original BIA, um, Office when they were operating it, and we maintain it. And then if we compact it, that gives us the ability to negotiate the parameters of that contract.

Emily.

I just wanted to add a little bit aside, I guess, to the issues that were brought up. I think like the state or like the nation or like a lot of nations, We have the same priorities as far as our people, right? So you have healthcare, you have education, you have transportation. I think that's one of the biggest ones right now, which is the need for local transit or local transportation. Because a lot of these basic things that we don't think about often really connect to a lot of these bigger pictures, and they help alleviate some of the stress all the way to the top. You wouldn't think that transportation needs would affect healthcare, but it does. you wouldn't think about some of these connections than they are. So I think thinking outside of the box, as cliché as it sounds, I think is really important. But that also leads to another, I guess, thing for our tribal nations to be mindful of, All of the things that we normally see about funding and the state relationship or government relationship has to do with funding existing structures and existing things. And for tribal nations, many, if not all of us, are in

a big transition right now where we're trying to bring who we are as people up and move it along and adapt and evolve of who we are. So it's not, you know, we don't have to visit us back in our teepee days. We can bring all of that information and all of who we are into who we are right now. And a lot of people like to call that nation building, but we don't often understand what all nation building entails. And so, for grabs. funding sources and relationship building to be really meaningful, we have to start there. We have to start with the people. We have to start with what's working, why isn't it working. And that really boils down to what's our true needs. And we're never going to be able to address the true need if we don't have funding for assessments, if we don't have funding for our own internal structures, reorganizations, however that's going to look like. That's what a lot of funders, you know, shy away from. A lot of partnerships kind of shy away from that, but that's really what's needed in order for any of these relationships or funding avenues or anything to be meaningful, is true nation-building. And that, um, is going to take

time. So that's why when I did my introduction, I really appreciated that you here are here because that, that shows you're willing to do the work and maybe hopefully understanding that it's not a one shot and you're done, that it's a long-term commitment. commitment, long-term funding, long-term partnership, long-term collaboration. So I just want to say, like, it's, it's more than just, you know, healthcare, or it's more than just law enforcement. Those are important, but it's also the reconciliation. It's also the acknowledgement of our history and how can we acknowledge that to move forward so we're all moving forward together. Thank you.

I want to add to that, you know,

I don't know, the nuts in USD, and they talked about, uh,

Uh, federally recognized tribes, state recognized, and corporate tribes. You guys understand that, that where Public Law 638, and then, uh, own court systems, police departments. And you have the 280 tribes, the smaller tribes. There's a coalition called Coalition of Large Tribes for Land-Based population of bigger tribes. So the bigger tribes are Rosebud, Pine Ridge, and Cheyenne River. You have the smaller tribes

Creek, which is maybe the size of Oak Creek.

The same land base, every ship. So you have those smaller tribes, you have the larger tribes. So we're part of the 3 tribes.

At one point, uh,

The larger tribes moved away from National Congress of American Indians because they had all these smaller tribes. You had an Alaskan tribe, maybe 8 members, that had the same vote as the larger tribe. They would get a lot of their legislation and get a lot of that federal funding. So It's hard to define the larger land-based tribes within the federal government, especially that, uh, National Congress of American Indians being so old.

And then

Large tribes started that, and then the smaller tribes who joined, but now it's totally different.

So when it comes to federal funding,

There we go.

Thank you. I just kind of wanted to back up a little bit.

That's the base salary. We have never been able to increase that base salary since then, and our officers do not receive any type of benefits. So we have a high turnover rate. So, uh, retention too.

It begins— look, we have about 15, uh, roughly. I'm guessing they're working 3 shifts, so you actually have about 5 on because 5 individuals cover 4 guys. Yeah.

But at one time we were operating with 6. We were actually down to 5 or 6 total recently.

Yes, and I guess when, when that stuff happens, is there different communication lines with the state on, on being able to partner if, if you guys needed help? Or most recently, our partner with the Bureau of Indian Affairs and contacted their, uh, their Justice Department, and we had, um, I think 5 office— 5 BIA officers come down. But then they're all over the United States, so they have to have a sergeant come down because our chief of police can't supervise them. So I call them down to do saturation patrols. Um, we've— but I think we're going have 10 come down for the Rosebud Fair over the week and do the saturation patrols, and also officers from Pueblo Oglala Sioux Tribe and

Kind of different topic. The last question was, uh, what is the largest employer outside of the tribe?

Schools. Yeah, probably the schools.

And the pastor.

Like I said, like, what's the top 3 or 5? It'd be schools. IHS. Yeah.

Schools, hospital, tribes, and the university.

Well, the university is not the same.

That's part of the tribe.

So economic development is obviously true as well. Yeah.

Economic development's a hard one to solve here. It's not impossible, but because of the way that we are, our communities are laid out, And the lack of transportation, creating an economic space for business is difficult in one area. You know, we have several communities that are so far apart, like Carolyn was saying. And when it comes to that, the lack of jobs that we have here to support a local economy is very difficult. And I think the last census said we have an 82% unemployment.

Please.

Yeah, when it comes to economic development, I know that's kind of down the line, but we have a tough time speaking to the federal government.

In respecting our sovereignty. And I think that the relationship— I hope we can build better in the future with the state as well, because we have to live and walk in a duality.

As tribal members within our own nation, but also crossing imaginary lines and living and having to operate within state jurisdiction. So then we, we've We've balanced that over the years, that a lot of people have kind of understood. But when it comes from the state to the federal government to the tribes, they have to consult us, but we're still not fully consented.

And that's always been a problem. But with the state, there's still this imaginary hardcore line that I hope we can break in the future and get rid of it.

Is that we don't even get consulted.

Therefore, we can't even be consenting our couples to.

And when it comes to economic development, it should be both ways because it's all within the state's sovereignty.

And when it comes to economic development in general, there are things in the makings with the state of South Dakota that we have no idea about.

Nor are we actually even looked at as being compensated or co-owners, co-operators together.

Just one aspect I'll say in general is our water rights. We're within the state of South Dakota, but you're in the territory of the Dakota Nation, and we have no

We don't even get consulted when it talks about our water rights on the Missouri River, yet it's a treaty right that is put in place before the state of South Dakota. And those are things that are becoming huge issue right now where we're not even consulted about the movement and sale of water. Yeah.

Well, let me ask you, what is the— how is your water sourcing right now?

Well, we have a water code, and that water code regulates within the 5-county area. But what is the source? I mean, are you drawing— are you drawing primarily in Pulling most from the Little White River. Yep.

But have you been, uh, have you been contacted at all by the folks from the West River Water Project? I know they've been doing outreach for the last maybe 2 years. Have they come and consulted council at all?

Okay.

Would you be open— except to tell us that it's going through to the west. That's it. Yeah, I mean, well, and, and really, I think that they have been going around to, uh, local government units across western South Dakota to see if They want to partner and provide additional water access. Is that something you guys would be open to? What does it look like? That's, you know, it's not coming to us. And so whenever, whenever there's that division, you're only going to get opposition right off the bat.

So those are the kind of boundaries we have to figure out how to come together. Yeah, I mean, I think they're talking about building more like a water mainstem, and then any entities that want to be able to access that. Would build an offshoot to serve your people and your lands and whatever. I mean, there's also the issue of quantification, water rights, you know, and yeah.

Tribes in South Dakota, obviously.

You know, because of history, you know, where the original owners, if you will, I can put it that way, you know, of the Missouri River prior to the coming of, you know, Oh yeah, so, you know, you have to see it through our eyes.

You know, in the history.

To kind of appreciate, you know, our points of view.

You know, when it comes to, like, water again, it's an issue of— it's an issue of what we're legally entitled to because of what we originally owned.

Because of our

I'm glad you're fine.

Civilization.

We have a— we have a list.

I'm not— unless kinder word for it called encroachment, but

We're sensitive, you know, about, um, the issue of water. Yes, originally it was, it was ours. Well, and Black Hills was ours, you know, and But because of, you know, western expansion, you know, the United States, we, uh, we are where we are right now. And, you know, we're here. You can see what we've got here. There's a hell of a lot.

You know, of course, a lot of the areas in South Dakota don't have much more than what we have, you know, but, but they are a part of a bigger— they're part of a bigger organization, you know. We're a We're kind of on our own out here. We don't have a hell of a lot to work with. You know, when you start talking about economic development, you know, I've been involved tribal government since, uh, 1973, and economic development has always been, um, a big deal, you know. And, uh, here we are, um, in my lifetime

60, 70 years, you know.

area. But anyway, that part is absolutely staggering to me. I think it's an abomination that you have got the same level, and you've got 1,100 or 1,200 tribal employees. 11 of them are in public safety. I mean, it just And a lot of those are strings attached grants that are coming through. And I'm just here to tell you, you can throw as much money as you want in some of these other areas. If you can't get safe public, safe kids, safe roads, safe moms and grandmas, I mean, a lot of the rest of it, I just, I don't know.

I don't know if it's attainable. You know, one thing that we've had a lot here is suicide.

Mental wellness is really important. IHS, we, uh, everybody's doing the referral process, encouraging people to go there. It's pretty tough when you send someone into a room and turn the screen on. That's not how you get counseling. That's not how you do one-on-one.

Or raise kids. So yes, so that's really, um, hurting us. But we— and I want to give a shout out because SGU is having their graduation Friday. We have 11, I think it's 11 that are getting their master's in mental wellness. So, you know, we have those ones coming up, and we have a group of young ladies that have their doctorates, and they're really Doing well here, but there's just so much to address, and I'm gonna sit down. But we really do need to. Okay, we've got 6 minutes left, and I saw a hand here first.

So take half of it and leave half of it for your friends, and then we're going to welcome up and get into the tax compact. Okay, thank you. Um, I guess I wanted to say that one of the biggest Concern that I have, we all have our different concerns here. For me, it's economic development because self-sustainability is so important, and that's where I want our tribe to be. I want us to be self-sustainable. want us to have to be asking for funds from anybody, but anytime we have an effort towards some sort of sovereignty initiative, um, there's always roadblocks or there's always some conflicting things with the state. Let's take the fiber and the broadband infrastructure, for example. This tribe was awarded $48 million to do our own broadband.

Um, that has turned into exclusion from the state lead program to help further those efforts.

There are things that exist through the SBA, the IEE, HUBZone, Section— I'm sorry, 8(a) status.

All of these things that exist around economic development.

We, we really struggle to make those work for us and working with the state as well as the office. And I know that that office has really gotten smaller.

So then we come through and the tribes come together and meet with Southwest Power Pool and other people, and they start creating this corridor for a Possible energy line that goes through all the tribal nations and across the state through all the reservations, which would generate some economic development. That ended up getting squashed as well. And I guess I just really want to say that the key to helping the tribes through economic development would help us to be self-sustainable. But supporting us in areas where there are something there for us and really enforcing, you know, some stuff among the state legislature and state offices. offices where they have to have set aside money for Indian economic enterprises to purchase from reservation businesses and tribal businesses. Some of those things would be helpful.

Um, and one last thing that I want to mention, and I know it's kind of off topic, but we have a school here and, um, they— we have a dorm. And when those kids go to the dorm, their parents' EBT gets cut off because they're housed with the dorm. So then they're pulling their kids out of school so then they can qualify for for eating, and then re-enrolling them. And then once they get enrolled, they wait for a while till they get caught and they're pulling their kids out again, because a lot of these people, that's their sole source of food is those SNAP benefits. So I just I just wanted to make that mental note and thank you. Thank you. Senator Grove has asked for the last word before we move on here in the last— got about 3 minutes and then we're going to move over to the Secretary to talk in these I will be super fast, but when I was here last time, we talked about the legislative bills that had— we had carried and passed. And I want to say that I know

Uh, we're from different parties, but when we had, uh, the most conservative, um, legislature in years and years and years, we got a ton of stuff passed that was directly going to be beneficial to the tribes. I don't know what it's going to look like in the next 2 years because that has changed, but one of the bills that we got passed, um, Peri Pourier, who is— I think she's she's still online, um, is she carried HB 1232 on the House side and I got to carry it on the Senate side. And so this deals directly with your point about asking permission or having— oops— having conversation. Um, so I just make a mental note that there is a law that was, uh, signed and started July 1st, I guess. Um, HB 1232 to, and it is to establish principles for a state agency to consider when formulating or implementing a policy or rule that has direct tribal implications.

And so it is a law that says that the tribes should be directly involved when things are coming to pass that would impact Indian Country. And so write that down. 1232, and, and it is law. So I hope that it helps.

Thank you. Thanks for the perspective and the education. And, and as has been said a number of times, this is the beginning and introductions that can continue. And in a few of these topics, I would be happy to loop around with when we we finish up today. Uh, but, uh, for now we're going to turn it over to Secretary Mike Houdyshell. I have to say it is an honor for our committee, but I think, um, also for the tribe to have Governor Rhoden send his Secretary of the Department of Revenue down to talk about this. This is a topic that I know is kind of ever-present for the tribes as well as for the Department of Revenue. And so the governor Honestly, the person in this administration who knows the most about this, who's been within that department for a long time and a high-level decision maker, somebody that I've worked with a fair amount and come to really— when he says something, it is the truth. He's as thorough as they come. And so I think there's no one you could have asked for who would have a better perspective to talk about state and tribal tax agreements and compacts than Secretary Mike Houdyshell.

Oh, okay.

Go ahead, we'll turn it over to you.

Okay.

Thank you, Representative Mortenson, members of the committee, Tribal Council. It's good to be here today. Mike Houdyshell, Cabinet Secretary of the Department of Revenue. I was asked to visit with, with you all today about tax collection agreements. So how I thought I would approach my presentation here is to provide first some background.

On taxation in Indian Country and some of the federal law that applies in this area that kind of guides how we look at these tax collection agreements, then go through. What is a tax collection agreement? The statutory basis of the agreements, and how the current agreements that we have in place with the tribes work. And then the last thing is is touch a little bit. bit on the issue with remote sellers. I, I know the last couple of legislative sessions we've had a lot of discussions in Pierre about how remote sellers are treated. You know, under the tax collection agreements. And so hopefully I can provide some, some good context on that too, and then open it up to any questions that, that the committee might have. I'd ask you to get through the presentation portion portion in 15 to 20 and make sure we've got at least 10 for questions and dialogue.

Yep. I'm assuming, Jacob, you're controlling the presentation. So really, the starting point for this discussion and all the special rules that govern taxation within Indian Country is, you know, the federal definition of Indian Country in 18 U.S.C. 1151. I'm not going to read the definition, but essentially everything that we're talking about that's, that's controlled under our tax collection agreements apply to sales and purchases that are made within Indian Country.

So there's really 3 general rules that that we need to keep in mind when we're talking about taxation in this context. The first is that a state cannot impose a tax where the legal. incidence of the state tax falls on an enrolled tribal member in Indian Country under the jurisdiction of the enrolled member's tribe.

agreement area, and I'll talk about what, what that is here in just a minute. But at the end of the day, just for simplicity, um, the— we, we decided that just increasing the, the tribe share, uh, would help account for those transactions. Can I just say that a little simpler for myself to make sure this is right? Because it was difficult to figure out which house was and was not in there, you guys is kind of the 2 sides came up with a percentage and then gave the tribe that rather than try to chase every— you figure out every one. They just— the tribe got more to account for that, but a percentage but it's not exact. Is that right? That's correct, and I'll get to that here in just a minute. I think it's going to answer the question. If I remember right, Last discussions about this had to do with GIS stuff.

Um, our GIS system that, that has the address is different from the state's.

So there are all these trust properties out there that we were trying to include in our agreement that the state wouldn't do it because it did— we couldn't prove because our systems are different. How do we correct that? Because that's not only a problem with our tax agreement, that's a problem with the mail delivery and everything else. So how do we correct that? Let's just dive into that. I mean, Go ahead. Yeah, um, yeah, I mean, it's, it's, it's a very good question, and it's what we wrestled with for quite a while, um, during those negotiations, as you remember. Um, you know, we have to have We have to have good addresses in our system so when the retailer is making sales in those areas, they know that they need to report, uh, that tax on their return so we can ensure that the money gets back to where it belongs. And so there was some, some struggle there to line up, you know, the data that we were receiving from the tribe as opposed to, you know, kind of what, what our

data was showing. And I think how we kind of cut through all that is just, you know what, let's just do it through the percentage split, um, to account for that. Um, so I'll go, I'll go through, you know, the rest of this here but I think it's going to answer some of those questions too. Are there any, uh, are there any instances of, uh, county, um,

consumption taxes in the state of South Dakota, like a, like a city sales tax?

Sales tax in the state of South Dakota, but a county sales tax.

Yeah, so, so, yeah, so just this last legislative session, uh, Senate Bill 96 was passed.

Uh, which allows counties to, for the first time, have a sales tax. Okay. Um, that has to be used for property tax relief, but that's up to the county commission on whether or not they want to impose that tax. Um, and so that hasn't started yet in any counties. There's a handful of counties that have— and they're going to have to develop the technology to figure out who's entitled to what, right? Absolutely. Yeah, so it seems to me that when that happens, as that happens, that may go a long ways in solving the, the checkerboarded jurisdiction aspect that the tribes have outside of Todd County on trust land.

In, uh, well, online sales, for example, that sort of thing. It could, it could. I mean, technology is probably the answer there. Yep, the better the data that we have, the better the address data. The better it works within this system. Um, so one of the key points is that, that no 2 of these agreements that we have are the same. They're, they're negotiated separately, you know, with tribal council. So they, they all have a little bit of nuance to them, but there's some general things that apply to all the agreements. They can be a maximum length of— excuse me— they can be a maximum length of 10 years.

That was recently changed back in the '24 session. Actually, that was a bill that came out of the State Tribal Relations Committee. Prior to that, the max term was 5 years, but now they can be 10-year terms.

Instead of doing an exact accounting of state versus tribal taxes, this kind of gets to the question about the percentage split and the housing areas outside the reservation. Um, what we can do is agree to a percentage split of the total revenue that's collected within the agreement area, and the agreement area is the area where we're saying any sales that happen in that area are going to be put into the bucket to get split up and, and shared between the tribe and the state. And so, um, when we are discussing that percentage split, we are primarily relying on census data. So we look at population within the agreement area and we determine the percentage of tribal member population versus non-tribal member, um, and we use that as the basis of the percentage split, understanding that there's always some, some, you know, shortcomings to

the census data. Um, we know that, that, you know, in, in tribal areas, you know, historically there's undercounting on the census. So we, we, we take that into consideration. Uh, we take into consideration other issues like off-reservation housing that may be on trust land, um, that's not captured in the census data we're looking at. And so that's all discussed during the negotiations to come to that agreed-upon percentage split that, that's part of the agreement. Um, one of the things that the statute allows is for the Department of Revenue to retain an administrative fee.

Um, for our expenses.

Um, the way that it, it works, um, under these agreements is the Department of Revenue collects all the taxes and we then remit the money back to the tribe. Um, I believe I believe it's twice a month, um, if maybe just once a month, but it's at least monthly that the money is, is remitted back to the tribe. And so we do retain a small administrative fee. Fee to cover our costs at the department. And then besides the DOR Secretary and tribal leadership, the governor and the attorney general also have have to sign off on the agreements. So as part of the negotiations, I'm always keeping, you know, those 2 individuals in the loop as well, so they, they know what the status of the negotiations are when they get the agreement in front of them to go ahead and sign.

Okay, so there's only specific state taxes that can be included in the agreement, and if it's to be included in the agreement, the tribe has to have an identical tribal tax, uh, in their ordinances. Um, and so that's the list of the taxes right there. It, it, it, it's just those taxes that are listed there that we can negotiate to include in the agreement. Um, I want to note that on the sales and use tax, uh, the, the note there about remote sellers and marketplace providers, um, this last legislative session, um, there's There, there was a bill, I believe Representative Pourier actually was the prime sponsor on that bill, which clarified that those 2 chapters of the code, one dealing with remote sellers And one with marketplace providers. Marketplace providers like eBay, think about like those types of online sites that they're included in the

sales and use tax collections in the agreements. And you can see the other ones there on the next slide.

Um, so we have with 5 of the tribes, we have what I'm going to— what I'm going to call a comprehensive agreement that includes all of those tax types, um, except for the motor vehicle excise tax. That's one tax type that, that none of the tribes have, have chosen to include in the agreement, and that's fine. Um, but those 5 tribes Um, including Rosebud, we have a comprehensive agreement, so it includes all those other taxes. And then we have 3 limited agreements, um, with Flandreau, our agreement only covers cigarettes, and with, uh, SWO and Yankton. It's just the use tax, and it's only on certain tribal businesses in those checkerboard areas. We've only You know, basically included just just a handful of tribally owned businesses in those agreements.

Um, at this point. So

So, is it possible then that, um, I don't know, say, for example, uh, there's a cigarette— I mean, a state tax on cigarettes at the wholesale level, isn't there? Or not. I mean, yeah, so, yep, so the, the cigarette tax and the, like, the tobacco taxes are a whole set.

And of course, you sell a pack of cigarettes, you generate a sales tax, and we get a share of that. But the excise tax, uh, that the, uh, the, uh, wholesaler pays, basically Um, and, and, uh, those cigarettes that are sold, you know, in, in our jurisdiction, then do we currently get a share of that? You do. Yep. So, so, yep, those are Those are cigarettes and same thing with liquor.

Yeah, so the alcohol taxes actually are not one of the tax types that's included on the list, but it is— but as a tax, it's no different than the cigarette tax, right? It, it is a wholesale It is a wholesale-based tax. The distinction is that the cigarette tax and the tobacco tax, the legal incidence of that tax is on the user.

And I guess we would be negotiating that with the City of Mission, but then at some point the state would be, you know, involved in it on behalf of the City of Mission, I would think. Yeah, that would— yeah. I mean, absolutely. I mean, that would be, you know, something either, you know, uh, with the city to discuss. Um, again, you know, under the, the, the, the state tax collection system. It doesn't, doesn't talk about municipal taxes. So that's not something that we can't give the city's tax money away. Um, but yeah, I mean, you know, to your point, you know, that would be something to discuss.

That's the basis for the whole negotiation thing. Sure. Um, so this next slide, um, you want to go ahead?

This, this is an actual tax return.

So this is a tax return from a remote seller. I don't know who it is. We redacted the taxpayer name, but this would be what a monthly return would look like that, that gets filed with the department. And so you can see there on this, this form, there's a— this is not all of it, there's multiple pages, but you can see all of those municipalities that are listed on that first, first page there on the left side.

So that's where they're reporting to us. For instance, in the city of Aberdeen, they had taxable sales in this amount, the 2%, uh, municipal tax, and the amount of the tax due. Um, likewise, if you If you go to the right side, this is the bottom, you can see the tribal jurisdiction. So here in this example, this retailer for this return, they had taxable sales on Cheyenne River. And in Standing Rock. And so you can see that they've reported that to us. It's the 4.2 tax, which is the tribal tax rate, and it shows how much they're— they owe, um, for sales sales that they made into those agreement areas. And so that's how the department knows that, okay, for the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, when we send the remittance, um, they get, you know, whatever our our agreed-upon, you know, percentage split is of that revenue that was reported by that retailer. It's just one example. It's just one— that for a second. Oh, sorry.

So, I, I, it says 4.2 there, which maybe this gets at what, what councilman was just getting at. So, in Cheyenne River and Standing Rock, the municipalities not getting any part of that 4.2, the tribe's getting all of that 4.2, right? That's— well, they get the percent— the, the percentage split based on the agreement. Yep, yep. And the city would be an additional to. So if you could see it, for instance, on Cheyenne River, so Eagle Butte would be a separate line item.

Okay, yep, that's reported separate. So Eagle Butte, Dupree, and Cheyenne River— the city of Eagle Butte, you know, would have to have a city sales tax, correct? Agreed, agreed. Separate from the Yeah, sorry, I didn't know if it was everywhere in the tribe, whether it was a municipality or not, but what you're saying is Eagle Butte would be broken out separately and they would get their 2%? That's correct.

That's correct. With that 2% tax you're talking about, that did go to court and the court ruled that the city didn't have authority to do that. However, they would allow it as a voluntary tax. Every time you pay that 2% over there, you're voluntarily paying it, right? If you don't want to pay it, then you have to sign all these forms and don't pay it. Yeah, and that's ridiculous. Yeah.

Okay, sorry, Senator Foster had a question.

Thank you. Um, so is this compact exhaustive in a, in the sense that it covers every type of purchase, or are there certain items such as utilities that are not?

Um, covered by this compact?

So it would cover anything that is subject to any of these tax types. So when it comes to the sales and use tax, electricity sales are subject to state sales tax.

Okay, so if, if there's an electric customer, you know, within the agreement area, uh, let's say here in Rosebud, they're purchasing electricity, so they would be paying that tax, but that would be part of that, that reporting that comes to the department, and the, the, the tribe would get their portion of that money through, um, the tax collection agreement. So yes, it does apply to all taxable goods and services, um, that, you know, both the state and the tribal tax can apply to. But it's only these 9 or whatever.

Right, that are on this slide. I mean, if there's a tax that's not on this list, you can't get into a compact for collection of it. That is correct. And when you were gone, we had that discussion with alcohol. Yes, I heard that at the end of that. And that's not only alcohol, and maybe Whitney can kind of help clarify this for me, but there are other taxes with like some of our utilities, phone companies like that. I'm not sure what they're called.

The state would not allow us to include that into our tax agreement. That's kind of an contention to us because our— we're of the opinion that particularly in Todd County, you can't tax any way that's ours.

And one of these days we're probably going to go to court over it, but that's been— it's not very much money, but it's contention.

Okay, well, we're at 3 minutes until 12:30, and I've got just— I think there's like 1 more slide, maybe.

There's 2 more slides. So this is showing the remittances. This is from our annual report. And so these are all the agreements that we have in place, and it shows the last 2 fiscal years. Um, and this is just for the sales and use tax and the contractor's excise tax, tourism tax. It doesn't include cigarette taxes, OTP taxes, other taxes that may be included.

So, so for instance there, for Rosebud Sioux Tribe, this last fiscal year we remitted about $4.6 million back to Rosebud pursuant to the agreement.

And just— this might be the dumbest question anybody asks all day, but that's because the tribe has the same 4.2% sales and use tax on its own members. The state cannot Not tax tribal members on tribal lands for their sales and use. But the tribe is— I mean, again, that's why it's so dumb. It's foundational, but they have every one of those 9 taxes we have. The tribe This tribal council passed that and assessed it against their folks, and you just help them collect it and get it back to them.

That's correct. Okay. Sorry. So, is that why we were on the last slide? That were specific to those other tribes. So, so that particular reach, and again, that was just a random one that was picked and given to me. You weren't on there. They didn't have that particular month. This retailer didn't have any sales in Rosebud. Oh, um.

Again, it was just an— it's just an example. When they might have it just alphabetically, they're not on that, right? It ends at W.

So all of the tribal jurisdictions are at the bottom there. Oh, so this one, yeah, you know, this again, this is just one month, one retailer. They did have sales on Cheyenne River and Standing Rock in that particular return to report. Report. It's not to say that the next month they don't, right? I mean, this is, this is a monthly return that they're filing. Um, okay.

Okay, the last— this is the last point I want to make here, and I'll wrap up my presentation. We do have— there's certain types of projects That occur in Indian country, but they're not in an agreement area. And so, um, they may be on some, you know, trust land. So these types of things come up frequently with like Sisseton and, you know, Yankton, Flandreau, where we don't have those comprehensive agreements. But I just wanted to, to bring this up. Um, there may be certain types of projects that are exempt from sales, use, or contractor's excise tax if there's comprehensive and pervasive federal regulation on the project type. So for instance, tribal housing, tribal hospitals, schools, Tribal administrative buildings, if there's any of those types of projects going on and it's not covered by a tax collection agreement, the tribe or the contractor can

belongs to us, right? And, and someday, if we don't resolve this, that's going to go to court. Yeah, but, but I, I just want to throw that out. Well, there have, there have been other decisions in other states, other tribes, but those tribes did not have a Supreme Court decision like Wounded Knee Knife that clearly identifies that. I just want to throw that out. And that'll be in your comp— yeah, compact negotiation, maybe the court. Go ahead, Representative Emery. I think you— thank you, Vice Chair, for being here, but I think you kind of answered the question, my question, but I'm just kind of reiterating. So any content go back and negotiate within their 10-year agreement.

So yeah, uh, you know, Representative Emery, um, yes, certainly. Um, you know, if, if there's, you know, a request to, to re— you know, consider the agreement open Open up negotiations. I mean, that's, that's something that, that does happen. So just because the agreement may be for a 5-year term, or now 10 years with some tribes, you know, that's a long time and things can change.

So yeah, if during that, you know, agreement term, if something changes and the tribe or the state wants to reopen the negotiations, we can certainly do that. And we do it.

Yep. All right, last one. Tobacco tax. I don't have the agreement in front of us. Um, I didn't know we renewed it from like 10 years ago.

But, um, does it say the tobacco tax will be collected and reported from Todd County is what tonight's case basically puts us down to?

Or does it say all reservation lands? It says Todd County will be treated as if it was the original lands of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. We still have jurisdiction over the Trust properties in those other counties, but Todd County is closed. That's what it says, right? But I mean, the collection is only going on in Todd County. So the, the agreement area Um, is, is the entirety of Todd County, and I, I don't recall, um, if we have additional areas in the agreement area for Rosebud, or is it just Todd County?

I think we have at least one additional area, if I remember correctly, and it might be— there are, I think there are, but I don't remember precisely. We may have some, some outside, um, You know, areas that are included in the agreement. But, um, whatever is included in that agreement area, which is described in the agreement, um, what happens on the tobacco taxes Is the wholesaler submits a report to us quarterly and it says we, we sold X number of packs of cigarettes and this much OTP in Todd County or the agreement area, right?

And so that's— we, we, we use that information then to determine, okay, of the tobacco tax paid by that wholesaler, this is how much needs to go to the Rosebud Sioux Tribe through the agreement.

All right, Senator Foster is going to have our last question here, and then we're going to move on to, uh, healthcare and Indian managed care. Thank you. I had a question regarding tribes without a compact, such as lower rural. How are Taxes collected or not collected there, and specifically to like— wait, yeah, no, Senator, it's a very good question. And, um, I'll preface it by saying, you know, we would love to have an agreement with Lower Brule. We've certainly visited with, with them over the years about that. Um, it's, it's challenge, um, you know, in those areas. I don't have a perfect answer for that.

If you are, you know, a tribal member, you know, on Lower Brule Reservation, you order something online, yeah, more than you're, you're probably going to be charged the state sales tax. And really the only recourse at that point is for, you know, the tribal member to contact the retailer and say, hey, you know, you can't tax me, you can't impose that state tax on me. I don't know how— I don't know how successful that is. Um, but it is challenging in those areas that, that aren't covered by agreements, um, because again, you know, that retailer, I mean, they're just essentially, you know, they're They're trying to be in compliance and they're going to impose the tax that they think they're supposed to in that area. And based on all the codes that I talked about that are on our return, but yeah, in, in that particular area, it It can be a challenge. I can tell you that, you know, for motor fuel tax and for tobacco taxes on lower Brule, we do send money directly back to the tribe because again

those 2 tax types in particular, the legal incidence of the taxes on the user. So they report to us, for instance, how many gallons of fuel were purchased at the gas station in Lower Brule, and we refund refund that money back to them. So there's still a mechanism.

It's definitely not as, as, you know, seamless and efficient as having a tax collection agreement, but we, we do our best to ensure that we're treating folks fairly in that area too.

Before we leave this topic, can I make a request to the committee? Sure. That the committee help us address this issue with the GIS. It causes us problems with a lot of things other than tax collection.

I think that's a very fair request. Well, I really do want to, to thank the secretary for coming down. I mean, part of the point of this committee is state-tribal relations, and we in the legislature, a little bit as described, your council can talk and make policy, but then these things are carried out by the administration or the folks generally sitting behind me for, for your tribe.

Same here. And, and one of the best things that I think this committee can do is when we reach out to Governor Rhoden and his top folks, which— of which secretary certainly is— that they said yes, what time, and I'll be there. And I think that's a real credit to the governor and to the secretary and their team that they can come here and you don't have to have us just writing down questions that then we try to ask. And we, you know, being able to hear directly from the source is invaluable. Tribal for trying to gather understanding to find out where we can, we can establish common ground for the benefit of the tribe, the state, everybody. So thank you very much, Mr. Secretary, for joining us. Thank you.

Okay, and the final topic that we are going to talk about is something that this committee heard a fair amount about last year in the notion of Indian managed care and healthcare and really how Medicaid is administered for the benefit of tribal members.

There, this was an idea that was really brought to us and has been pushed fairly hard by Chairman Renville up at Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, and it resulted in And this committee proposing and the legislature adopting a bill last year, 1006 is the number, that will establish a task force that looks at are we going to make this fairly substantial change in the way that really Medicaid is delivered for the benefit of tribal members. Should we do this, and how would we do this if we did?

So that task force is in the early stages of being compiled. I spoke with Secretary Althoff earlier this week who gave me an update on the progress of populating that task force. I understood he put together a virtual meeting and invited every tribe's designees to participate in that to kind of get a— here's our steps in the process and where we're at. Notably and importantly, and Senator Grove and I carried this legislation through, and I wanted to make sure we wrote it correctly, and I was glad to see that we did. Each tribal council, each tribal council Tribal Council appoints the designee to this task force. So it will be the job of this council to make a formal motion and a resolution And probably just through a letter sent to the Department of Social Services. Here is our designee. Here is the person who is authorized to speak on behalf of us and participate in this task force.

to provide our perspective.

weather.

So what does that mean? It means that the tribes that would sign up for this would wind up being enrolled in basically an Indian managed care facility. So it would be a managed care entity that has tribal affiliations and can make basically a healthcare plan that is tailored to meet the needs of a rural, most all rural, of our tribal populations are, but to make sure that you don't have to do that runaround, IHS and back. And are you in partial state reimbursement on these? Because it's a federal treaty obligation. The feds should be paying this lock, stock. And obviously the reason why our hospitals are, are charging the insurance providers now for providing services to, uh, to tribal members where they never used to Now that has to be, uh, uh, uh, that has to have been, uh, implemented or, or, uh, initiated by the Indian Health Service or the federal government.

Right? Yeah, I think so. And of course, this isn't going to mean that the hospitals don't get paid.

Hospital takes their orders from, right? But it doesn't mean the hospitals won't get paid for providing services. Of course they will. They're just trying to make it that, uh, that provision is as simple and kind of meets tribal populations where they They are to a larger extent. Now, this task force is getting put forward. We're only bringing it up because this is an idea that came from testimony that came to this committee and that got pushed through. But what my ask would be And I think my colleagues would agree is designate someone to go in and talk this over because it is a substantial change. I think it has a lot of promise for improving self-direction, uh, in the healthcare area.

tribal populations across the state. I think it has the chance for improved outcomes. But it's a big change, and it's— that's why it's not going to happen like this. They're not saying we're doing this. They're saying we're going to talk about doing this. How would it work for your tribe. So the real ask is if— and I guess I should have started with, have you designated anyone to be on this yet? Maybe that's a question for Ms. Marshall.

Uh, but anyway, we can follow up on that. But I really do recommend getting in and coming into this exercise with, uh, whomever the, the lead is for, for healthcare from the tribe side. Who is that? Who is your— Skyla. Skyla.

Nope.

Yeah, well, she'll be very briefed on it, but have her come in and describe how she sees it, what she's heard from, uh, her cohorts in, in the other, uh, tribes. But I do think this is an important issue area, maybe among the topics that have come out of this committee, the most substantive. I mean, the biggest chance for substantial improvement in the way that tribal Tribal members access healthcare and make sure they don't have to have the runaround that the good councilman was, was talking about just before. Anything you'd add on that? I know you're kind of— no. Yeah. And I think this is actually a really good thing. This is something that will change.

what healthcare looks like in Indian Country. I mean, it's, it's going to be able to streamline how, how payments are made, and that numerary that the trust state has within Medicare will be eliminated, then the tribes can— the Indian managed care agency can set up those guidelines, and it'll create more, um, accessibility to those members that are eligible for it, and it'll Just give hopefully a better overall healthcare for all of those members. So it actually is a really good thing. There is other states that are doing it, um, and I always point to Arizona. Arizona seems to be the The— when it comes to Indian healthcare and how it works, they seem to be the forefront for that. And it works really well. I mean, they just initiated it just recently, as well as like within the IHS, um, HRSA, or what used to be called CHSDA, where I think South Dakota and North Dakota are looking at this— or IHS is looking at this to make South Dakota and North Dakota

one big area.

So that if you are eligible for medic— I'm sorry, PRC, if you don't live on the reservations, you'll be eligible within this. And so Indian managed care, this model will only Help that effort so that more tribal members have access to that care, whether it's at an IHS facility or a non-IHS facility.

Um, when we came here, um, and discussed some of this before, one of the things that I was talking about, which probably deals And that goes exactly with what, um, what you were talking about, and it's sovereignty.

So this does, in fact, as you stated before, it returns control back to the tribes to man— it's Indian managed care.

And so it is a big deal, and, and I would agree, um, to, to appoint someone as quickly as possible so that there's a voice, you know, from the tribe.

Any questions on, on this? Otherwise, against all odds, and I did say whether it's dust or flood, we're going to get done by 1, and by gum, I think we're going to make it. Uh, yeah, go ahead. Councilwoman, sorry to step out if I missed it. Um, since this is kind of a newer thing, is this like— do they have term limits? Does it need to be a council representative? Like, is it— is there, uh, restrictions on No, we left that entirely up to the council. Each council, each of the 9 councils have the right to appoint someone and authorize them. And if you think they're doing a bad job, I would say you have the right to fire them and have someone else go in too. But, but no, there's no term limit. This task force does have a deadline to wrap up its work for the end of 2028, I believe. Yeah, December 31st. 128. So it, it is term-limited in, in that form, that the task force will do its work over the course of the next 2 years.

Any other questions or comments for us?

What's the point of contact for whoever is selected to be a part of that? I have to assume it'll be the head of, uh, the Medicaid program within the Department of Social Services. Does anyone Do I know that person's name? I'm embarrassed that I don't. I, I— if you ask me in 2 days, I guarantee I'll remember it. Uh, we can follow up and provide it to you though.

Or really, I'll have DSS just reach out to Secretary.

Yeah, just to add to that, I don't think anybody's been appointed from Rosebud for that, so I think that still is up in the air to decide. This is the first we're hearing of this, I believe. Yeah. She meant the contact. No, we'll follow up with Miss Marshall on that and, and have that connected in. But it's, you know, it just took effect a month and a half ago or so. I don't think I don't think they've appointed any legislators to it yet, so we're, we're in early stages yet.

Okay, well, um, any committee discussion before we wrap up?

Anyone on the internet want to say anything?

That's a dangerous thing to offer, you know.

Hearing none on the internet.

Representative Emery, you have any words for us to close? Just, uh, I think some of this as part of the discussion and future legislation that may come out of this, I think we've heard some good stuff, especially on the tax agreement. Um, so I think that's something that maybe this committee would take up as far as adding, um, to the tax agreement. I think, you know, Treasurer Boyd mentioned— sorry, both my notes here.

Um, mentioned the liquor tax and franchise tax. That might be something that we talk about maybe adding so that tribes have the accessibility to put that on their tax agreements.

General.

Uh, yeah, I guess I would. Yeah, I guess I would kind of echo those comments where, you know, each one of these meetings, it feels like I find these little nuggets here and there. of times when you, when you can start working on those and digging into those, that's really how you start to get that snowball effect of getting things done. Um, so I'm happy we're kind of able to take that first step. I know I have different things that I've learned today, and then I'm going to to look into, and I would assume I'm not alone. Um, again, my name is Mike Roll. Uh, michael. Or it's [email protected]. My phone number is 605-228-3925. You can text or call. Um, like all of us and like all of you, we're just kind of normal people too that have day jobs and trying to do the best we can. So quite frankly, whenever we can communicate and educate each other, it just provides the best outcome, I think, for all of us. Um, so just know whatever has happened in the past, we're focused on

Ja, dit is het.

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Het is de volgende sessie.

Ja, ik denk dat we het niet kunnen doen. ***

*** ***

Ja, sorry.

Het is perfect.

*** *** *** *** ***

*** Ja, ik ben voor. *** *** ***

*** *** *** *** ***

*** *** *** *** ***

Ja, ja.

Ja.

En dat is mijn vraag. En nou, we zien dat het wel. En we hebben het gecheckt met de commissie. En de meester heeft al gezegd dat we het niet goed vinden. Ja.

En dat is het.

Ja.

Dat is het.

*** Ja, ja.

Dat die mij komen, de anderen wel. Ja, oké.

Ik heb het al gezegd.

Dat is goed.

En ik weet niet of je het kunt zien.

*** *** *** *** Ja, dat is goed.

Jij wilt me te reden proclamatie van de uithalen?

Yeah, there you guys have people. Rosebud, they still tap out. Can you go see Eric here?

I think he's still here. I pissed off Mommy last night. See it, Pat? It got full quick yesterday up there at the ground. Everybody's setting up for the carnival. He's there.

Some food to eat.

Yeah, yeah.

So yeah.

You ever see my cool flashlight shirt?

A long last cooking. That's what Wes was saying. How was that? Was it nice? It's cool. Yeah.

And then I think it— there was still a good amount of people, but a lot of people thought it was tomorrow.

Because there was like no advertisements or anything.

Good too. Actually, very good too.

I'll send you this.

Happy, are you? I'm doing good, sir. How are you? Oh yeah.

Here, are you guys headed up? We're gonna go to Mission. Okay. Yeah, thank you for coming. Thank you. Thank you.

Is he just joshing around, or is it that—

Right, and so he only has 5.

All right, you guys are in the car.

Yeah, I want some more— a little more research. You have to worry about it right now.

Thank you.

Oh, wait.

Yeah, a little more research. All right, Brian Banks. Did I see your name on the sign? Yes. No, no, it's not. I didn't have a surprise. So, so there's— my friends are vegan, which I don't like about it. So here we go again, both of my friends.

Yeah, I don't know. That will be in there. Yes, you got it. Yeah, hopefully the teeth aren't all purple from that. I don't care how much it is, fix it.

Oh, that was a graduation picture. Yeah.

Relays, did they find a place to house their horses or teams? I'm assuming so, ma'am. I have no idea.

Tribal Ranch, and Joe Ross said no, they don't want nothing stole, because last time— I don't know what happened last time, but we've never destroyed anybody. That's not his place out there, that belongs to the tribe. And I'm going to say that live on the air. Councilwoman Wright made a motion to have inventory done out there, and we're going to make sure it's done. But you know, it just upsets me. 150th— what was my Fair. You can't even help house, you know, let them put up in the pens. And he says, you know, someone else told me he said he doesn't have enough panels. I'm gonna drive off there. I'm like, everything out there is out there, but that upsets me because that doesn't belong. Just my limited knowledge of that particular situation, ma'am, is several years ago when Mr. Ghost Mayor was here, like 8 years ago or 10 years ago or something like that, they were out there.

some kind of fiasco and damage and litter. So because of that, we don't want them out here.

They had a big party out there. Big party was out there. So they don't— then maybe they should sign a contract because where else are they going to put their horses up? Last year I borrowed— went around and borrowed Panel from everybody that I knew of. You make it work. Made it work, Frenchy. All right, go at it then. Well, it's just upsetting, you know.

Definitely not. Not.

The result of that. I mean, these guys can push it.

That. I've been here.

Is that something that you can tell me? Oh, okay. All right, thank you.

Yeah, it's huge. Been a year. Yeah.

We're gonna, um, say our own little witchy prayers. 啊。

Can I turn the stove on and we can do sweat food? Yeah, you guys should all write a wish like we did in the, uh, trade, the youth trade club. Oh my God. If we can, we will. That would really be nice. So should we stop signing admission cards for the fair? Yeah. Well, when we have a meeting, we ask them, are these all of them? Are you sure these are all of them? They said yes. Because I have 5 more BIA cups coming in tomorrow. I'm sure you don't want us to sign them unless they go through committee, but they haven't gone through committee. I've been signing them as they come in with the BIA temporary. Maybe, maybe it was meant to be.

That was a big— that's so hard.

But then we would have had the whole thing. I'm gonna like to hang out here over winter, you know, and, uh, and meet

This is the draft one in the United States. It was at one time. He's probably wearing— she has dozens of them over winter. And we had the possibility of opening something up over there, I think, because of the water problem.

We, we're gonna do it.

Why? Yeah, I know, I know. My point is we just— we gave up.

Hard, man.

Spirit come, take this little field.

Because if it doesn't say that— yeah, it says number 1 says that tribal council reserves the right to review, issue, and deny.

What is it, number 4? Denial of the tribal council reserve.

They're too— and they quit and they're kind of bad to get their money. So they yelled around and then I said, you can fix it. And so you just picked out some people. They used to call that every month, you know.

Yeah.

So we can't— we can't— you guys, if you can— yeah, we can't see. You can't fix it. That's being skipped, huh? Going to Judiciary Committee. You guys didn't amend this to establish a virtual meeting in instances of gross affair or I won't sign anymore then until they come on.

I pull my signatures from those ones I signed today.

Sure do. What?

Project to Michelle. The commission cards I signed today. Wait, are we having the guys come in? Yeah, I signed some today, but judiciary's— it didn't go through the process, but I can re— I can retract my signature until it goes through judiciary.

Officers probably stick around if they don't have patrol. Do they have enough right now to have a judiciary meeting with council that's here?

10 right now. 11. Yeah, with the committee members, that has what, what, large numbers? Yep. How many of you are in Council 3? There's 8 of us. Oh, 5, 6 of us, and then 2 at large.

That was at 5:45. Yeah, so there would be Carl, Tammy, Evasking, and Bob Bradley. Vector's around. And then Leroy. Leroy's like, I was gonna come. I don't know where he is now.

Do you have, um, do you have any more commission cards that need to be signed? So the ones I signed were from council.

The ones I signed were from Oglala Sioux Tribe so they could come down here and assist.

Okay, so that's what I'm waiting on a confirmation for because, um, Cheryl was supposed to get back to me because they didn't meet. Uh, yesterday, and they were supposed to meet again today, and they didn't at all. So those commission cards are signed, but it sounds like— yeah, they wanted to review them, but I, I want to do is look In there it says any person issuing a tribal commission in violation It's just not approved by judiciary. Let's call a meeting then and retract my signature on everything. That's why I signed them without their approval.

Oh, hey, you like something? You need to be enrolled, right? Well, Gary wants to enroll for them, so I think it's my chance. No, I said if you want to bring those commission cards back up, I can retract my signature. Michelle said it was a— Okay. That would be good. Yeah, close the door so they can come out. Get out of here. Governor Rhoden's on the 2 leaves. Not an issue with the actual people getting the commission, you know what I mean? It's more of making sure that there's 3 people on there. Well, it's Christy.

Oh, Christy.

Yeah.

Jeff, bugged us.

Free dog food out there. Look at Miley Cyrus voice.

Than saying wrecking ball.

We need to address that. They wanted to give them— yeah, because I mean The CPAs want a bonus for $500. We, you know, I think, you know, if it's in their budget, they should get it and have it done today. Yeah. And because Hey, some of them actually do work really close with their community people. I think they deserve it, but you know, it just looks really bad that our animal shelter is getting bonuses, bonuses.

Thank you.

Yep.

Is it in their budget? So Drew, you, you only want September 2026 and ending at midnight on the 15th day of September 2026?

I think you need to call us into