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F I S C A L I M P A C T R E P O R T
SPONSOR Pinto
ORIGINAL DATE
LAST UPDATED
02/27/07
HB
SHORT TITLE Formal State Recognition Of Tribes & Pueblos
SB SJM 42
ANALYST Weber
APPROPRIATION (dollars in thousands)
Appropriation
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
FY07
FY08
NFI
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
ESTIMATED ADDITIONAL OPERATING BUDGET IMPACT (dollars in thousands)
FY07
FY08
FY09 3 Year
Total Cost
Recurring
or Non-Rec
Fund
Affected
Total
$10.0
$10.0
Non-
recurring General
Fund
(Parenthesis ( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
LFC Files
Responses Received From
Indian Affairs Department (IAD)
Office of the Attorney General
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
Senate Joint Memorial 42 (SJM 42) requests the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General
(AG) and the Indian Affairs Department (IAD) to investigate the potential impact to the State of
formal recognition of Indian Nations, Pueblos, and Tribes located within the State and also to
investigate alternative forms of State recognition. Additionally, the AG and IAD are requested
to provide a report of their findings and recommendations, no later than October 1, 2007, to the
appropriate interim committees of the legislature. Finally, SJM 42 requires that copies of the
memorial be sent to the Indian Nations, Tribes, and Pueblos in New Mexico, as well as the Ute
Mountain Ute Tribe and the Chair of the All Indian Pueblo Council.
pg_0002
Senate Joint Memorial 42 - Page 2
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
There would be some undetermined operating cost attached to accomplishing this task. An
estimate would be $10 thousand split between the AG and IAD for potential traveling and related
business expenses.
SIGNIFICANT ISSUES
The Indian Affairs Department notes that according to SJM 42, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe of
Colorado has 110,000 acres of reservation land located within the State of New Mexico. On July
5, 2005 the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, by council resolution, requested the State formally
recognize the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe as a New Mexico Tribe. As drafted, SJM 42 does not
indicate whether tribal members of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe actually reside within the tribal
reservation land located within the State; the Memorial merely states that tribal members live and
work in the State and that such reservation land is used for “traditional purposes and resources
development, including grazing and oil and gas extraction."
SJM 42 requests the AG and IAD study the potential impacts to the State of formal or alternative
methods of State recognition of Indian Tribes, Nations, and Pueblos. The findings and
recommendations of the study would be reported to the appropriate interim committees of the
legislature. As drafted, a literal interpretation would limit such a study to tribal governments
who have their central governing offices within the state, leaving out the Navajo Nation and the
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe whose central governments are located in Arizona and Colorado
respectively.
IAD continues that the federally recognized Ute Mountain Ute Tribe is located primarily in
Towaoc, Colorado but possesses 110,000 acres of trust tribal land within New Mexico. Though
there are no Ute Mountain Ute tribal members currently living on the tribal land in New Mexico,
the tribe has developed oil, gas and grazing resources on the land. Additionally, the tribe uses
the land for cultural and traditional purposes.
Since early 2003, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has sought membership in what was then known
as the New Mexico Indian Affairs Commission administratively attached to the New Mexico
Office of Indian Affairs; now, currently the New Mexico Commission on Indian Affairs attached
to the New Mexico Indian Affairs Department. Then, as now, membership in the Commission
was limited by New Mexico statute (NMSA §9-21-13) to the 19 Pueblos, the Navajo Nation, the
Jicarilla Apache Nation, and the Mescalero Apache Tribe, one urban Indian representative, and
one non-Indian representative.
The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe cites tribal members residing in New Mexico, natural resource
development, and potential access to state funding as reasons for seeking membership on the
Commission, as well as formal State recognition from New Mexico. It is not clear from the
Memorial that, if recognized, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe would seek capital outlay or other
State funding.
Several issues present themselves. First, membership in the Commission for the Ute Mountain
Ute Tribe would require amending NMSA §9-21-13 to include their representative. Second, to
date, the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has not received support from those Tribes now located in the
State and which have developed a government-to-government relationship with the State. As
pg_0003
Senate Joint Memorial 42 - Page 3
such, State recognition of another Tribe may prove to be an unpopular move. Finally, if the State
were to adopt formal mechanisms to recognize Tribes (federally recognized or not) that are
partially located in the State or have cultural ties to the State, the floodgates of applications may
swing open. For example, the federally recognized Ft. Sill Apache Tribe of Oklahoma has
purchased property in southern NM, but as a Tribe that is not recognized (formally or informally)
as “a New Mexico Tribe" they are not currently eligible to receive capital outlay or other state
funding.
MW/mt