Tribal Nations in Virginia have been establishing their own governments, judiciary, buying former ancestral lands and establishing environmental programs. Some own and operate dental and medical clinics.
"There’s a lot that goes into being a federally-recognized Tribe," notes Del. Paul Krizek of the 16th District. Krizek chairs a bipartisan commission to update inconsistent and outdated language in laws that affect the Tribes. The Tribal Code Commission was established by Gov. Northam five years ago. But progress is slow.
"We have now, seven federally recognized Tribes. And the code has not been updated since that happened," he notes.
There are about six bills, but with an upcoming short session, they may not make it. One would allow in-state tuition for Indigenous students who grew up in another state after their families fled erasure from the 1924 Racial Integrity Act.
But the bigger job may be educating busy legislators.
"Our sessions are very short and fast and furious," Krizek notes. "Hundreds, thousands of bills really in a period of two to three months. And so, if people don't understand it, they vote no. There aren't any tribal members in the General Assembly. And that's also an issue, perhaps."
And it isn’t just the legislators.
"We got the bill to the governor, Governor Youngkin, he wouldn't sign it.
In Virginia, the governor has a lot of power," says Krizek. "They have line-item and veto power. And so he struck out the language that said, “government to government” responsibility. And it's ironic because I found a great quote from Ronald Reagan
where he mentions how important the government-to-government relationship is between the United States and federally recognized tribes."
At the same time, the tribes are trying to join the federal and state council that oversees the restoration of the Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States.
The Chesapeake Bay Executive Council meets each December. It’s comprised of the governors of six bay watershed states, including Gov. Spanberger, the mayor of the District of Columbia, the Bay Commission and the EPA. Tribal ties with the Chesapeake Bay go back tens of thousands of years.
"Conservation and environmental stewardship is like one of the first things that all the tribes went after because it was a high priority for them," says Rappahannock Chief Anne Richardson.
Last December, the Executive Council charged a special committee of the Chesapeake Bay Program Office to research formal channels for joining them as a signatory on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement. The Tribes went into a meeting in September expecting to soon join the council.
"We met with the members of the program staff and the other partners and we started working on a resolution to lay that out, how that was going to work," Richardson says. "And about an hour and a half maybe two hours into the meeting we were told that signatory status was off the table that we were not going to get signatory status because there were questions and concerns in the partnership about it and so we asked you know well what are they so we can address them. 'We're not allowed to talk about that.'"
All the tribal leaders were shocked.
Some of those who might know how the decision was made by the Executive Council declined to be interviewed for this story. That includes the Chesapeake Bay Program Director Daniel Coogan and Deputy Director Khesha Reed. The Chesapeake Bay Commission, also declined an interview, saying, “it is separate from the Chesapeake Bay Program and does not speak on behalf of the Program or its partner agencies. As a result, we would not be the appropriate organization to comment on matters related to the Program's partnerships or activities.”
The Commission has 21 members from Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia and is a signatory and voting member of the Executive Council. There are 15 state legislators, including state Sen. Richard Stuart, who sits on Virginia’s Tribal Code Commission.
Richardson said the Tribes were disappointed.
"I said, ‘You know, well, if we can't have signatory status then all of this work that we've been sitting here doing is for nothing because without you recognizing tribal sovereignty and making us a part of the decision-making process over the Bay then we don't have anything to contribute to you.’"
Tribes walked out of the meeting and haven’t heard from the Chesapeake Bay Program, the Executive Council or the Commission.
The Indigenous Conservation Council of Virginia’s seven Tribes is meeting next week to begin drafting a plan to work with state agencies.