More about Bella Davis and Tripp Jennings, New Mexico
First Published: February 20, 2024 at 7:00 AM
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The sponsor of a proposed trust fund that would provide millions of dollars to New Mexico tribes to build education programs announced Wednesday that they are withdrawing the bill from the Senate. This means the bill is effectively dead.
With less than 24 hours left in the 2024 legislative session, Rep. Derrick Lente, a Democrat from Sandia Pueblo, decided to kill House Bill 134 after learning that it would receive numerous amendments on the Senate floor. He said he did.
The proposal would create a $50 million trust fund that New Mexico's 23 tribes would be able to spend on language programs and other education-related needs. It garnered bipartisan support in the House, with many tribal leaders, Native students and educators speaking during committee hearings during Congress about how impactful it would be.
But how that money will be allocated has been a source of significant debate this year and again in the 2023 legislative session, when Lente unsuccessfully pushed to establish the fund. The Navajo Nation, in particular, was concerned about how to ensure the funds were distributed equitably.
“As much as we thought we were OK with having so much support through the House process and even through the Senate finances, we've reached a point where the tribal arguments have gone a little too far.” Lente said. It's great for me to want to feel comfortable having that kind of discussion in public in the Senate, and I don't think it's fair for tribes to be put in that position. ”
Lente did not say where the Senate amendment came from or what it would do. But he said he asked Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth not to bring the issue up for debate in the Senate “out of respect for the tribe.”
“I want to respect 100% the tribal sovereignty of each pueblo, nation and tribe in New Mexico. Please quote me on that,” Lente said.
Asked if he would bring up the proposal again next year, Lente said he didn't know.
The original version of the bill, which he introduced in January, would have created a distribution formula for a nine-member task force representing tribal communities. This requirement was later removed in response to concerns from the Navajo Nation Council.
Instead, the proposed amendment called for the formula to be developed by June 2025 through a “unanimous consensus process of consultation, collaboration, and communication with New Mexico's tribes.”
The House of Representatives unanimously passed the amendment by a vote of 68-0.
Next year's state budget is already on Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's desk, and it includes $50 million for the Tribal Education Trust Fund. But the tribe's use of that money was contingent on Lente's bill passing Congress.
The governor's office announced earlier this month that Lujan Grisham would support the fund in response to a call from Pueblo leaders.
This article was originally published by New Mexico In Depth..
