Gov. Mills, Wabanaki Nations shelve sovereignty overhaul in compromise measures

The conversation about fully restoring sovereignty to the Wabanaki Nations will be pushed off to the next governor.  

Gov. Janet Mills and each of the Wabanaki Nations reached agreement on two bills that initially sought to grant greater self-governing power to the Tribes on Tuesday, though the amended versions are far narrower.

One would create additional tax exemptions for tribal members. The other would create a task force to assess tribal access to beneficial federal laws — a panel reminiscent of the one the Legislature convened years ago that’s led to incremental change so far.

These compromises solidify Mills’ legacy of blocking sweeping overhauls of the Tribal-State relationship while ushering through piecemeal reforms on a case-by-case basis. The Democratic governor terms out this year and is running for U.S. Senate, notably against a primary opponent, Graham Platner, who had testified in support of the original versions of both of these bills. “Anything short of sovereignty is subjugation,” Platner said.

Several gubernatorial candidates have already made day one pledges to restore tribal self-rule as well. 

The Penobscot Nation, Passamaquoddy Tribe, Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Mi’kmaq Nation — collectively known as the Wabanaki Nations — are treated differently than other federally recognized tribes, more akin to municipalities than sovereign nations because of a 1980 land settlement agreement. 

The Maine Legislature formally recognized a need to alter the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act in 2019 by tasking a group of state legislators and tribal chiefs to recommend changes. Those 22 recommendations have been taken up in several proposals with varying success. 

LD 785 started out as omnibus legislation that would implement the remaining task force recommendations. LD 395 had originally sought to adopt one of the recommendations, restoring the Wabanaki Nations’ access to beneficial federal laws. 

The amended version of LD 785 now offers tax exemptions and ensures each Tribe can have a representative in the State House, while LD 395 was turned into a resolve to create a task force. 

While chiefs and legal counsel from each of the Tribes said they support the amended versions, they made clear that the measures leave long-term efforts to restore sovereignty still unaddressed. 

“It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t get to a place to address the substantive issues of the sovereignty bill,” said Penobscot Nation Chief Kirk Francis, referring to the omnibus legislation. “I don’t see this as a replacement for that bill or a substitute for it, but more of a vehicle to get to the good things that we were able to accomplish.”

Wabanaki leaders reflect on gains as Legislature poised to revisit sovereignty proposals

Tax exemptions

Remaining barriers to self-governance have left persistent disparities between tribal citizens and other Mainers, such as health disparities and limited economic mobility. Francis commended the economic benefits that would come from LD 785 for both tribal governments and citizens. 

Specifically, the bill would provide enrolled members of the Wabanaki Nations a Maine income tax exemption for compensation earned as an employee of one of the Tribes, regardless of where they live. Current law only offers such an exemption for those living on tribal land. 

The Judiciary Committee passed the bill 10-4, with Republican Rep. Mark Babin of Fort Fairfield joining Democrats in support. 

“It’s going to create an inequality between your average everyday Mainers and tribal citizens,” said Rep. Rachel Henderson (R-Rumford).

Sen. Anne Carney (D-Cumberland) responded, “Currently, there is an imbalance.” The proposal builds upon changes made to the state revenue code by the Legislature four years ago to address economic disparities that stemmed from the Settlement Act. 

“The Maine government has certain tax benefits that go to providing government services for the people of Maine,” Carney said, “but the tribal governments hadn’t until four years ago been on a level playing field.”

The bill would also expand sales tax exemptions to manufactured homes, vehicles and other property sourced to tribal land. Under current law, the state controller transfers sales tax revenue collected by the state on Indian territory or trust land to each of the respective Tribes on a monthly basis. The bill would also do this for tribally owned fee lands. 

The final portion of the bill is a component that Democrats and Republicans both agreed on. It would allow the Mi’kmaq Nation to have a tribal representative to the Legislature. The other three tribes already have that right, though only two currently send representatives. 

The Penobscot Nation and Passamaquoddy Tribe withdrew their representatives in 2015, citing frustration with the state not recognizing their sovereign rights and with former Republican Gov. Paul LePage rescinding an executive order that sought to improve cooperation with the Tribes. The Passamoquoddy Tribe is now represented by Aaron Dana, who sits on the Judiciary Committee. Meanwhile, the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians sent a representative back last year for the first time since 2018. 

They cannot vote on the floor but can speak, vote in committees and present legislation.

Another task force 

The Settlement Act made it so the Tribes are unable to benefit from any federal law passed after 1980 that interferes with state law, unless they are specifically mentioned in the law.

LD 395 originally sought to flip that paradigm by allowing the Wabanaki Nations to access federal laws unless they are expressly excluded. Now, the bill will create a task force to study how to make such a change possible. 

Supporters offered cautious optimism about the compromise. “It feels like a very, very honest place to land,” said Sen. Rachel Talbot Ross (D-Cumberland), the sponsor of both bills and several earlier iterations. 

Maliseet Tribal Chief Clarissa Sabattis said she hopes the task force — which would be composed of nine members, including four legislators and five tribal chiefs — will streamline future negotiations. 

“This lets everybody have a conversation and then we can come together with recommendations,” Sabattis said. “I do think that it really changed the narrative when it comes to sovereignty when we had the task force before, so I’m hoping that this will have the same kind of outcome.” 

But Sabattis, Francis and other chiefs underscored that sizable work remains. 

“We look forward to continued work on the efforts to be able to get to a point where the Passamaquoddy Tribe, along with all the Wabanaki Nations, at some point, are recognized as full sovereigns in this state,” said Chief of the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Mohtakomikuk William Nicholas Sr. “I think it’s important that we keep that in mind at all times.”

These compromises come out of years of conversations with Mills, who Nicholas and others have commended for setting a new tone for Tribal-State relations. 

Those conversations yielded results on another issue earlier this winter. After Mills postponed her decision last session on a bill to grant the Wabanaki Nations exclusive rights to operate internet gaming in Maine, she allowed it to become law without her signature in January.