Tulsa World: Gov. Stitt should renew the mutually beneficial Cherokee Nation tag compacts
Gov. Kevin Stitt has an opportunity with the Cherokee Nation car tag compacts to continue an agreement that has been working for everyone. We encourage him to take it.
Stitt, who is a Cherokee citizen, and most of the American Indian tribes have developed a contentious relationship in various attempts at renegotiating compacts on everything from gaming to fishing. Tensions worsened after the U.S. Supreme Court found in McGirt v. Oklahoma that — for law enforcement purposes — the Muscogee Nation Reservation was never de-established. Following that precedent, a lower court has ruled the same for several other Oklahoma tribes.
A welcomed change would be extending the existing Cherokee Nation tag compacts, which have been mutually beneficial to the state and the tribe.
In 2002, the Cherokee Nation entered into the first tag compact with the state and added another compact in 2013. The first one is for tags sold to tribal citizens living in a county at least partially within the tribe's reservation. The other is for tags sold to citizens living elsewhere in the state.
Of the income the tribe receives from tag sales, 38% is given directly to public schools, 20% goes for roads, 5% goes to law enforcement and municipalities, and the rest is retained for tribal services, including health, food and language preservation.
The agreements include the sharing of vehicle information with the state.
Over the last two decades, the tribe has donated $92 million in car tag revenue to public education, reports Tulsa World journalist Lenzy Krehbiel-Burton. Also, it donated $50 million for roads and infrastructure and $9 million for northeastern Oklahoma law enforcement.
On Tuesday, the Cherokee Nation awarded public school districts in Tulsa County $1.72 million, more than any other county within the tribe's reservation received. The breakdown includes nearly $200,000 to Tulsa Public Schools, $342,062 to Broken Arrow, $164,055 to Union, $144,811 to Owasso and $111,855 to Jenks.
These are unrestricted funds, meaning schools can spend the money however they want. Districts have used it for teacher salaries, technology or bills.
If the compacts expire, future funding disappears.
A spokeswoman with Stitt's office said negotiations are happening "in good faith" but pointed to the Choctaw and Chickasaw compacts as "the better deal."
We caution against using a cookie-cutter approach to tribal compacting. Every tribe operates differently based on its resources, laws and infrastructure. What works for one tribe may not apply to another.
Choctaw and Chickasaw citizens buy tags through the state's tag offices and receive a 20% rebate from their tribes later. Cherokee citizens purchase tags through their tribe's Tax Commission, and income is distributed directly to state entities.
The Cherokee Nation Tax Commission employs 80 people and has seven tag offices. The nation takes on the cost of issuing tags, and the state gets a cut of its profits.
A bonus to beneficiaries is not having to go through the sometimes cumbersome processes to get the funds.
Last year, the Legislature passed House Bill 1005x to extend vehicle compacts for a year (expiring Dec. 31). The bill was vetoed by Stitt, and his veto was overridden by the Legislature, which led to a lawsuit filed by the governor. That remains pending.
If an agreement is not reached in the next few weeks, lawmakers may need to intervene again. We hope it doesn't come to that.
[Editorial / Tulsa World]
