Ryan Dreveskracht Chronicles States' Devilish Deal With Big Tobacco

Ryan Dreveskracht has published a law review manuscript titled, "Forfeiting Federalism: The Faustian Pact With Big Tobacco."  The paper has been accepted for publication by the Richmond Journal of Law and Public Interest.

Ryan discusses the effects of the largest legal settlement in United States history: the so-called Master Settlement Agreement, or “MSA.” Part I discusses the settlement generally, and its intended effect on the U.S. tobacco market. Parts II through IV discuss the unintended consequences of the settlement. Specifically, Part II considers how states got into their current disarray, and how a perceived state windfall of billions of dollars ended up putting states on what by all accounts now appears to be very real risk of insolvency. Part III examines how the major tobacco companies are using the states’ dire financial condition to stifle tribal sovereignty and Indian industry. Part IV analyzes the federal government’s role in similar oppressive tactics. The concluding section suggests lessons that might be learned from the MSA.

Ryan Dreveskracht is an Associate at Galanda Broadman, PLLC.  His practice focuses on representing tribal governments in public affairs, energy, gaming, taxation, and general economic development.  He can be reached at 206.909.3842 or ryan@galandabroadman.com. 

Gabe Galanda Publishes on Indian Lawyer Ethics in "Tribal Civil War" Context

On November 14, Gabe Galanda addressed the Federal Bar Association at its 16th Annual DC Indian Law Conference on a panel that asked and helped answer the following question: "What are the ethical considerations of representing opposing factions in tribal government disputes?"  He published a paper at the conference, "Exposing Abramoff’s Playbook - Exploiting, or Filling, the Ethical Void for Tribal Lawyers," and delivered a similarly titled lecture.  

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda is the Managing Partner at Galanda Broadman. He is a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Gabe can be reached at 206.300.7801 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Gabe Galanda Teaches Tribal Airspace Sovereignty & Aviation Jurisdiction

On November 13, Gabe Galanda delivered a lecture to Boeing's legal department titled, "American Indian Law for the Boeing Lawyer."  In that presentation he discusses the intersection of tribal sovereignty and regulatory authority, and federal aviation law. Gabe asks, "Can Tribes de facto regulate over-reservation airspace?," and answers:

Tribes might very well be able enforce the FAA’s Tribal Consultation Policy against private actors—e.g. Unmanned Aircraft System (“UAS”) operators—via the FAA.

Imagine a drone flying over and surveilling an on-reservation sacred site.  Or a an unsavory banner being flown from behind a plane over tribal homelands.  In the face of such incursions, tribal governments will do something about it as a matter of sovereignty.

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda is the Managing Partner at Galanda Broadman. He is a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Gabe can be reached at 206.300.7801 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Keeping Indian Law on State Bar Exams

As reported on Turtle Talk, South Dakota, one of three states to include Indian law on their bar exams, recently became the second state to maintain the topic while adopting the multi-state bar exam (or "MBE").  New Mexico and Washington also test Indian law. In 2011, Washington adopted the Uniform Bar Exam (or "UBE," which includes the MBE) but left intact  "state-specific law in areas of law where Washington state law is significantly different from many other jurisdictions, and Indian law."

An increasing number of states are adopting the UBE or MBE, in large part because it allows lawyers to to practice law in multiple state jurisdictions without needing to take another bar exam--in other words, portability.  Unfortunately that countrywide movement has clashed head on with the movement to test aspiring lawyers' understanding of Indian law in as many as 30 states.

In Arizona, a widely supported rule change petition that was filed with its Supreme Court was unilaterally rejected by the court's sitting Chief Justice in or around 2009, ostensibly in the name of MBE adoption.

Yet as demonstrated in South Dakota and Washington, adoption of the MBE and inclusion of Indian law are not mutually exclusive. They are both good for states and our legal profession.  It will simply take more convincing by Indian law advocates for the fourth state to include Indian law on the bar exam, and for us to eventually reach the tipping point.  Which state will be next?

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda is the Managing Partner at Galanda Broadman. He is a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Gabe can be reached at 206.300.7801 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Joe Sexton Shines Bright Light on BIA's Badly Proposed Right-of-Way Regs

As featured on Turtle Talk, Joe Sexton has published a Galanda Broadman, PLLC, Occasional Paper, "21st Century Proposed BIA Indian Land Regs In a 19th Century State of Mind."   An excerpt:

The Bureau of Indian Affairs’ (“BIA”) public comment period for proposed regulations governing “Indian lands” closes on November 28, 2014.[1]  These proposed regulations concern “rights-of-way” over Indian lands; or, the rights of non-owners—like farmers, railroads, utility companies, and outside government agencies, among others—to access and use Indian lands.

To those who may not be familiar with federal policy over Indian lands, Tribal Governments and Americans Indian individuals can do very little with their lands without the approval of the BIA’s suffocating bureaucracy.  Ironically, these are the same lands that were often promised to Tribes and their people by the federal government for their “exclusive use and benefit” in perpetuity.  For anyone who has a basic knowledge of this area of law, the regulatory revisions may seem to be an effort to streamline the mind-numbing bureaucratic processes Tribes and individual Indians must navigate to make even the most basic decisions regarding their lands.

But to those who has seen the absolute ineffective and often times arbitrary nature of the BIA’s bureaucracy when it comes to governing Indian lands, these regulatory revisions do nothing more than perpetuate a resilient legacy of harm to Indian Country through laws, regulations, and executive actions emanating from Washington D.C.

[1] Rights-of-way on Indian Land, 79 Fed. Reg. 34455 (June 17, 2014)(to be codified at 25 C.F.R. pt. 169); found online at: www.bia.gov/cs/groups/xraca/documents/text/idc1-026971.pdf

Joe Sexton is Of Counsel with Galanda Broadman, PLLC.  Joe’s practice focuses on tribal sovereignty issues, including complex land and environmental issues, and economic development matters.  He can be reached at (509) 910-8842 and joe@galandbroadman.com.

Gabe Galanda to Offer Seattle U Law Students Tribal Career Advice

Gabe Galanda will discuss career opportunities in federal Indian and tribal law, with students at the Seattle University School of Law, on November 6, 2014.  Gabe is a member of the Seattle University Indian Law/Policy Center's Advisory Board.

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda is the Managing Partner at Galanda Broadman. He is a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Gabe can be reached at 206.300.7801 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Galanda Broadman Named "Best Firm" in Native American Law by U.S. News

Galanda Broadman, PLLC, has been named a “Best Law Firm” by U.S. News - Best Lawyers in the arena of Native American Law, for the third year in a row. According to U.S. News - Best Lawyers, the firm's national ranking was determined through the firm's overall evaluation, which was derived from a combination of Galanda Broadman’s “clients' impressive feedback” and “the high regard that lawyers in other firms in the same practice area have for [the] firm.”

Galanda Broadman, “An Indian Country Law Firm,” is dedicated to advancing tribal legal rights and Indian business interests. The firm, with offices in Seattle, Washington and Bend, Oregon, represents tribal governments, businesses and members in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters, especially in matters of Indian Treaty rights, tribal sovereignty and taxation.

Gabe Galanda to Lecture Boeing on Indian Law

Gabe Galanda will deliver a lecture to Boeing executives and lawyers on November 13, 2014. The event commemorates national Native American History Month, and will highlight notions of tribal governance and jurisdiction and collaborative efforts between Boeing and Northwest Indian tribes.

Gabe is honored to address Boeing, a pillar in the aerospace industry and the Greater Seattle economy.

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda is the Managing Partner at Galanda Broadman. He is a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Gabe can be reached at 206.300.7801 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Finding the Cure for the American Indian Disenrollment Epidemic

In a lecture at Lewis & Clark Law School on October 27, Gabe Galanda preliminarily proposed several cures to the disenrollment epidemic that is now sweeping Native America.  Gabe lecture (slides here) was a lead up towards his and Ryan Dreveskracht's publication of a law review article on those topics, in Arizona Law Review next summer. They will soon publish a manuscript.

The Galanda Broadman firm has identified several acute causes to the epidemic and resultant self-termination, about which Gabe lectured, including: Indian gaming and other tribal per capita distributions; tribal political favoritism and nepotism; silence by the tribal and academic establishment; a century of federal assimilationist policy that extends to self-determination funding; the Supreme Court's Santa Clara v. Martinez decision; immoral and unethical behavior by non-Indian lawyers, contractors and other bad actors; and a self-fulfilling prophecy of tribal violence in reaction to disenrollment-related human rights violations.

Gabe's lecture was attended by Lewis & Clark NALSA members, and a couple dozen American Indians from the Pacific Northwest who are plagued with disenrollment, including the Nooksack 306 and Grand Ronde descendants of Chief Tumulth.

Gabriel “Gabe” Galanda is the Managing Partner at Galanda Broadman. He is a citizen of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. Gabe can be reached at 206.300.7801 or gabe@galandabroadman.com.

Indian Voters: “Maintain” Tribal Lands Tax Policy Per Advisory Vote 9

By Anthony Broadman

Thanks to Tim Eyman, recent Washington State Indian tax legislation is subject to a non-binding advisory vote.  This year, an Eyman advisory vote dealing with “a leasehold excise tax on certain leasehold interests in tribal property,” per HB 1287, has caused much voter confusion.  

Governor Inslee signed HB 1287 this spring.  According to the published bill summary, the new law:

• Exempts a leasehold interest in property owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe from state property taxation.

• Extends the state leasehold excise tax to a private leasehold interest in property owned by a federally recognized Indian tribe.

• Recognizes economic development as an essential government service for purposes of qualifying tribally owned property for state tax exemption.

HB 1287 Bill Analysis.  Eyman’s advisory only, and deceivingly, contemplates the second bullet.

In all, the new law puts tribes on equal footing with other governments as to land used for economic development.  The new law exempts such tribally owned fee land from state taxation, yet with the potential for in-lieu payments or leasehold excise taxes between tribes and the state.  The new law is good for the State of Washington.

These Eyman “push polls” that are aimed at influencing, if not outright manipulating, voters are a waste of ballot space and election-related taxpayer dollars.  Advisory Vote No. 9 deliberately mixes two perennially controversial issues in Washington: Indians and taxes.  Although its description on the ballot leads our state’s voters—be they pro- or anti-tribal, or card-carrying liberals or Tea Partiers—to guess their vote, the outcome could be construed as a referendum on Indian tax policy in Washington State.

HB 1287 encourages tribal economic development and job creation and should be “maintained.”

Check the “maintain” box on Advisory Vote No. 9.

Anthony Broadman is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC.  He can be reached at 206.321.2672, anthony@galandabroadman.com, or via www.galandabroadman.com.