Over the first several months of 2022, Maine Gov. Janet Mills pushed through a bill that, in part, gave the rights to digital sports betting to the state’s four tribes. The bill caught commercial operators by surprise and was something of a political football – Maine’s tribes do not enjoy the kind of total sovereignty that federally recognized tribes in most states do, and Mills doesn’t want to grant it, so she offered up this olive branch.
But on July 14, a bill introduced by U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D-Maine) that would expand the rights of Maine tribes passed through the House and is headed to the Senate. The bill would give the state’s four tribes, collectively known as the Wabanaki Nation, the “same access to future beneficial laws as nearly every other federally recognized tribe in America,” according to a press release from Golden’s office.
The bill, HR 6707, was tacked onto the FY 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the House 329-101 last Thursday and is co-sponsored by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine). Should the bill pass through the Senate and become law, it would amend the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act, which limits the tribes’ sovereignty and excludes them from applying for assistance under existing laws.
Governor doesn’t support sovereignty
“We deeply appreciate Congressman Golden's and Congresswoman Pingree's leadership in building a better and healthier future for the Wabanaki Nations. After forty years, it is well past time for Congress to alter the Settlement Act to ensure that our people receive equal treatment under federal law as other Native people, ” Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians Chief Clarissa Sabattis said via press release.