OKLAHOMA CITY – With more than 1,110 bills filed for the upcoming Oklahoma state legislative session, several are aimed directly at Indian Country.
Filed by state Rep. Wade Rousselot (D-Wagoner), House Bill 1116 would grant legislators and councilors of federally recognized tribes immunity from arrest or questioning by state law officials while their tribe’s legislative branch is in session. The waiver would not apply to felonies, treason or breach of the peace.
According to campaign finance reports, Rousselot’s 2012 re-election campaign received $9,750 in contributions from tribal governments, including $3,000 donations from both the Cherokee Nation and Chickasaw Nation. The Osage Nation, Muscogee (Creek) Nation and Choctaw Nation also appear on the representative’s donor list.
Rousselot’s district in Wagoner County straddles the boundary between the Muscogee (Creek) and Cherokee Nations. He did not respond to emails and phone calls requesting comment.
Two pieces of legislation from Rousselot’s colleagues in the House of Representatives would promote the state’s chief negotiator with tribes to a cabinet-level post.
House Minority Whip Chuck Hoskin Sr. (D-Vinita) and Native American caucus co-chairman Paul Wesselhoft (R-Moore) have filed separate identical bills that would make the state’s Native American liaison the Secretary for Native American Affairs and cap the office’s annual salary at $65,000.
The position was created in during the 2011 legislative session when the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission was abolished. It was not filled until June 2012 when Gov. Mary Fallin appointed Kaw Nation citizen Jacque Secondine Hensley. Similar legislation was filed in during the 2012 session and amendments were attempted during the 2011 session to include the provision in the position’s original job description.
Members of the Oklahoma legislature’s Native American caucus, Hoskin is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation and serves as chief of staff for Principal Chief Bill John Baker. Wesselhoft is a citizen of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation and also serves in his tribe’s legislature.
The 2013 legislative session begins on Feb. 4.