ARTICLE II - LEGISLATIVE FUNCTIONS
Section 1. General Council and Executive Council. The legislative
powers of the Kaw Nation shall be vested in a General Council and an Executive
Council. The General Council shall consist of all members of the Kaw Nation,
not adjudged mentally incompetent by a court of competent jurisdiction, who
are eighteen (18) years of age or older in council assembled.
Section 2. General Council.
- Matters of business for the General Council shall be
decided by a majority vote. A quorum of the General Council shall consist of
twenty five (25) citizens of the Council. Once a quorum is established at a
regular or special meeting, the General Council may continue to conduct
business until the meeting is adjourned. A quorum must be reestablished to
conduct any business if, without adjournment, the meeting is recessed or
continued to any day other than the day established for such meeting in the
notice.
- Special meetings of the General Council may be held upon
the call of the Chairman, in his discretion, and shall be called by the
Chairman at the written request of a majority of the Executive Council, or
of fifty-five (55) members of the General Council. Special meetings shall be
called not less than twenty (20) days after the Executive Council takes any
action which is subject to General Council approval pursuant to Section 4(b)
of this article.
Should the Chairman fail to call a special meeting
within the prescribed time, any member of the Executive Council shall call
the meeting to be held within twenty (20) days of the Chairman’s inaction.
- Not less than ten (10) days public notice of special
meetings shall be given. Such notice shall state the specific purpose or
purposes of said meeting and whether other business may be conducted.
- Public notice as used in paragraph (c) and (e) of this
section means that notice stating the time, date, place and purpose of the
General Council meeting is published at least once in one or more newspapers
of general circulation in the Kaw City and Ponca City, Oklahoma areas, the
Arkansas City, Kansas area, and that a copy of the notice is posted in a
conspicuous public place in the Kaw Tribal Administrative Offices.
- Four (4) quarterly meetings of the General Council shall
be held on the second (2nd) Sunday each calendar quarter, Provided, That,
the Executive Council may, upon thirty (30) days public notice, reschedule
said meeting to an appropriate time not more than thirty (30) days after the
regular meeting date. Public notice shall be given for all general council
meetings.
- All meetings of the General Council shall be held at the
Kaw Tribal Community Building or at an accessible place within the limits of
the territory of the Kaw Nation as designated by the Executive Council. All
meetings shall be conducted in accordance with Roberts’ Rules of Order
except as otherwise provided for in the council’s rules of procedure.
Section 3. Executive Council. An Executive Council shall
be elected by secret ballot pursuant to an election ordinance
approved by the General Council. The officers of the Kaw Tribe in
office at the time of approval of this constitution by the Secretary
of the Interior shall continue in office until their successors are
duly elected and installed pursuant to this constitution.
- The Executive Council shall be composed of the following
officers: Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary, and four (4) Council Members.
No person may be a candidate for more than one (1) office at any election or
hold more than one (1) office at any one time.
- In order to become a candidate for or be a member of the
Executive Council, a person must:
- Be a member of the General Council not
less than twenty-five (25) years of age; and
- One-fourth (1/4) degree or more of Kaw
Indian Blood; and
- No person who shall have
been finally convicted of a felony or other crime involving
moral turpitude under the laws of the Kaw Nation, the United
States, any Indian tribe, band or nation or any state, shall
be eligible for election to the Executive Council, unless
the person so convicted shall have been pardoned or have had
his civil rights restored to him.
- For the purpose of providing for staggered
terms of office, at the first election conducted pursuant to
this constitution on September 9, 1990, the Chairman, Secretary,
and two (2) Council Members receiving the highest number of
votes shall be elected to four (4) year terms of office, and the
Vice Chairman and the other two (2) Council Members shall be
elected to a two (2) year term of office. Thereafter, all
members of the Executive Council shall be elected to four (4)
year terms of office and until their successors have been duly
elected and installed.
- All vacancies occurring on the Executive
Council shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term
by a majority vote of the General Council at any regular meeting
or a special meeting called for that purpose.
-
The regular meeting of the Executive Council shall be held the second
Saturday of each month at the Kaw Tribal Community Building in Kaw City
unless otherwise designated by the Executive Council and proper notice to the
members of the Executive Council shall be mailed to them at least five (5)
days prior to the date of each meeting unless otherwise provided by
resolution.
- Special meetings of the Executive Council may be
called by the Chairman, at his discretion, and shall be called by him upon
the written request of a majority of the Executive Council members. Proper
notice of special meetings shall be given as provided in subsection (e) of
this section.
- The Executive Council shall provide for their
own rules of procedure.
- Matters of business for the
Executive Council shall be decided by a majority vote. A quorum of the
Executive Council shall be four (4) or more members.
- No executive council member shall vote on any
matter coming before the Executive Council in which the member
has a personal interest or in which the member stands to gain
financially or otherwise be enriched by the outcome of the vote.
Section 4. Powers.
- The Executive Council shall serve as the legislative body
of the Kaw Nation and shall have the authority to act in and on all matters
and subjects upon which the Tribe is empowered to act, now or in the future,
including, but not limited to, the following:
- To represent the Kaw Nation and act in
all matters that concern the health, peace, safety and
general welfare of the Nation and all persons within its
territory, and to make decisions not inconsistent with or
contrary to this constitution.
- To
negotiate and make contracts with Federal, tribal, state and
local governments, and with any individual, firm or company.
-
To employ legal counsel, the choice of counsel and fixing of
fees to be subject to the approval of the Secretary of the
Interior, or his authorized representative, so long as such
approval is required by Federal law.
- To
veto the sale, disposition, lease or encumbrance of tribal
lands, or interest in tribal lands, tribal funds or other
tribal assets which may be authorized by any agency or
employee of the Federal Government.
- To
regulate and provide for permits, leases, and assignments of
land for business, homesite, and other purposes, and
generally to provide for proper use and development of all
tribal lands, natural resources, and other tribal property.
-
To regulate its own procedures, to appoint subordinate
committees, commissions, boards, tribal officials and
employees not otherwise provided for in this constitution,
to prescribe their salaries, tenure and duties. Appointees
may or may not be tribal members.
- The
authority to establish and prescribe rules for governing
tribal courts and tribal law enforcement agencies, and to
provide for the maintenance of law and order on Kaw tribal
lands.
- To protect and preserve the
wildlife and natural resources of the Tribe; to regulate
hunting, fishing, and trapping on tribal lands.
-
To levy and collect taxes; to regulate the conduct of
business within the territory of the Kaw Nation; to charter
public or private business, financial, and similar entities;
and otherwise provide for the development of the economy
within the territory of the Kaw Nation.
The foregoing enumeration of powers shall not be construed to limit the powers of the Kaw Nation and in no way shall be deemed an abdication or forfeiture of the Nation’s inherent attributes of sovereignty and such powers may be exercised through the enactment of ordinances by the Executive Council.
- The following enumerated actions of the
Executive Council shall be of no effect until the General
Council has approved them.
- The sale, mortgage (except purchase money
mortgages on the land being purchased) or other alienation
of tribally owned lands. Leases entered into pursuant to
Federal statute, revocable permits, and assignments under
tribal law where legal or trust title of the Kaw Nation
remains unaffected, are not alienations for purposes of this
subsection.
- The establishment, enactment,
amendment, or repeal of ordinances respecting tribal
elections or recall or removal of tribal officers.
-
The exercise of the tribal power of eminent domain.
-
The appointment of judicial officers, except for judicial
officers of an interKaw Nation Judicial Branch authorized by
Article V, Section 7(b) of this constitution.
-
Pay increases of constitutional tribal officers if such
raises are to be paid from tribal funds.
Except as hereafter provided, Executive Council actions submitted under this
section must be approved by a majority vote of the General Council at a properly
called meeting before they are of any force or effect. If the General Council
fails to act on actions under this section at a properly called meeting for any
reason, its approval shall be deemed to have been given if, and only if, a
statement or notice that such action would be considered was included in the
public notice of the meeting.
