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, in 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 purposes 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 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.
