Colorado’s current legislative cycle could prove a boon for the Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute Indian tribes.
State Sen. Kerry Donovan, a Democrat from Vail, has sponsored two bills moving through the Colorado Legislature and one bill that has already been signed into law this year that aim to increase access to state funds and strengthen cooperation between the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian tribes and the state of Colorado.
“I hope it’s a first step in a real culture shift and a historic change of how the state interacts with and partners with our sovereign tribes going forward,” Donovan said.
Senate Bill 22-105, the only one so far to have been signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis, requires the speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives and the president of the state Senate to extend an annual invitation to the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian tribes to address a joint session of the Colorado Legislature.
Donovan, who represents Colorado Senate District 5, which includes Chaffee, Delta, Eagle, Gunnison, Hinsdale, Lake and Pitkin counties, said she believes the legislation is the first of its kind in the country. The symbolism was also important for Donovan.
Only the governor and the chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court are afforded the opportunity to address a joint session of the Colorado Legislature. With the passing of SB 22-105, representatives of the Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian tribes will now have the chance to use the rare platform.
Though it has a ceremonial component, the bill will also have a substantive impact, Donovan said.
“It allows Colorado legislators to build a relationship with Colorado’s Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute Indian tribes,” she said in an interview this week with The Durango Herald. “I think too often we either don’t think about the tribes at all or give them a role on the sidelines. As our partners and as sovereign nations, I think they deserve a much more elevated status in Colorado and a much stronger voice.”
Senate Bill 22-148, the second bill Donovan has introduced this legislative session, would appropriate $5 million from the state’s behavioral and mental health cash fund to create a grant for the tribes to build or renovate a behavioral health facility and provide culturally responsive behavioral and mental health services.
The funding will consist of a one-time grant that both tribes can apply for. As sovereign nations, the tribes will have wide latitude to use the money to address behavioral health in their communities.
“We don’t want to be too prescriptive, particularly when it comes to the tribes,” Donovan said. “The bill just says, ‘Here’s $5 million. You do what you want to do with it.’ It can build a new building, it can rehab a current building, it can do whatever they want.”
The bill has so far passed the Senate and been introduced in the House, where it has been assigned to the Public and Behavioral Health and Human Services Committee.
The third bill Donovan has been pursuing for the Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute Indian tribes this spring would broaden tribal access to state grants.
Legislators have often neglected to identify tribes as eligible recipients of state grant programs, creating a barrier for tribes to access state money. Senate Bill 22-104 will require that the tribes be eligible for new and amended state grant programs if possible.
Donovan’s eight years as a state senator drove her to introduce the legislation.
“It stemmed from my experience of growing as a lawmaker and realizing that when I was first writing bills, the tribes really never crossed my mind as an eligible entity for state grant programs,” she said. “... We should always be thinking about our partners when we write bills if it’s appropriate and they want to be included in them.”
Donovan views SB 22-104 as a way to address the historic lack of recognition of the Ute Mountain Ute and the Southern Ute Indian tribes from state government.
“The bill, much like that tribal address, will provide the foundation for improving relations, but it’s going to be up to future lawmakers to really follow through on that commitment,” she said.
SB 22-104 has been referred by the House Committee on State, Civic, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, which is one step before the floor.
While Donovan introduced the legislation, state Rep. Barbara McLachlan, a Democrat from Durango who represents Southwest Colorado’s House District 59, has also co-sponsored the three bills.
The Ute Mountain Ute and Southern Ute Indian tribes did not return requests for comment. However, in a March 2022 news release from Donovan, the chairmen for both tribes expressed support for the legislation.
“While the Southern Ute Indian Tribe is an independent sovereign nation within the exterior borders of the state of Colorado, our members are also citizens of Colorado and within our Reservation boundaries live thousands of Colorado residents who look both to the Tribe and the state for governmental services,” said Southern Ute Indian Tribe Chairman Melvin J. Baker in the release. “This important legislation supports the government-to-government relationship between the Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the state of Colorado and provides the Tribes an opportunity to directly communicate with legislators on the concerns, needs and accomplishments of the Tribes and their members.”
Manuel Heart, chairman of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, also said Donovan’s bills could improve the relationships between the tribes and the state.
“The Ute Mountain Ute Tribe has worked very hard over many years to develop and maintain a strong working relationship with the state of Colorado,” Heart said in the news release. “We believe that the government-to-government relationship is a very healthy one which benefits both sovereigns.”
Both tribes offered their input and helped to construct the bills, Donovan said.
For Donovan, who is term limited, the bills are a final push to address early oversights in her Senate career and to enact lasting legislation that can help the tribes.
“I was looking at what are some voices that haven’t been heard?” she said. “... I started to think about how the tribes are such an important part of our state, but we didn’t always give them the respect that I think they deserved as a sovereign nation.”
It is this recognition and support for Colorado’s Indigenous communities that Donovan hopes will encourage other state representatives.
“I think we could be much better partners with our tribes,” she said. “The tribes should be part of our solution making sure that we’re taking care of all of Colorado’s citizens.”
ahannon@durangoherald.com
