The 735-member tribe, which is headquartered in the Hughes County city of Wetumka, was recognized federally under the Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act in 1941. He said the federal decision should take precedence when lawmakers meet to consider the compacts.

“I don’t pity the joint commission at all because they’re going to have to make a decision based upon two different decisions itself, one saying that you can’t and one saying you can,” Cook said. The state attorney general, though, advised that the committee doesn’t have the authority to grant agreements the state Supreme Court already voided.ĭavid Cook, the Kialegee Tribal Town administrator, said lawmakers are in a “very tough position.” On one hand, federal authorities, which govern tribes, have given the go-ahead, but the state’s Supreme Court has not. State law requires a compact receive approval from the joint committee before it can be submitted to the federal Department of the Interior.

The committee is designed to serve as a legislative check on executive power by reviewing proposed intergovernmental compacts, including those negotiated by the Governor’s Office. The new agreements came as Stitt feuded with leaders of other federally recognized tribes over the exclusivity fee rates that the state receives in exchange for allowing them the sole right to operate casinos. Members plan to hold a rare meeting to consider four intergovernmental agreements, including the two gaming compacts that Gov. On Wednesday, the Legislature’s 10-member Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations might wade into the fray. Department of Interior.Ĭritics say the Oklahoma Supreme Court invalidated the same compacts and contend that lawmakers cannot legally approve them. They note that both compact agreements have already received the required approval from the U.S. Supporters contend that allowing the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and the Kialegee Tribal Town to offer gaming in Oklahoma and Logan counties would be an economic boon for their members and Oklahomans.

OKLAHOMA CITY - Lawmakers might have to decide whether two small Oklahoma tribes should have the right to build casinos outside their traditional boundaries.

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