Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska                                Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson (left), president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, and Ken Truitt on Thursday.

Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson (left), president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska, Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, and Ken Truitt on Thursday.

Bill would require state to officially recognize Alaska’s 229 tribes

Tribes are already recognized federally.

A bill that would require the state of Alaska to formally recognize federally recognized tribes in the state is moving through the Legislature with broad bipartisan support.

House Bill 221 is sponsored by Rep. Chuck Kopp, R-Anchorage, and now has 17 Democratic, Republican and Independent co-sponsors. It would enshrine in state law what has been the de facto status of the 229 tribes in the state for years.

“We work with the State of Alaska on things like (Village Public Safety Officer) program and Head Start,” said Richard Chalyee Éesh Peterson, president of the Central Council of Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska. Though the state does not officially recognize tribal sovereignty, the state does at times do things which in effect acknowledge a tribes sovereign status.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

“We have to sign waivers of sovereignty when (work with the state),” Peterson said. “It’s always been a little awkward when we sign those.”

Peterson said the bill was largely symbolic and that it wouldn’t change much of how tribal governments already operate.

But he didn’t diminish the importance of that symbolism.

“Just a simple act of recognition can heal decades of hurt,” Peterson said. “One of the things that will happen for the larger community of Alaska, this will normalize the thought of tribes as sovereigns.”

But even as the state has tacitly recognized tribal sovereignty in the past, Alaska has been wary of actually acknowledging the presences of those entities within the state, according to Kopp.

“I think it comes down to a fear based in a sense of if we recognize another sovereign entity that the federal government recognizes, are we losing some power, some authority as a state,” Kopp said.

Beyond symbolism, there are financial benefits to the state as well. Federally recognized tribes receive funding from the federal government for services they provide to their citizens, relieving the state of some financial burden.

Under current laws, jurisdictional conflicts complicate tribes’ abilities to receive federal funds, said Ken Truitt, a staff member in Kopp’s office. Recognizing a tribe’s sovereignty would clarify those roles and allow both the state and tribes to work with the federal government for additional funding for things like public safety programs, Truitt said.

“The lack of recognition just creates a roadblock,” Truitt said. “Getting more resources isn’t going to magically happen because of this bill, but it’s our hope this helps to lift that roadblock.”

Peterson said he recognized there was a financial component to tribal recognition, and said the state’s budgetary crisis probably motivated the state to look to tribes for additional funding. But he doesn’t believe that was the only consideration.

“I think (Kopp) comes from a very sincere place,” Peterson said. “We want to work together for a stronger Alaska. Healthy tribes make healthy communities.”

• Contact reporter Peter Segall at 523-2228 or psegall@juneauempire.com.

More in News

Soldotna City Council member Jordan Chilson and Soldotna Mayor Paul Whitney grill hot dogs at the Progress Days Block Party at Parker Park in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Progress Days block party keeps celebration going

Vendors, food trucks, carnival games and contests entertained hundreds

Children take candy from a resident of Heritage Place during the 68th Annual Soldotna Progress Days Parade in Soldotna, Alaska, on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
‘It feels so hometown’

68th Annual Soldotna Progress Days parade brings festivity to city streets

Kachemak Bay is seen from the Homer Spit in March 2019. (Homer News file photo)
Toxin associated with amnesic shellfish poisoning not detected in Kachemak Bay mussels

The test result does not indicate whether the toxin is present in other species in the food web.

Superintendent Clayton Holland speaks during a meeting of the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, July 7, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Federal education funding to be released after monthlong delay

The missing funds could have led to further cuts to programming and staff on top of deep cuts made by the KPBSD Board of Education this year.

An angler holds up a dolly varden for a photograph on Wednesday, July 16. (Photo courtesy of Koby Etzwiler)
Anchor River opens up to Dollies, non-King salmon fishing

Steelhead and rainbow trout are still off limits and should not be removed from the water.

A photo provided by NTSB shows a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, that crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska, Sept. 12, 2023. The plane was weighed down by too much moose meat and faced drag from a set of antlers mounted on its right wing strut, federal investigators said on Tuesday.
Crash that killed husband of former congresswoman was overloaded with moose meat and antlers, NTSB says

The plane, a single-engine Piper PA-18-150 Super Cub, crashed shortly after takeoff in a mountainous area of southwestern Alaska on Sept. 12, 2023.

Armor rock from Sand Point is offloaded from a barge in the Kenai River in Kenai, Alaska, part of ongoing construction efforts for the Kenai River Bluff Stabilization Project on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Work continues on Kenai Bluff stabilization project

The wall has already taken shape over a broad swath of the affected area.

An aerial photo over Grewingk Glacier and Glacier Spit from May 2021 shows a mesodinium rubrum bloom to the left as contrasted with the normal ocean water of Kachemak Bay near Homer. (Photo courtesy of Stephanie Greer/Beryl Air)
KBNERR warns of potential harmful algal bloom in Kachemak Bay

Pseudo-nitzchia has been detected at bloom levels in Kachemak Bay since July 4.

Fresh-picked lettuces are for sale at the final Homer Farmers Market of the year on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
USDA ends regional food program, pulls $6M from Alaska businesses

On July 15, the Alaska Food Policy Council was notified that the USDA had terminated the Regional Food Business Center Program “effective immediately.”

Most Read

You're browsing in private mode.
Please sign in or subscribe to continue reading articles in this mode.

Peninsula Clarion relies on subscription revenue to provide local content for our readers.

Subscribe

Already a subscriber? Please sign in