Vermont panel recommends recognizing Abenaki tribe

MONTPELIER, Vt. – A Senate committee unanimously recommended Thursday that the state set up a process under which the Abenaki Indian tribe could be recognized.

The vote by the Senate Economic Development Committee came despite warnings by the attorney general’s office and the governor that it could lead to federal recognition of the tribe.

Sen. Vincent Illuzzi, the committee’s chairman, said the bill was limited in scope. A Commission on Indian Affairs set up by an executive order of Gov. Madeleine Kunin would be enacted into law – meaning a governor could not cancel it without the Legislature’s approval.

The bill would allow the commission to grant official recognition to the Abenaki for two purposes: making the tribe eligible for federal education, cultural and housing grants; and allowing it to sell crafts with a label saying they were Indian-made, Illuzzi said.

Attorney General William Sorrell and Gov. James Douglas both worry that federal recognition could lead to land claims by members of the tribe as well as even an application to run a casino or other gambling operation.

“This is a decision that ought to be made at the federal level,” Douglas said at his weekly news conference Thursday.

But a growing number of senators believe that it is time to confer state recognition and they argue that the federal government will make its decision regardless of what the state does.

The bill says that it “shall not be interpreted to provide any native American or Abenaki person with any special rights or privileges that the state does not confer or grant to other state residents.”

The full Senate is not expected to debate the bill before next week.