County lawmaker Rep. Henry Joy named to Tribal-State Work Group

AUGUSTA – State Rep. Henry Joy, R-Crystal, has been appointed to the Tribal-State Work Group by Maine House Speaker Glenn Cummings, D-Portland, it was announced Friday. The 17-member work group is charged with examining potential changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act and other issues affecting tribal-state relations.

“I am pleased to have been chosen to serve on such an important working group,” Joy said in a news release. “Our state tribes are a significant part of what makes Maine such a special place to call home.”

The Tribal-State Work Group was created by executive order by Gov. John Baldacci in 2006 to study the differences in the interpretation and understanding of the Settlement Act. The group has been asked to continue their work and develop recommendations for how the Legislature might reconcile the issues in a manner that benefits both the tribes and the state.

The Maine Settlement Acts date back to 1979 and include the Maine Implementing Act, which implemented in part a land settlement agreement among the state of Maine and the Penobscot Indian Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe and the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians. They were ratified by Congress in 1980. Subsequently, the Maine Legislature enacted, and Congress ratified, the Micmac Settlement Act regarding the Aroostook Band of Micmacs.

The Tribal-State Work Group will comprise members of the Legislature, leadership representatives from the Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Maliseet and Micmac tribes, as well as a designee from the governor’s office and the chair of the Maine Indian Tribal State Commission. The group will have until Dec. 5 to submit a report that includes its findings and recommendations for legislation to present to the Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on the Judiciary during the second regular session.

Rep. Joy, who is serving his seventh term in the House, is a member of the Legislature’s State and Local Government Committee. He represents House District 9, which includes Bancroft, Crystal, Dyer Brook, Haynesville, Hersey, Island Falls, Linneus, Ludlow, Merrill, Mount Chase, New Limerick, Oakfield, Patten, Sherman, Smyrna, Stacyville, Weston and Plantations of Glenwood, Macwahoc, Moro and Reed, plus the Unorganized Territory of North Penobscot and South Aroostook.