A bill to reinstate New York State recognition of the Montaukett Indian Nation, introduced by Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni, has passed the Assembly in a unanimous vote. It has now been delivered to the State Senate, where it needs to pass before it reaches the desk of Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has twice vetoed similar bills, most recently in December.
The Montauketts lost state recognition in 1910 as the result of a court case, Pharoah v. Benson. The judge declared the nation “extinct.”
“This Legislature finds that in Pharaoh v. Benson, the court improperly ignored U.S. Supreme Court precedent and lacked jurisdiction to judge the status of the Montaukett Indian Nation,” reads the text of the bill now in the State Senate. “It is the purpose of this legislation to reverse this improper and illegal result by the reinstatement of the acknowledgement and recognition by the State of New York to the Montaukett Indian Nation.”
“I was excited when I got the call that it passed,” Sandi Brewster-walker, executive director of the Montaukett Nation, said in a phone call on Monday. She was hopeful that this time, even though the legislation is the same as previously vetoed bills, it would not be vetoed. “I’m always hopeful because I’m a true believer and keep hope alive.”
Since December, she said, she had been in touch with the governor’s office, and had met with its representatives and then-Assemblyman Fred W. Thiele Jr. in January. His successor, Mr. Schiavoni, said he would continue with the effort. “It’s not going away,” he said by text.
“I pledge to continue to prioritize the reinstatement of state recognition of the Montaukett Indian Nation, which was wrongfully stripped of its rights to exist more than a century ago,” he said in a release. “While decades have gone by, the Montauketts have still operated as a nation of people dedicated to continuing their traditions and culture.”
Ms. Brewster-walker said she hoped the bill would pass the State Senate ahead of budget season. “If we wait until June, it goes in the pile and then we don’t get answers until December.”
“We usually don’t do local bills until the end of session,” State Senator Anthony Palumbo, who is sponsoring the bill in that chamber, said via text, “so the timing will probably be June. We are trying to work through the governor’s office to change it to a point that she will accept it.”
Gordon Tepper, a spokesman for Governor Hochul, would not comment on her main concerns regarding the recognition. In December, Ms. Brewster-walker said the governor was concerned that the 1,200-member nation could sue to gain land.
“We haven’t made any land claims. We definitely don’t want private land,” Ms. Brewster-walker said this week. “When we become a federally recognized tribe, they work it out with the state and put land into a reserve.” She pointed out that there are many tribes without land.
Mr. Tepper offered by text that “Governor Hochul will review the legislation.”
Even if the Montauketts were to receive state recognition, as Ms. Brewster-walker hinted, there is still work to be done to have federal recognition reinstated.
“We were federally recognized until the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. There has been no court case that caused us to lose our federal recognition. Once we get state recognition, we’ll put our energy into being reinstated by the federal government.”
