WHAT IS A VETO?
By SYNGEN KANASSATEGA, LEGAL AND POLICY COUNCEL
After we adopted our division of powers form of government, we gave the lawmaking process to two branches of government: The legislative and executive branches. Lawmaking is the most extraordinary power a sovereign nation can exercise, because it affects people’s everyday lives, even in ways that we don’t notice. That’s why the lawmaking power is divided between two branches.
A veto is a fundamental mechanism of the lawmaking process and a form of checks and balances. Once the Band Assembly passes a bill, the Chief Executive must either sign the bill into law or veto it. Specifically, a veto is the Chief Executive’s power to prohibit a bill from becoming a law. There are a few specific reasons from our history of adopting division of powers that explain why our form of government gave the Chief Executive this power.
The first reason is because of Title 1 of our Band statutes. Title 1 lists several fundamental rights that Band members are entitled to, and specifically prohibits the Band Assembly from passing laws that infringe on some of those fundamental rights. These fundamental rights are called civil rights. The veto power makes sure a Band Assembly does not infringe on Band members rights. The veto power also makes sure that bills comply with division of powers and do not unbalance the division of the Band’s governmental powers. This is not to say that the current Band Assembly or past Band Assemblies have tried to do any of these things. However, the veto power makes sure it never happens.
Second, the veto power protects against the passage of unpopular laws, laws that are drafted quickly, or ill-considered laws.
Third, as the leader elected by all Band members — including all Urban and At Large Band members — the Chief Executive represents a Band-wide perspective to the legislative process. Whereas the District Representatives represent the constituents of their districts, the veto power allows the Chief Executive to consider all Band members.
The veto power under Band law makes sure that a majority of the Band Assembly — which means two out of the three District Representatives — and the Chief Executive agree on the law. If the Chief Executive vetoes a bill, Band law requires the Band Assembly and the Chief Executive to work together to try to come to an agreement. If they can’t agree, Band law requires them to leave the bill alone for six months before coming back to it.
This aspect of our veto mechanism comes directly from our culture. For example, a man and a woman who got into a fight were not supposed to fall asleep angry at other. They were supposed to work it out or they will wake up angry the next day. The six-month period mentioned above is supposed to let the Band Assembly and Chief Executive “cool off” and come back to the bill with a fresh perspective.
Lastly, sometimes, the Chief Executive vetoes a bill because it contains a spelling or grammatical error that the Band Assembly may have missed. This doesn’t happen often at all, but it has happened before.
