Navajo Tribal Council
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Navajo Tribal Council is the legislative branch of the Navajo Nation government. It is comprised of 88 elected members from the 110 chapters (local communities) that make up the Navajo Nation. It is presided over by a Speaker who is elected by the council. The council meets at least four times a year in the capital of the Navajo Nation, Window Rock, AZ. The council delegates represent their respective chapters and when council is in session; issues pertaining to their chapters are discussed and new legislation is passed. The delegates also are part of at least one of 12 tribal committees.
[edit] History
The Navajo Tribal Council was created in 1936 by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior in order to certify mineral leases on the Navajo reservation. During its first meeting, the council acquiesced to U.S. pressure to grant the oil companies use of the land. In return, the Navajo Nation was promised more land that could be used for subsistence farming and sheep grazing. This first council was headed by Chee Dodge. After refusing to adopt Commissioner of Indian Affairs John Collier's Indian Reorganization Act in 1934, the Navajo Nation Council reformed in 1937. Until 1984, the Council and Navajo Nation had been supported by funding from the wealth of natural resources on the reservation but in 1984 the council established the Permanent Trust Fund in which 12% of all revenue each year were deposited. It wasn't until 2004 that funds from the trust fund could be accessed.
