STATE
CAPITOL, PHOENIX –
The House of Representatives unanimously approved HB 2312, a bill Rep. Albert
Hale, D-St. Michaels (District 7), sponsored to expand Native American
representation on the Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care. The bill
would require the governor to appoint a member from each of Arizona’s 22 Indian
Nations to the Council.
Hale said
that he and Sen. Carlyle Begay, R-Ganado (District 7), who introduced a similar
bill in the Arizona Senate, worked closely with the Arizona Advisory Council on
Indian Health Care and the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona on this legislation.
“I would
like to thank Sen. Begay, the Advisory Council and the ITCA for their work on
this important legislation,” Hale said.
The bill
also clarifies the Council’s purpose, which is to provide Native American
governments and health care organizations a role in shaping the health care
laws and policies that affect the communities they serve. The Council’s
website, with information about upcoming meetings, can be found here.
“The
Arizona Advisory Council on Indian Health Care should be better connected to
the communities it serves, and bringing more voices to the table will help to
achieve that,” Rep. Hale said. “I appreciate the support my colleagues have
shown for this issue, and I will continue to work with them to make this change
happen.”
For more
information on HB 2312, or to read it in full, click here.
******************************************************************************
Rep. Hale is an
enrolled member of the Navajo Nation. He was born in Ganado and raised in
Klagetoh, Arizona. He is Ashiihi (Salt), born for Todichiini (Bitter Water).
His maternal grandparents are Hanaghani (Walk About clan). His paternal
grandparents are Kiyanii (Tall House clan). He is a 1969 graduate of Fort
Wingate High School, a Bureau of Indian Affairs boarding school located east of
Gallup, New Mexico. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State
University, Tempe, Arizona (1973), and a Juris Doctor degree from the
University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque, New Mexico (1977), and an honorary Juris Doctor degree
from Phoenix School of Law (2012). He is the former President of the
Navajo Nation.
-30-