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-Gando (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.
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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.
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