John Christian Hopkins: Navajo Nation moves on its own time

“Some of you are asking if [the summer session] will end today,” Navajo Nation Council Speaker Johnny Naize said on Wednesday, July 17. “Well, it’s up to you.”

But the odds didn’t look good.

Opening day of the summer session was tied up mostly with reports from Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly and Vice President Rex Lee Jim, Speaker Naize, the Navajo Nation attorney general, a financial report by the controller and various reports from Indian Health Services, the chief justice of the Navajo Supreme Court and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Drought management rules need to be updated, Shelly said in his State of the Nation address on the first day of the summer session.