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Posted: April 27, 2020

Tribal Governments to Receive Immediate Relief Funds
ANC Funds Withheld

Today, the D.C. District Court released its much anticipated opinion in the case Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation et al v. Mnuchin (Civil Action No. 2020-1002.). The opinion determined that Alaska Native Corporations are not tribal governments for the purpose of the Coronavirus Relief Fund found in Title V of the CARES Act. The opinion allows for immediate funding of Tribal governments, however, any money Secretary Mnuchin, at his discretion, may reserve for ANCs will not be released until a final ruling is adjudicated.
This opinion is a win for federally recognized tribal governments and clarifies ANCs are not tribal governments. The case was heard by the D.C. District Court last Friday. The court determined the argument to include ANCs in the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) as flawed. For purposes of the preliminary injunction, the court is persuaded that, presently, no ANC satisfies the definition of “Tribal government” under the CARES Act and therefore no ANC is eligible for any share of the $8 billion allocated by Congress for Tribal governments.

The D.C. District Court made it clear if the Secretary were to move forward with awarding the funds then those potentially awarded to ANCs would become essentially unrecoverable and cause immediate harm. In the interim, the Secretary may choose to disburse a portion to federally recognized tribes and, if decided, reserve a lesser share to ANCs that would not be disbursed until final judgment is passed. If the case is resolved in favor of Chehalis then those amounts, if any, reserved for ANCs would be disbursed only to the federally recognized tribal governments. 

NAFOA will closely watch the developments of the case and continue to provide updates. 
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