Comanche Nation Signs Fee Land to Trust Land
On Monday, December 16, at Comanche Nation Gaming Commission, Comanche Nation and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) held a meeting to sign deeds to change fee land into trust land.
Comanche Nation Chairman Forrest Tahdooahnippah, Comanche Nation Tribal Administrator Lisa Dawsey, Comanche Business Committee (CBC) Member Robert Tippeconnie, Comanche Business Committee Member Alice Kassanavoid and Reality Department were in attendance.
Two deeds were signed by Tahdooahnippah.
“This means that two parcels of land, one here at the tax commission and another one on the north side of the tribal complex where we have our youth and women's shelter, our food distribution, capital improvement and transportation buildings, those two parcels of land are going to go into trust this afternoon when those deeds are recorded at the Bureau of Indian Affairs,” he said.
Tahdooahnippah said it’s significant for the land to go from fee to trust.
“We're the, what they call the fee owners of the land right now, like we already have buildings on it, but to have it go from fee to trust is very significant from a legal perspective. Because it means now it is outside of the jurisdiction of the state of Oklahoma and within the jurisdiction of the Comanche Nation,” he said. “So, in terms of sovereignty, our sovereignty is so tied to our trust lands. And you know, we can make money, and we can buy land, but really, until it gets into trust, it's not truly what you would call Indian land, meaning that it's land under the jurisdiction of the Comanche Nation. So…in terms of sovereignty, this is a huge day. This is an incredible achievement.”
There will be some changes people can see to the land, including economic development.
“With the land being under our jurisdiction instead of state jurisdiction, it has a few consequences,” Tahdooahnippah said. “One of the most obvious is just taxes. It won't be subject to state taxes, but at a deeper level, because it's subject to our laws, we can have more economic development opportunities. So, like for the tax commission, for example, we are looking at maybe enacting some codes that would incentivize insurance companies or those types of private industries to incorporate with the Comanche Nation…then we would see some additional revenue from that. And really, I mean, the sky's the limit. There's all kinds of different ways that we could try to use our jurisdiction to our advantage, but…it's just bolstering our own jurisdiction.”
He said it was an incredible achievement for the Nation, and there’s credit to go around.
“It's awesome to be the chairman when it happens, to kind of get to be the spokesperson, but the credit really goes to the people in prior administrations,” Tahdooahnippah said. “The one parcel of land where the tax commission is, they applied; the first application was back in 2006, so the credit really goes to the CBC members and the chairman at that time. And then the food distribution and other kind of government buildings on the north side there, that is an application that was filed in 2019, so the credit goes to the chairman and CBC members at that time. A lot of credit goes to the realty department, Mr. Randy Baker, Mr. Stephen Lee, you know, they're the ones kind of shepherding these applications through. I mentioned in my speech today, Mr. Tippeconnie gets a lot of credit because he was actually on the CBC back in 2006, and that was before we had a realty department, so he actually took the lead on the applications as an elected official.”
He said more land will be added to trust in the future, including the land where law enforcement, Prevention and Recovery, New Pathways and EPA are situated.
