OKMULGEE – The Muscogee Creek National Council voted to adopt an amended substitute NCA 25-125 into law after rigorous debate and four separate votes on the legislation during the Regular Session at the Mound Building on Saturday, Dec. 20. Representative Nelson Harjo Sr. sponsored the bill, which was adopted 13-1. The lone dissent vote was made by Representative Dode Barnett. The law will go into effect in 2028.
The $459,154 appropriation will increase each council representative’s salary from $47,000 to $75,000 per year. The speaker’s salary will increase from $70,000 to $85,000 per year. The second speaker’s salary will increase from $47,000 to $80,000 per year. An added amendment states that mileage will not be reimbursed for council members who travel to regular sessions, emergency sessions, special sessions or committee meetings.
According to the bill, the salary increases are necessary due to cost of living increases and increased responsibilities consistent with the growth of the Nation. The last time the National Council representatives and speakers received a salary increase was 2014. Since then, the amount of enrolled citizens has increased by 30,000.
When the floor was open to discussion from council members, Rep. Harjo opened with his reasoning for bringing the bill to a vote. He argued that the raises will attract younger citizens to run for council positions. He claimed the current $40,000 salary for each council representative is not viable to live off of, or to support a family.
“This is to attract a broader group of people that are younger to come in,” Rep. Harjo said. “Our people are educated now, younger people are educated. We’d like to invite them to the table.”
A Rigorous Debate
Representative Sandra Golden gave remarks that concurred with Rep. Harjo. She expressed initially being conflicted on the bill because she did not believe the raise was necessary for herself and colleagues in the current session. However, Rep. Golden argued that when she thought about future sessions of the National Council, a raise would be necessary to encourage a more diverse age range of candidates to run for office.
“We want to attract young people forward thinking to move our Nation forward,” Rep. Golden said. “If we pay them what we pay our personnel, we have to do that (increase salaries), look forward.”
Rep. Golden stated that MCN personnel receive a four percent pay increase every year, however the council has not received a raise in over a decade. She argued that the council’s salary has not kept pace with the rise in cost of living expenses. She also argued that the amount of citizens the council represents has increased as well, now sitting at over 100,000.
Representative Leonard Gouge argued the bill needed more work on it before it was ready for a vote. Particularly, if the pay increases are intended to provide a full-time salary, Rep. Gouge questioned the definition of what “full time” means. Likewise, he noted that the Tribe needs to consider salary raises for all personnel, not just elected officials.
“What does ‘full time’ mean? Do they quit their jobs now, or quit a second job and do this full time? Are they here 80 hours every two weeks? We have employees now who clock in and clock out. We don’t do that. We have the issue now where $47,000 is good money to other employees of the tribe. We need to consider everyone,” Gouge said.
Representative Mark Randolph said that he is not opposed to raises because they offer incentives for individuals to perform well in their positions. However, Rep. Randolph agreed with Rep. Gouge that the legislation to increase council member salaries needed more work. Rep. Randolph said he was in favor of salary increases on an individual basis, not as a collective body.
“A pay raise is based on a person’s job performance,” Rep. Randolph said. “If you look at us collectively, what have we done to deserve a $28,000 pay jump?”
Representative Robyn Whitecloud argued that the base salary for each council member does not include the fringe benefits that come with each position. She claimed that currently each representative makes closer to $69,000 with fringe benefits, the speaker makes closer to $100,000. Rep. Whitecloud concurred with Rep. Randolph that more input is needed from citizens first before a salary increase legislation is voted on.
“I believe this is being rushed and I do believe we need more input from citizens. I think an increase is warranted, but not at this time.” Rep. Whitecloud said.
Representative Anna Marshall said that it is hard to put a price on the work that is performed by council representatives that work off hours and weekends. She remarked that she performs social work for her representatives, like connecting citizens with Tribal services.
“Each one of us knows there’s a value based on our time that we spend with our citizens and the value of the time it takes to be a council representative,” Rep. Marshall said. “All of us come from different districts. Each district has its own unique qualities and personalities. Every council representative is going to be doing something different.”
MCN Controller Patricia Killian was questioned whether the salary increases would take away from existing programs or future programs. She said that it will increase the National Council’s budget, and it would be a possibility that it could affect other programs. However, she said that she would not absolutely know if other programs were affected until it is time to draft a new budget for the next fiscal year.
Rep. Barnett noted that not all council members attend every meeting and training they are expected to attend. She argued it would be a more transparent process for the people if the raises would go into effect on October 1 during the year so that the raises pass through the Tribe’s annual budget hearings. She argued the bill needs stronger accountability protocols for council representatives who do not carry out all of their responsibilities.
“There needs to be specific consequences if we don’t show up to these expected events,” Rep. Barnett said. “The bill could be better if you’re going to give yourself a raise.”
Votes on the Legislation
A total of four votes were made on the legislation. Rep. Whitecloud first made a motion to postpone the bill indefinitely. That vote was split 7-7 and was broken by Speaker Randall Hicks, who voted against postponement.
Representative Charles McHenry made a motion to vote on the substitute. The vote was split 7-7, broken by Speaker Hicks, who voted in favor of the substitute. Representative Dode Barnett changed her vote in favor of the substitute. She explained that the reason she changed her vote was to call for a motion to vote to reconsider the legislation. A motion to reconsider the vote can only be made by a member of the majority vote. The vote to reconsider passed in favor 9-5.
Rep. Randolph made a motion to amend the substitute bill to take effect in 2028- the initial date the salary increases would start was Jan.1, 2026. The amendment passed in favor of the amendment to the substitute bill 13-1. Rep. Marshall was the lone dissent.
The final vote for the substitute bill with the amendment was adopted 13-1. A specific date for when the raises will take effect has not been announced yet.
