Morgan Taylor/Reporter
OKMULGEE, Oklahoma – Muscogee (Creek) citizens 12 years and older are eligible to receive a payment of $500, if vaccinated before Sept. 30. Legislation, NCA 21-097, concerning an incentive for vaccinated Muscogee citizens was passed during the Aug. 28 Regular Session of the National Council.
The funds of $40,000,000.00 will be expended from the American Rescue Plan Act funds received from the U.S. Department of Treasury. The fund amount accounts for approximately 80,000 citizens to receive the funds as stated in the legislation.
A lower amount of $300 will be available to those who are fully vaccinated on or before Dec. 31.
The legislation was introduced during a Health, Education and Welfare meeting and was sponsored by Okmulgee District Representative William Lowe.
Lowe claimed he worked on this legislation since Aug. 16 directly after the Emergency Session that introduced the Tribal Vaccine Incentive.
During a discussion regarding the employee incentive, Lowe introduced the idea of a citizen vaccine incentive.
“Right before I voted I did state that I wanted to make sure our citizens were going to get this very same incentive or similar incentive as our employees,” Lowe said. “To pretty much keep stride with the employee incentive, I felt the need for our citizens to have the same incentive for the vaccines.”
NCA 21-097 passed in committee with a 4-0 vote and was adopted in Full Council with a 14-0 vote.
Legislation states that employees of the tribe, contract workers of the tribe, College of the Muscogee Nation, Gaming and Health employees are not eligible to receive this incentive.
The administration has not yet released a statement regarding the application process.
