Beneficiaries receive more time to claim funds

Designated beneficiaries will now have an extra six months to claim funds after Tribal Council approved amendments to the Member Benefit Fund Ordinance on Wednesday, Nov. 28.

Previously, any benefits not claimed by a designated beneficiary within one year of a Tribal member’s death were returned to the fund for distribution.

With the amendments, beneficiaries will now have 18 months to claim the benefit before the money is returned to the Member Benefit Fund for Tribal-wide distribution.

In addition, the Tribe will take on the added responsibility of trying to notify the beneficiary by publishing a notice in Smoke Signals for six months after the first 12 months pass and the funds remain unclaimed.

In other action, Tribal Council also clarified the Enrollment Ordinance to delineate what the word “entitled” means when referring to people who were not listed on the August 1954 Termination Roll, but should have been.

“Following many meetings, Tribal Council believes the appropriate criteria to establish an individual was entitled to be on the membership roll on Aug. 13, 1954, is that the individual was living on that date and born to a member of the Tribe,” states an executive summary regarding the clarification. “This action does not alter the Enrollment Ordinance requirements, but rather provides an official interpretation.”

In other action, Tribal Council:

• Approved an emergency amendment to the Guardianship and Conservatorship Ordinance that allows the Tribe’s Children and Family Services program to file for conservatorship in Tribal Court for children in state court dependency care and include the appropriate state department as an “interested person”;

• Approved the annual self-governance funding agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior;

• And approved the agenda for the Sunday, Dec. 2, General Council meeting that will be held at 10 a.m. in the Tribal Community Center. Spirit Mountain Community Fund will make the program report and the Editorial Board also will make a presentation.

Tribal Lands Department Manager Jan Looking Wolf Reibach provided the cultural drumming and singing to open the meeting.

The entire meeting can be viewed by visiting the Tribal website at www.grandronde.org and clicking on the News tab and then Video.