(Host) A new commission has begun working on how the state should recognize specific Native American tribes in Vermont.
A 2006 bill failed to give official state recognition to individual tribes. Senator Vince Illuzzi says a new law that passed this year is different.
(Illuzzi) We’ve now rewritten the bill so that the Native American tribes that we know in Vermont and have worked with and rely upon and trust will have an opportunity to receive an up or down recommendation from the newly-appointed, newly-constituted commission, and then make a recommendation to the general assembly.
(Host) Illuzzi says official recognition will make tribes eligible for federal education and housing grants and allows them to sell their arts and crafts as "Native American-made" under federal law.