Abstract
The Humboldt County Association of Governments (HCAOG) is a Joint Powers Agency, serving as the Regional Transportation Planning Agency as well as the Service Authority for freeway emergencies. One of the primary purposes of the HCAOG is to make recommendations on how to allocate limited transportation funding throughout the county. The Hoopa Valley Tribe has made multiple attempts since the mid-1980s to join the HCAOG as a voting member of the board. Now other Tribes located within Humboldt County want representation as well. Fairness is an issue for the Tribes as they believe continued denial has prevented them from participating fully and equally in the distribution of state and federal transportation dollars within Humboldt County. Fairness is an issue for the HCAOG, as Board members believe tribal governments do not play by the same set of rules to which they are subjected. There are no clear ground rules or regulations to govern interactions between these entities, a situation that causes difficulties. Unanswered questions and uncertainties have created a reluctance by the HCAOG Board members to admit a tribe or tribal representative. The specific focus of this research is on tribal governments and the Humboldt County Association of Governments and how a Joint Powers Agency can include multi-tribal membership. Primary data were obtained through e-mails, presentations, and correspondence from HCAOG staff and tribal representatives. Secondary data include evaluations of reports, studies, news articles, web pages, publications, meeting minutes, and legislative documents. The purpose of this project was to increase understanding and promote collaboration in designing a mechanism for tribal representation as a voting member of the HCAOG. Specifically, it was for investigating how a Joint Powers Agreement can include one tribal seat that could represent multiple tribal governments. The results are presented in two parts. The first part evaluated the policy formation process using John Kingdon’s (2003) Multiple Streams Model. The Multiple Streams Model indicates three independent streams: problems, policies, and politics. Policy changes occur when the streams align. The evaluation addressed the three streams, participants, role of local media, and policy entrepreneurs. The theory was used to evaluate whether the streams joined and conditions were favorable for adding one tribal representative seat to represent all the tribal governments on the Humboldt County Association of Governments. The second part of this paper assisted in clarifying the issues around creating a request to be submitted by the tribal governments for acceptance in order to have tribal representation as a voting member of the HCAOG Board.