Hanna Valento, who has been a Staff Attorney with the Legislative Branch since August of 2019, has been named the Mille Lacs Band’s first-ever Revisor of Statutes.
The new Revisor’s Office, which was a high priority for Secretary-Treasurer Sheldon Boyd when he ran in 2018, was made possible by the passage of Title 25 on December 2, 2020.
“I’m very excited about the position,“ said Hanna. “I have already reviewed two titles and have a lot of work ahead of me.“
Part of Hanna’s job will be to create Certificates of Correctness for each title to ensure that what is reflected to Band members and employees is accurate law. “The hardest part is finding the documents that are cited,“ said Hanna. “Older documents weren’t historically saved on a computer, so we have to go through them all, scan them in, and save them. I recently looked through a title and the cited ordinances, and I came across additional language that shouldn’t have been added. This is problematic, but we are currently in the process of fixing it by adding the additional language to the statute through a signed ordinance.“
Hanna has also been collecting resolutions, ordinances, Legislative Orders, Executive Orders, Opinions of the Solicitor, Commissioner’s Orders, Chief Justice Orders, and more to add to the Tribal Register, a new webpage that will be added to the Band’s website. “This will be huge for Band members and employees, as this will create a ’one stop shop’ for some of the most important documents produced in the Band’s government,“ Hanna said.
Hanna will also work directly with the District Representatives to draft legislation, which will help Band Assembly members to pass legislation at a consistent pace.