JOHNSON, CROW SIGN HISTORIC PACT

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Chairman Carl Venne of the Crow Nation, Secretary of State Brad Johnson, and the Montana Congressional Delegation celebrated an historic banking agreement today. The goal is to create more jobs for Native American people. Under the new compact, secured transactions will be filed for first time in history by residents of the Crow reservation.

"Today we honor and enhance the government to government relationship between the Crow people and the State of Montana," Johnson said. "The historic trust relationship between us will grow stronger as we work together on secured transactions."

The agreement, called the Uniform Commercial Code Filing System Compact, makes it possible for banks to make business development loans in reservation communities. When a bank makes a loan, it usually requires collateral property, which is secured by a lien. However, because of the sovereign nature of Native American reservations, liens have not been enforceable there. Transactions could not be secured by a lien, meaning loans were much harder to get, resulting in a severe lack of capital and higher interest rates. That created a situation where economic development was almost impossible, and unemployment skyrocketed. Some estimates of unemployment on the Crow Reservation have placed it as high as 50 percent.

Liens are filed under the Uniform Commercial Code or UCC. In Montana, those filings are made in the Secretary of State's office. Montana Secretary of State Brad Johnson reached an agreemwnt with Chairman Carle Venne of the Crow Tribe to address the situation. Under the UCC Filing System Compact, liens filed in Secretary Johnson's office will be.enforceable on the Crow Reservation.

The result will be a flow of capital to the reservation, a new surge of economic development, and most important, more jobs for the residents of Tribal Communities.

"Creating more jobs is true service to the Crow people," Johnson said "Chairman Venne and his colleagues have done a noble thing for their Nation that will last for generations to come."

###