The new law is planned to enter into force in July. The previous attempt to reform the Sámi district law failed during the last election period.
To the highest appeals to the administrative court (KHO) about the electoral roll of the Sámi regional elections and the 2023 election results may further delay the consideration of the new Sámi regional law in the parliament.
The government's proposal for a new law was submitted to the parliament in December, and the laws are intended to enter into force in July. The Constitutional Law Committee, acting as a reporting committee, held a discussion on the matter on Wednesday.
The committee decided to hold a public hearing on the matter, to which representatives of the Ministry of Justice, the Sámi assemblies, the Kolttie village meeting, the cooperation organization of the original Sámi people of Finland and the Inarinsámelaiset ry are invited.
In addition, the committee decided on the experts to be consulted and discussed the timetable for handling the case.
Heikki Vestman (chef)
The Constitutional Committee chairman Heikki Vestman (kok) does not want to take a position yet on the more detailed schedule of the hearing or case processing.
“We currently have urgent matters pending. For example, NATO's SOFA hearings start this week and will go according to schedule [saamelaiskäräjälain] before. Hopefully, later in the spring session, the KHO would have resolved these complaints so that we would then be wiser,” says Vestman to Helsingin Sanomat.
KHO tells HS that decisions are aimed at “in the first half of the year”. The court is not able to give a more precise estimate of the schedule.
Why are KHO's decisions significant for the Constitutional Law Committee?
“When starting to change the law, it is justified to have a clear understanding of what the current legal situation is. Now there are uncertainties. Let's hope that we will be wiser in the matter after other rushes”, says Vestman.
Is it possible that if the KHO's decisions persist, the processing of the Sámi district law will also be extended beyond the original schedule?
“We need to come back to the schedule issue in more detail after the committee's other hurries.”
Sámi District Law have been trying to reform for years. The previous attempt failed in the constitutional committee during the last election period.
About a year ago, the committee considered that it did not have the conditions to complete the law within the deadline before the parliamentary recess and the spring parliamentary elections. Bills expire at the end of the election period.
Petteri Orpon In the (kok) government's program, it was written in the summer that the Sámi Assembly Act would be reformed during this term of office”[oikeusministeriön] under
secretary Pekka Timonen on the basis of the committee's work in cooperation with the Sámi Assemblies”.
The same report was at the base of the failed motion. According to the Ministry of Justice and Sanna Marini (sd) that Orpo's government's proposals are basically the same and have been negotiated together with the Sámi Assembly.
Sámi assemblies are the representative self-governing body of the Sámi people.
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