Civic Academy
Title 2 & Title 26
≈ 16 min read · or listen, or skim the bold lines
A · Primary source A volunteer has read the underlying statute, resolution, or court document. Citations are quoted from it. How we verify →
How the Navajo Nation government is organized — the central government and the chapters
When people on the Navajo Nation talk about "the government," they're usually talking about two different things at once — and two different parts of the law that run them. One is the central government in Window Rock. The other is local government: the chapter house down the road. Two laws in the Navajo Nation Code draw the line between them, and almost every governance question in the 2026 race traces back to one or the other.
In one line: Title 2 = the government in Window Rock. Title 26 = the chapter houses. Central vs. local.
Title 2 — the central government
Title 2 of the Navajo Nation Code structures the Nation's central government: the three branches most people picture when they think of Window Rock. The legislative branch is the 24-member Navajo Nation Council. The executive branch is the President and Vice President. The judicial branch is the courts. Title 2 also lays out the checks each branch holds over the others — the President's veto, the Council's power over the budget, the courts' authority to interpret the law.
It carries a complicated history that came up in interview after interview. The three-branch structure was created by a 1989 reform, passed quickly during a leadership crisis, and meant to be temporary — a placeholder until the people designed a permanent government of their own. That permanent design was never finished. That's why candidates so often call today's government "the temporary government," and why the recurring fights between the President and the Council get traced back to a structure that was never completed.
Learn more · For the three branches, oversight, and accountability in depth, see Government 101 →Title 26 — local government (the chapters)
Title 26 is the Local Governance Act, usually just called the LGA. It governs the other level entirely: the 110 chapter houses, the grassroots unit of Navajo government where most people actually interact with the Nation — homesite leases, grazing permits, local projects, community meetings.
The heart of the LGA is certification. A chapter that adopts a required set of financial and management controls — known as the "Five Management System" — and has them reviewed by the Auditor General and certified by the Council's Resources & Development Committee earns expanded authority over its own affairs. A certified chapter can issue its own home- and business-site leases, enter contracts, and appropriate its own funds, instead of routing those decisions up to Window Rock.
Why this matters · Certification is why candidates were asked whether they understand Title 26. A certified chapter governs more of its own land and money — so chapter capacity is local self-government in practice.How the two fit together — and where they rub
Think of it as two levels of the same system. Title 2 is the Nation governing itself as a whole; Title 26 is each community governing itself locally. In principle they're complementary. In practice, candidates described friction: decisions that have to travel between a chapter and the central government can stall in what one candidate called a "jurisdictional maze," where no one office is clearly responsible for moving things through. Another noted that Title 2 and Title 26 together can make it slow to get anything done — a structural drag, not anyone's personal failing.
Why it's in the 2026 conversation
Both laws are live issues. On Title 2, candidates split over whether the President–Council conflict is structural (the 1989 design was never finished, so fix the design) or behavioral (the structure is sound, so fix the working relationship). On Title 26, several said the LGA itself needs rewriting "with better wording," and chapter certification came up repeatedly as a test of whether a candidate actually understands how local government works. The Office of Navajo Government Development has even put forward the first Navajo-written reform proposal, opening the deeper question underneath all of it: that the government belongs to the people, and any reform needs their consent.
Related · Education is governed by its own part of the Code — Title 10. See Education 101 → and where candidates stand on education →The short version
Title 2 is the central, three-branch government in Window Rock — created in 1989, widely called temporary and unfinished. Title 26 is local government — the Local Governance Act, under which the 110 chapters can become certified to run more of their own land, leases, and money. Hold those two apart, and most of what the candidates argue about starts to make sense.
Terms on this page are defined in the glossary.
Goes with: Government 101 · Chapter Government & the Local Governance Act (Title 26) 101
Quick check
Check your understanding — private, no grades
Which law structures the central government in Window Rock?
Right — Title 2 is the three-branch central government law.
And the chapters — local government — run under…
Yes — Title 26 (the LGA) is the chapters' law.
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What Title 2 actually says about contracts
2 N.N.C. §§ 223–225 · enacted by CD-68-89 (Dec. 15, 1989)
- § 223(E) — “All contracts shall be awarded only after public advertisement and bidding,” unless authorized as small, emergency or sole-source purchases under the Navajo Nation Procurement Code.
- § 223(F) — change orders, modifications or amendments to a contract using Navajo Nation funds shall not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the accepted bid.
- § 224 — every executed contract must be filed with Central Records and the Office of Contracts and Grants.
- § 225 — the public gets access to those contracts.
The same section also directs contracts to comply with the Navajo Business Opportunity Act, 5 N.N.C. § 201 et seq. Bidding and Navajo preference are named together, in one place, in Title 2.
Quick check — contracts under Title 2
Check your understanding — private, no grades
Under 2 N.N.C. § 223(E), a Navajo Nation contract may be awarded…
Right. Exceptions are narrow: small purchases, emergencies, sole-source under the Procurement Act. A · read in the Code
Under § 223(F), a change order may not exceed…
Twenty percent. Exceed it, and the change must go back through advertisement and bidding.
Under § 225, who may see a contract the Navajo Nation has signed?
The public. It has said so since 1989. How to ask →
The bidding requirement lives in…
Title 2. Following the NBOA alone would not have required competitive bidding — the two laws sit side by side in § 223.
Why this law exists
In 1987 a middleman bought a ranch for $26.25 million and sold it to the Navajo Nation five minutes later for $33.4 million. Two years of crisis followed. On July 20, 1989, Arnold Begay and Jimmy Dixon were killed outside the finance building in Window Rock.
Five months later the Council wrote 2 N.N.C. §§ 223–225: advertise the contract, take bids, cap change orders at twenty percent, file it, and let the people see it. In the same resolution they ordered that the law be codified immediately.
So who enforces the rest of it?
The Office of Ethics & Rules — 2 N.N.C. §§ 3744–3784
A · section headings read in the Navajo Nation Code Annotated
The former Director of the office named the range on the record, and corrected the office itself for naming the wrong Titles. He is right. This is what it covers:
| Section | What it prohibits |
|---|---|
| § 3745 | General prohibitions; conflicts of interest |
| § 3746 | Use of confidential information for private gain |
| § 3748 | Abstention from official action |
| § 3749 | Navajo Nation government contracts; restrictions and bid requirements |
| § 3752 | Unauthorized compensation or benefit for official acts |
| § 3753 | Unauthorized personal use of property or funds of the Navajo Nation |
| § 3754 · § 3755 | Staff misuse · anti-nepotism |
| § 3756 | Gifts or loans to influence official acts |
| § 3767 | Retaliation prohibited — against any party or witness to a complaint |
| § 3769 | Statute of limitations |
| § 3777 | Special prosecutors |
| § 3780 | Administrative sanctions — including removal from office |
And here is the sentence that should stop you
§ 3749 prohibits a public official or employee — or a member of their immediate family — from having an interest in the profits of any Navajo Nation contract unless, among four other conditions:
“The contract is let by notice and competitive bid or procurement procedures as required under all applicable laws… the entire transaction is conducted at arm’s length… and the public official or employee has taken no part in the determination of the specifications, deliberations or decision.”
Read that against 1987. A ranch bought through a middleman. An arm’s-length transaction it was not. The attorney general’s warning ignored. The history →
The office that enforces § 3749 is the Office of Ethics & Rules. Its former Director says it currently has no barred attorney as director, no presenting officer, and that no new cases have been filed. D · his account, unverified
But nobody is named to enforce § 223(E) itself
§ 3749 reaches an official who benefits from a contract. § 223(E) says every contract must be advertised and bid — whether or not any official benefits.
Correction — there is an enforcer, and that is worse
An earlier version of this page said no office is named to enforce § 223(E). That was wrong. The Procurement Act names one:
12 N.N.C. § 360: “Any actual or prospective bidder, offeror or contractor who is aggrieved in connection with the solicitation or award of a contract may protest to the Director, Division of Finance, Purchasing Department…” — in writing, within fourteen (14) days.
§ 361: that Director, after consulting the Attorney General, may debar or suspend a contractor.
So enforcement exists. It is complaint-driven. It depends on a bidder noticing, and protesting, within fourteen days.
A Navajo-owned business that was never told a contract existed cannot protest that it was never invited to bid.
A rule with no enforcer is a rule that depends on someone deciding to look.
The public-access law we finally have a citation for
A · read in the Navajo Nation Code Annotated
12 N.N.C. § 309 — Public access to procurement information:
“Procurement information shall be available to the public to the extent provided by the Navajo Nation Privacy and Access to Information Act, 2 N.N.C. § 81 et seq.”
This site has said for months that the Nation may already have a records law as strong as FOIA, and that nobody had looked. Now we have its citation: 2 N.N.C. § 81.
It has not yet been read. When a volunteer reads it, this page changes. What we don’t know →
And the Auditor General’s powers are larger than anyone says
12 N.N.C. § 5 — Disclosure of records: officials and employees of “all Navajo Nation programs, divisions, entities, chapters, and enterprises shall make their books and records available” to the Auditor General on request, “within a reasonable period of time.”
§ 2(A)(1) lets the office audit “chapters, related Navajo Nation entities and contractors to the Navajo Nation.”
§ 2(A)(4) directs it to assist the Office of the Prosecutor and the Ethics & Rules Office in investigations.
§ 9 — when a program fails to implement a corrective action plan, the Auditor General “shall immediately report that failure” and the Controller shall withhold ten percent of monies payable.
§ 3(B) — the Auditor General is appointed by the Speaker, confirmed by the Council, and “shall serve at the pleasure of the Navajo Nation Council.”
The office that audits the Council serves at the pleasure of the Council — and cannot hire enough investigators to do it.
The office that assists Ethics & Rules: The Auditor General →
Correction — July 9, 2026. We were wrong about the NBOA.
A · read in the Navajo Nation Code Annotated
This site said, repeatedly, that the Navajo Business Opportunity Act governs who gets a contract but does not require competitive bidding — and that candidates who blamed the NBOA for the housing loss had named the wrong law.
That was wrong. They named the right law.
5 N.N.C. § 205 — Navajo Business Opportunity Procedures in Bidding and Procurement
(B) Advertisement and notice. After preparing a bid or request for proposal solicitation, the procuring entity shall:
1. Provide notice or invitation to bid in a newspaper having general circulation within the Navajo Nation; or
2. Provide notice or invitation to bid by mail or telefax to certified businesses listed on the Navajo Nation Business Source List compiled and maintained by the Business Regulatory Department; and
3. The notice shall include the specifications, the deadline dates for submission of bids, bid openings, award, and the necessary qualifications.
§ 205(C) requires the maximum feasible price to be determined before bids are solicited.
And it names an enforcer
§ 209(A): “All proposed professional services, procurement and construction contracts shall be initially reviewed by the Business Regulatory Department for compliance with the Act.”
§ 209(B): the Department shall investigate any alleged violation on receipt of a written complaint, prepare a written summary of facts and witness statements, seek voluntary compliance, and if that fails, render a decision. § 209(C) provides for interim project suspension, temporary restraining orders and permanent injunctions.
§ 210 — sanctions: civil fines up to $500 per day, per violation; suspension or termination of a party’s authorization to do business on the Navajo Nation; a bar on future business, for a period or permanently.
What this changes
- Curtis Yanito was right. He said the housing loss would have been prevented if the NBOA had been followed. § 205 requires advertisement of the bid.
- Jerilynn Yazzie was right to name the NBOA and the NPEA together.
- § 204 certifies a Priority #1 business as one hundred percent Navajo-owned. § 205(B)(2) says notice of an invitation to bid shall be provided to certified businesses on the Navajo Nation Business Source List.
- One candidate — a Priority #1 certified, registered, 100% Navajo-owned business — told Cal Nez that only one chapter had ever invited her to bid.
That is no longer an anecdote. It is a question about a statutory duty.
2 N.N.C. § 223(E) and 5 N.N.C. § 205 are not rival laws. They are the same requirement, written twice. 12 N.N.C. § 331 confirms it: competitive sealed bidding “shall be conducted in a manner consistent with the procedures set forth in the Navajo Nation Business Opportunity Act, 5 N.N.C. § 205.”
And five Titles are not in the published Code at all
The volume lists them. It does not print them.
A · verified page by page in the Navajo Nation Code Annotated
The published Code Annotated opens with a table of contents naming Titles 1 through 26.
Twenty of them are printed. Five are not.
| Title | What it governs | In the volume? |
|---|---|---|
| Title 3 | Agriculture and Livestock — grazing permits | No |
| Title 8 | Decedents’ Estates — wills, inheritance, probate | No |
| Title 11 | Elections | No |
| Title 16 | Land | No |
| Title 26 | Local Governance Act — all 110 chapters | No |
| Titles 1, 2, 4, 5, 5A, 6, 7, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 17–24 | Government, commerce, courts, education, fiscal, health, labor, law and order, taxation… | Yes |
What that means, in plain words
A Diné person holding the published Code cannot read the law that governs their grazing permit.
They cannot read the law that governs their land.
They cannot read the law that governs their chapter.
They cannot read the law that governs who inherits when a relative dies.
And twelve days before a primary, they cannot read the election law.
Why this explains what the interviews showed
Andrew Curley calls land reform the number one issue on the Navajo Nation. He researched it at the Diné Policy Institute. The law he is talking about is not in the published Code.
Lewnell Harrison says certified chapters no longer go through the Auditor General. Nobody can check him. Title 26 is not in the published Code.
Of the 42 candidates on the record (as of July 2026), one — LaVonne Tsosie — cited sections of Navajo law on tape: Title II §102 and the §164 review process.
Three others cited Section 17 — a federal provision. Title II is one of the Titles that IS published. The pattern holds: people cited the law they could read.