Violence Against Women Act brings parity to tribes with settlement acts in Maine

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Tribes in Maine will finally be able to exercise jurisdiction over non-Indians once a bill to renew the Violence Against Women Act becomes law.

The Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Pleasant Point and the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Indian Township were excluded from the 2013 version of VAWA due to restrictive language in their land claim settlement act. H.R.1585, the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act, rectifies the situation by explicitly making the provisions of the law applicable to Indian Country in Maine.

“We’re seeing months to years they have to wait in district court, and these cases are very sensitive because it gets tricky enforcing abuse orders with all the different jurisdictions,” Maulian Dana, who serves as Ambassador for the Penobscot Nation, told The Portland Press Herald. “Some walk away from the process. If we were able to handle these cases in a more efficient manner in the tribal court, we could make a really big difference.”

By a vote of 263-158, the House on Thursday passed H.R.1585 to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. The act strengthens tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians and addresses issues facing urban Indians, as well as the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women. #MMIW
— indianz.com (@indianz) April 4, 2019

The Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act of 1980 authorizes the state to exercise criminal and civil jurisdiction in Indian Country. Additionally, under Section 1725, any federal Indian law that "affects or preempts the civil, criminal, or regulatory jurisdiction of the state of Maine" shall not apply in Maine unless Congress specifically mentions Maine.

The "Safety for Indian Women" title of H.R.1585 amends the 2013 version VAWA by confirming that "any participating tribes in the State of Maine" can exercise jurisdiction over non-Indians so long as their justice systems comply with the requirements of the law.

Without such language, Maine has refused to recognize the validity of VAWA in the state. Additionally, the state claims that the Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 has no force there.

The determinations about VAWA and TLOA were made by Janet Mills, a Democrat, when she served as the state's attorney general. She is now governor of Maine.

The House passed the bill by a vote of 263 to 158 on Thursday. The two members of Maine's delegation, both Democrats, voted in favor.

The next stop is the Republican-controlled Senate, where prospects are uncertain.

“Victims in Indian Country cannot wait. We will not accept a bill that leaves Native victims behind," Juana Majel-Dixon, the Secretary of the National Congress of American Indians, said in a statement on Thursday. "They are counting on us.”