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Tuesday, July 29, 2003

The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs will hold a hearing tomorrow on homeland security legislation.

Tribes were left out of the Homeland Security Act of 2002. To obtain funding to prevent against terrorist attacks, they must go through state governments.

Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), vice-chairman of the Senate panel, has introduced legislation to amend the act by recognizing tribal governments. The bill would also recognize tribal authority over non-Indians, correcting several Supreme Court decisions that have limited criminal and civil jurisdiction over non-tribal members.

C. Wayne Howle, senior deputy attorney general for the state of Nevada, addressed the legislation at the annual meeting of Western attorneys general. ""Tribes are proposing to change not just federal Indian law," he said, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. "The changes that tribes are proposing would explicitly alter states' jurisdiction and sovereignty."

Howle said the legislation will have a major impact on non-Indians, saying that tribal governments and tribal court systems are not like those of the United States.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) will hold a discussion today on the bill. NCAI President Tex Hall and Ron Allen, chairman of the Jamestown S'Klallam Tribe of Washington, will talk at 12 noon in the SCIA committee room, SR-485 (Russell Senate Office Building).

The hearing will take place at 2 p.m. A live video feed can be found at http://indian.senate.gov. An audio only feed can be found at http://www.capitolhearings.org.

Get the Story:
Tribes making play for more jurisdiction (The Salt Lake Tribune 7/29)
Homeland Secuirty Act mischaracterizes Indian governments (The Native American Times 7/28)

Get the Bill:
Tribal Government Amendments to the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (S.578)

Related Stories:
Tribal jurisdiction faces test before Supreme Court (07/03)
Court rulings on tribal jurisdiction are in conflict (04/16)
Inouye ties sovereignty to homeland security (02/25)
Tribes seek to overturn Supreme Court (2/27)
Native man denied by Supreme Court (01/22)
Court upholds dual tribal, federal prosecutions (7/2)

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