Nick Rahall: “Public Law 280 has been a mixed bag for both the tribes and the States. The States that are subject to Public Law 280…”

“Public Law 280 has been a mixed bag for both the tribes and the States. The States that are subject to Public Law 280 possess authority and responsibility to investigate and prosecute crimes committed on reservations, but, because of subsequent court decisions that sharply limited the extent of Public Law 280's grant of civil jurisdiction to affect the States, these States have almost no ability to raise revenue on Public Law 280 lands. And to the extent that tribal governments retained concurrent jurisdiction over crimes committed by Indians on these lands, such authority is currently limited to no more than 1 year for any one offense. As such, residents of reservations subject to Public Law 280 have to rely principally on sometimes underfunded State and local law enforcement authorities to prosecute reservation crimes. The phrase in section 201 that jurisdiction 'shall be concurrent among the Federal Government, State government and, where applicable, tribal governments' is intended to clarify that the various State governments that are currently subject to Public Law 280 will maintain such criminal authority and responsibility.”