County to reconsider prosecution of tribal members' felony cases

By MEGAN STRICKLAND

Daily Inter Lake

The Lake County Commissioners are considering backing out of a decades-old agreement that has allowed the state to prosecute Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes members’ felony crimes through Lake County District Court.

Lake County Commissioner Gale Decker said in an interview that the commissioners will likely put forth a resolution later this summer that will propose removing the county from an agreement that allows state prosecutors to handle felony cases for tribal members. The County Commissioner’s weekly schedule was posted Monday and included that the commissioners intended to visit the tribal complex on Wednesday before they considered rescinding the agreement later that afternoon.

“The issue we are having is that right now, most, around 60 percent of our felonies are the tribal folks,” Decker said. “All those costs fall upon the county and our best guess is that it is between $2 million and $2.5 million per year. We just can’t afford it anymore ... We pay for mental health medications, we pay for transporting them to Warm Springs. There’s a lot of costs associated with it.”

Decker said he believes that both the Tribes and the county have valued the agreement, instead of having federal authorities involved in felony cases on the reservation, which happens in other tribal jurisdictions.

“We like the agreement,” Decker said. “I think the commissioners would like to stay. We think it is good for all of our people, but if you can’t afford it you can’t afford it.”

Decker said that he anticipates a resolution will be put forth late this summer and that there will be multiple opportunities for public comment before the issue is put to a vote.

Decker noted that in recent years the Tribes have successfully managed to reclaim and buy back much of the reservation lands that were opened to non-tribal settlement in 1910. However, once the land is put in trust for the Tribes, it is taken off the tax rolls and is non-taxable, resulting in a loss of revenue to the county.

“That’s one thing people don’t understand,” Decker said. “We’re kind of slowly bleeding to death as far as revenue because we cannot take the revenue we are losing and put it on the backs of the other taxpayers.”

The Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes are the only tribes in Montana that opted into an agreement with the state government under Public Law 280, which was passed by Congress in 1953. The law allowed local state governments and tribes to agree to prosecute tribal members in state courts. The Tribes approved the plan to prosecute in state court in 1961 and the state legislature approved the agreement in 1963.

In 1993 the Tribes decided to prosecute tribal misdemeanors through tribal court, but the felony cases have remained under the authority of state court.

Robert McDonald, communications director for the Tribes, confirmed that the commissioners intended to meet with the tribal government on Wednesday.

“We would be surprised if a unilateral decision has been made to change the administration of justice on the Flathead Reservation prior to consultation with the Tribes or any opportunity for public input, particularly because Lake County has in the past vehemently opposed federal and tribal criminal jurisdiction,” McDonald said in a statement. “However, the Tribal Council is always interested in exploring ways to improve the quality of life on the reservation and we would be happy to engage in discussions with Lake County on this or any other matter.”