[Senate Report 116-130]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
Calendar No. 244
116th Congress } { Report
SENATE
1st Session } { 116-130
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TO REPEAL THE ACT ENTITLED ``AN ACT TO CONFER JURISDICTION ON THE STATE
OF NORTH DAKOTA OVER OFFENSES COMMITTED BY OR AGAINST INDIANS ON THE
DEVILS LAKE INDIAN RESERVATION''
_______
October 16, 2019.--Ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Hoeven, from the Committee on Indian Affairs,
submitted the following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 2159]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Indian Affairs, to which was referred the
bill (S. 2159) to repeal the Act entitled ``An Act to confer
jurisdiction on the State of North Dakota over offenses
committed by or against Indians on the Devils Lake Indian
Reservation'', having considered the same, reports favorably
thereon without amendment and recommends the bill do pass.
PURPOSE
The purpose of S. 2159 is to repeal a federal law that
grants criminal jurisdiction to the State of North Dakota over
offenses committed by or against Indians on the Devils Lake
Reservation, currently known as the Spirit Lake Reservation.\1\
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\1\In May 1995, by general referendum, the Tribe made a
constitutional revision to change its name from the ``Devils Lake
Sioux'' to the ``Spirit Lake Tribe.'' The name refers to the location
of the reservation, which was first established as the Devils Lake
settlement and later changed to reservation, as named in the bill. The
tribal members have always called themselves Mni Wakan Oyate (Spirit
Lake People).
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SUMMARY OF THE BILL
The bill, S. 2159, repeals the Act entitled ``An Act to
confer jurisdiction on the State of North Dakota over offenses
committed by or against Indians on the Devils Lake Indian
Reservation'' in its entirety.
In 1944, the Devils Lake Sioux Tribal Council passed a
resolution to continue state jurisdiction over misdemeanor
crimes occurring within their reservation boundaries. This was
due to a lack of Tribal judicial resources, such as no law
enforcement officers, or a formally established Tribal court.
In 1946, Congress delegated arrest and prosecution authority to
the State of North Dakota for all crimes committed on the
Devils Lake Reservation.\2\ The Spirit Lake Tribe has since
established a Tribal law enforcement agency, a comprehensive
criminal code, and a Tribal court system which adjudicates both
criminal and civil matters on the reservation.
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\2\Act of May 31, 1946, Pub. L. No. 79-394, 60 Stat. 229 (1946).
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According to testimony received by the Committee in the
115th Congress, the State of North Dakota rarely exercises its
delegated authority to prosecute crimes committed by or against
Indians on the reservation. In the 116th Congress, the Governor
of North Dakota, as well as Spirit Lake Tribe of North Dakota,
have submitted letters of support for S. 2159.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY
On July 18, 2019, Senator Hoeven introduced A bill to
repeal the Act entitled ``An Act to confer jurisdiction on the
State of North Dakota over offenses committed by or against
Indians on the Devils Lake Indian Reservation.'' Senator Cramer
joined as an original cosponsor. The bill was referred to the
Indian Affairs Committee. On July 24, 2019, S. 2159 was
reported favorably without amendment.
On July 18, 2019, a companion bill, H.R. 3831, was
introduced by Representative Kelly Armstrong in the House of
Representatives. On August 2, 2019, the House companion bill
was referred to the House Natural Resources Subcommittee for
Indigenous Peoples of the United States. No further action has
been taken.
In the 115th Congress, on April 26, 2018, Senator Heidi
Heitkamp introduced legislation identical to S. 2159. A
legislative hearing was held on November 14, 2018. Mr. Darryl
LaCounte, Acting Director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S.
Department of the Interior, and the Honorable Douglas Yankton,
Sr., Vice Chairman of the Spirit Lake Tribe, both testified in
support of the bill. On November 28, 2018, the Committee met to
consider the bill, which was reported favorably without
amendment to the Senate. No further action was taken.
SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS
Section 1. Repeal
This section repeals, in its entirety, the federal
statute (60 Stat. 229) entitled ``An Act to confer jurisdiction
on the State of North Dakota over offenses committed by or
against Indians on the Devils Lake Indian Reservation'' which
was signed into law on May 31, 1946.
COST AND BUDGETARY CONSIDERATIONS
The following cost estimate, as provided by the
Congressional Budget Office, dated August 2, 2019, was prepared
for S. 2159:
U.S. Congress,
Congressional Budget Office,
Washington, DC, August 2, 2019.
Hon. John Hoeven,
Chairman, Committee on Indian Affairs,
U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: The Congressional Budget Office has
prepared the enclosed cost estimate for S. 2159, a bill to
repeal the Act entitled ``An Act to confer jurisdiction on the
State of North Dakota over offenses committed by or against
Indians on the Devils Lake Indian Reservation.''
If you wish further details on this estimate, we will be
pleased to provide them. The CBO staff contact is Jon Sperl.
Sincerely,
Phillip L. Swagel,
Director.
Enclosure.
S. 2159 would repeal a law enacted in 1946 that gave the
state of North Dakota jurisdiction over crimes committed by or
against Indians on the Devils Lake Indian Reservation. Under
current law, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) provides
assistance to the tribe for law enforcement and detention
services. Because enacting S. 2159 would not affect the amount
of assistance the tribe is receiving from BIA, CBO estimates
that implementing S. 2159 would have no cost to the federal
government.
The bill also would prohibit the state of North Dakota from
exercising jurisdiction over crimes committed by or against
Indians on the Devil's Lake Indian Reservation. That
prohibition would be a mandate as defined in the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act (UMRA). CBO estimates that the cost of the
mandate, in the form of forgone monetary penalties, would be
minimal and would not exceed the threshold established in UMRA
($82 million in 2019, adjusted annually for inflation).
S. 2159 contains no private-sector mandates as defined in
UMRA.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Jon Sperl (for
federal costs) and Rachel Austin (for mandates). The estimate
was reviewed by H. Samuel Papenfuss, Deputy Assistant Director
for Budget Analysis.
REGULATORY AND PAPERWORK IMPACT STATEMENT
Paragraph 11(b) of rule XXVI of the Standing Rules of the
Senate requires each report accompanying a bill to evaluate the
regulatory and paperwork impact that would be incurred in
carrying out the bill. The Committee believes that S. 2159 will
have minimal impact on regulatory or paperwork requirements.
EXECUTIVE COMMUNICATIONS
Except as otherwise noted, the Committee has received no
communications from the Executive Branch regarding S. 2159.
CHANGES IN EXISTING LAW
On February 6, 2019, the Committee unanimously approved a
motion to waive subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the Standing
Rules of the Senate. In the opinion of the Committee, it is
necessary to dispense with subsection 12 of rule XXVI of the
Standing Rules of the Senate to expedite the business of the
Senate.