United States Department of the Interior 

BUREAL' OF 1:•,l>L\:\ AFFAIRS 

MUSKOGEE AREA OFFICE 

101 N. 5TH STREET 

MUSKOGEE, OK 74401-6206 ,~~OW~@ I~ RF.PLY REFER TC: 

Tribal Operations 

Area Special Officer SEPl 9 1995

OfFICE OF THE 

GOVERNOR 

SEP 1 5 1995 

FILED

DEC 51996 

OKLAHOMA SECRETARY

OF STATE 

Ms. Duchess Bartmess 

General Counsel 

Office of the Governor 

State Capitol Building 

Oklahoma City, OK 73105 

Dear Ms. Bartmess: 

Enclosed please find a Cross-Deputization Agreement between the 

Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of 

Oklahoma, and Hughes County, Oklahoma. We have recently been in 

the process of getting similar two-party agreements approved and in 

compliance with the Oklahoma Interlocal Cooperation Act where they 

have involved local entities and the BIA. As the enclosed 

agreement also involves the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma, we 

seek to obtain approval pursuant to the authority of the Oklahoma 

State Tribal Relations Act, 74 o.s. § 1221, et. seq. 

This agreement has been reviewed for legal sufficiency and form, 

and we have secured all approval signatures up to this point. We 

request now that the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations and 

the Governor or his named designee please review and sign this 

original agreement plus the three (3) copies. We are furnishing a 

copy for your records, but request that this original agreement in 

its entirety, and the signed copies, be returned to this office. 

After visiting with one of the Senate Staff Attorneys, this office 

was informed that the agreements are approved by the Governor prior 

to being submitted to the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations 

for approval. After this original agreement and the copies have 

been approved by the Joint Committee, please return them and this 

office will submit them to our Agency Superintendent who will take 

care of filing them with the appropriate County Clerk's Office 

before filing them with the Secretary of State so that they may be 

in full compliance and force with the Oklahoma Interlocal 

Cooperation Act. We hope this arrangement will work in getting 

this agreement in operation as expeditiously as possible. 
For your further action, we are enclosing a copy of a letter 

addressed to you and dated July 25, 1995, in which we requested the 

status on four agreements that we still show as pending at the 

State Capitol Building. To date, we have received no response from 

your office. Please provide us with your answer so that we may 

proceed with completion of these agreements. 

Thank you for your cooperation in these two matters. 

ly, 

j

Enclosures 
• 

Tribal Operations 

JUL 2 5 1995 

Ms. Duche1s Bartmess 

General counsel 

Office of tha Governor 

State Capitol Building 

Oklahoma City, OK 73105 

Dear Ms. Bartmess: 

We received your June 29, 1995 letter acknowledging receipt of the 

latest Cross-Deputization Agreement we forwarded to your office for 

action. We note that you forwarded the original agreement among 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, and 

the City of McCurtain, Oklahoma, to Kirke Kickingbird's Office for 

appropriate action. Mr. Kickingbird, as we understand, is the 

Governor's Special Counsel on Indian Affairs. 

Previously such agreements have been sent to your office after they 

have been approved by our Solicitor's Office, the Attorney 

General's Office, the local entity, the Area Director, and the 

Chief of the Choctaw Nation. They are then forwarded to your 

office so that you can obtain the necessary approvals of the 

Governor and the Chairman of the Joint committee on State-Tribal 

Relations so as to get the agreements into compliance with the 

Oklahoma State Tribal Relations Act. After these signatures have 

been secured and you have returned the agreements to us, our office 

plans to submit them to our Agency Superintendent who will take 

care of filing them with the appropriate county Clerk's Office. 

Afterward, filing with the Secretary of State should complete the 

process so that they are in full compliance and force with the 

Oklahoma Interlocal Cooperation Act. 

At this time, we need to check on the status of the following 

agreements that have been forwarded to your office for action: 

CITY SENT 

City of Colbert, OK, BIA, and Choctaw Nation 09-29-94 

City of Antlers, OK, BIA, and Choctaw Nation 12-16-94 

City of Hugo, OK, BIA, and Choctaw Nation 03-22-95 

City of McCurtain, OK, BIA, and Choctaw 

Nation · 

06-20-95 

The agreement for the City of Colbert, Oklahoma, was sent in the 

same package with agreements from Pushmataha County, and the Cities 

of Boswell, Krebs, and Quinton, Oklahoma. The other four 
agreements were returned on January 23, 1995, but we do not show 

that the Colbert agreement was included when all the others were 

returned to us from the Secretary of State's Office. 

Please locate these agreements, and let us know when we can expect 

to receive the approved documents from your office. 

Sincerely, 

Acting Area Director 
0 , I 744 Ml '95 DREW EDMONnso~P 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF OKLAHOMA 

August 29, 1995 

Dennis L. Springwater 

United States Department of the Interior 

Bureau of Indian Affairs 

101 N. 5th Street 

Muskogee, OK 74401-6206 

Re: Cross-Deputization Agreement Between the Hughes County and the 

Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma 

Dear Mr. Springwater: 

LETTER OF APPROVAL 

The Attorney General has reviewed the referenced Agreement and found it to 

comply with the provisions of the Interlocal Cooperation Act. Pursuant to the provisions 

of74 O.S. 1981, § 1004(t), the referenced Agreement is hereby officially APPROVED 

as of the date of the signature manifested hereon. 

Please be advised that, before the Agreement may go into force, copies of the 

Agreement, and of this Letter of Approval, must be filed with the County Clerk and the 

Secretary of State. 

Signed this Q~ay of August, 1995. 

Respectfully submitted, 

S H L. McCORMICK 

ASSIST ANT ATTORNEY GENERAL 

jm\loa\95-064.Joa 

2300 N. LINCOLN BLVD., SUITE 112, OKLAHOMA CITY, OK 73105-4894 (405) 521-3921 • FAX: (405) 521-6246 

" •• .......,,.1.,. '""""" 
CROSS-DEPUTIZATION AGREEMENT 

AMONG HUGIIBS COUNTY, OKLAHOMA, 

THE BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS AND 

THE MUSCOGEE (CREEK) NATION OF OKLAHOMA 

This Agreement is entered pursuant to the authority of the Indian Law 

Enforcement Reform Act, 25 U.S.C. Section 2801, et seq.. the Oklahoma State Tribal 

Relations Act, 74 O.S. §§ 1221, et seq.. and the Oklahoma Interlocal Cooperation Act, 

74 O.S. Sections 1001, et seq. which provide for cooperative agreements to promote 

better law enforcement services. 

The intent of this Agreement is to provide for the cross-deputization of law 

enforcement officers employed by the various agencies which are parties to this 

Agreement so that each agency's officers will be authorized to provide law 

enforcement services and make lawful arrests in Indian Country within the geographic 

area of Hughes County, Oklahoma. It is the express desire and intent of all parties 

to this Agreement to allow each parties law enforcement officers to react immediately 

to observed violations of the law and other emergency situations without regard to 

whether they occur on or off Indian lands. 

All the parties to this Agreement recognize that when law enforcement officers 

arrest a criminal suspect, the officers may not know whether the suspect or the victim 

is an Indian or whether the arrest or the suspected crime has occurred in Indian 

Country, as defined by 18 U.S.C. Section 1151, and, therefore, there is great difficulty 

in determining the proper jurisdiction for the filing of charges. It is further 

recognized that the official jurisdictional determination will be made by a prosecutor 

from one of the various jurisdictions, not be cross-deputized arresting officers who 

1 
may deliver the arrestees to the detention facilities of the various agencies which are 

parties to this Agreement. 

The parties further expressly recognize the manifest intent of the Indian Law 

Enforcement Reform Act to eliminate the uncertainties which previously resulted in 

the reluctance of various law enforcement agencies to provide services in Indian 

Country for fear of being subjected to tort and civil rights suits as a consequence of 

the good-faith errors of officers making arrests or quelling disturbances in Indian 

County. To eliminate such concerns, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, to the maximum 

extent possible under applicable law, commits that if a state, local or tribal officer 

holding a BIA Deputy Special Officer (DSO) commission makes a good-faith arrest of 

an Indian and delivers the arrestee to a detention facility or to a prosecutor of the 

wrong jurisdiction through good-faith error, and is later sued in his personal capacity 

in an action, sounding in tort, predicated upon the plaintiff's Indian descent, his arrest 

in Indian Country, and his delivery to the wrong jurisdiction, it will be the policy of 

the Bureau of Indian Affairs to provide such an officer with the same protections that 

would have been made available to a BIA law enforcement officer acting under like 

circumstances. Those protections shall include those provided by the Federal Tort 

Claims Act, 28 U.S.C. Section 2401, 2671-2680, as amended. 

The parties to this Agreement, therefore agree as follows: 

1. Duration 

This Agreement shall be in effect for a period of one (1) year from and after its 

approval. It shall continue in effect from year to year, unless any party gives written 

2 
notice of intent not to renew at least thirty (30) days prior to the expiration in any 

given year, or unless sooner terminated by the thirty (30) day termination period. 

Any party to this Agreement may terminate this Agreement by giving thirty 

(30) days written notice of termination to all other parties setting out the effective 

date of termination. 

2. Organization 

No separate legal or administrative entity is to be created hereby. 

3. Purpose 

The purpose of this Agreement is to provide for efficient, effective and 

cooperative law enforcement efforts in and around Indian Country in Hughes County, 

Oklahoma, and its terms should be interpreted in that spirit. Accordingly, all parties 

to this Agreement shall cooperate with each other to provide comprehensive and 

thorough law enforcement protection, including but not limited to, effecting arrests, 

responding to calls for assistance from all citizens and from other law enforcement 

officers, performing investigations and providing other assistance such as dispatching 

and detention in Hughes County, Oklahoma. 

4. Financing 

Activities of each of the respective parties will be financed by each of the 

respective parties except as expressly provided herein. 

5. Termination 

This Agreement may be terminated as provided in Paragraph 1, above. 

3 
6. Employees 

Each party agrees to be responsible for any and all employer obligations to their 

own employees regardless of whether the employee is working directly for the 

employer or in a cross-deputization capacity. By way of example, not limitation, these 

obligations include salary, taxes, workers' compensation insurance, liability insurance, 

disability insurance and retirement benefits. In no event shall a party be responsible 

for the other party's obligations as an employer to their employee. 

7. Administration 

The provisions of the Agreement shall be administered by a board comprised 

of the Superintendent, Muskogee Agency, BIA, Muskogee, Oklahoma, and the Board 

of County Commissioners of Hughes County, Oklahoma, and the Chief of the 

Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma. 

8. Property 

No real or personal property is to be acquired or held under this Agreement. 

When personal property is loaned from one party to another it shall be returned as 

soon as possible upon request of the owner-party. 

9. Commissions 

A Each agency who is a party to this Agreement may, in its discretion, issue 

special law enforcement commissions to law enforcement officers of other agencies 

which are parties to this Agreement upon the application for such by an agency party. 

Except that the Secretary may not use the personnel of a non-Federal agency in an 

area of Indian Country if the Indian tribe having jurisdiction over such area of Indian 

4 
Country has adopted a resolution objecting to the use ofthe personnel of such agency. 

Such commissions shall grant the officers the same law enforcement authority as that 

of officers of the commissioning agency unless specifically limited by the terms of the 

commission. When an agency issues such a commission, it shall provide notice of that 

t'nmmission, including the name of the officer receiving the commission, to each of the 

other agencies who are parties to this Agreement. 

B. A commission shall not be granted unless an officer has complied with 

all the prerequisites for appointment as a police officer as set forth in 70 O.S. Section 

3311, or.68 BIA Manual Section 9.1, et seq., and with the specific requirements of the 

commissioning agency. Those prerequisites must include the following: 

(1) United States Citizenship; 

(2) A High School Diploma or Equivalent; 

(3) No Conviction for a Felony or Other Crime 

Involving Moral Turpitude; 

(4) Documentation of Annual Weapons 

Qualifications; 

(5) A Finding that the Applicant is Free of Any 

Physical, Emotional or Mental Condition 

Which Might Adversely Effect His or Her 

Performance as a Police Officer. 

C. If required by a commissioning agency, the applicant's agency shall 

provide a National Crime Information Center background check on the applicant. 

D. A commissioning agency may, at any time, suspend or revoke an officer's 

commission for reasons solely within its discretion. A commissioning agency shall 

notify the officer's agency in writing of the suspension or revocation and the reasons 

5 
therefore. Within ten (10) days after such notification that agency shall cause the 

commission card and any other evidence of the commission to be returned to the 

commissioning agency. 

10. Scope of Powers Granted 

A Officers carrying DSO commissions issued by the Bureau of Indian Affairs 

pursuant to this Agreement are given the power to enforce (i) all federal criminal laws 

applicable to Indian Country, including the Major Crimes Act, 18 U.S.C. Section 1153, 

and the Code of Indian Tribal Offenses in 25 CFR Part 11, where applicable, and (ii) 

Muscogee (Creek) Nation tribal laws, where the Muscogee (Creek) Nation has 

authorized the Secretary of the Interior to enforce such laws, and to make other 

arrests on Indian land for criminal offenses where applicable. 

B. Officers carrying commissions issued by a state agency, a sheriff's 

department or a city police department are given the authority to enforce Oklahoma 

state criminal laws and city ordinances, where applicable. 

C. The parties to this Agreement note that the applicability of Federal and 

tribal laws in Indian Country may depend on whether the suspect or victim is Indian 

and that state laws have been held generally to be inapplicable to Indians in Indian 

Country; and the parties agree that nothing in this Agreement makes any law 

applicable to a certain person or certain conduct where it would not otherwise be 

applicable. Accordingly, the purpose of this Agreement is to provide cross-deputized 

officers with the authority to enforce applicable law only. 

6 
D. Nothing in this Agreement alters or conveys any judicial jurisdiction, 

including the authority to issue warrants for arrest or search and seizure or to issue 

service of process. RiroiJarly, nothing in this Agreement is intended to impair, limit 

or affect the status of any agency or the sovereignty of any government. 

11. Disposition and Custody 

A Any person arrested by an Officer commissioned pursuant to this 

Agreement shall be turned over to a responsible official of the proper jurisdiction. In 

order to ascertain the proper prosecuting jurisdiction, the officer shall ask the 

arrestee, where practicable, whether he or she is Indian or non-Indian and shall rely 

on that representation. 

B. The prisoner shall be taken before a judge of the appropriate jurisdiction 

for initial appearance, bond setting and probable cause hearing within forty-eight (48) 

hours from the time of arrest. 

C. Whenever feasible and practicable all medical and dental needs of Indian 

prisoners shall be provided by an Indian Health Service (IHS) facility or by tribal 

health care facilities. A listing of those facilities appears below. Hughes County shall 

promptly notify the tribal police of such needs, to afford the opportunity to arrange 

for the treatment and the transport to treatment or to otherwise advise Hughes 

County on action to be taken. In cases of extreme emergency where it is not feasible 

or practicable to seek tribal police advice in advance, Hughes County may obtain such 

care for prisoners at local, federal or state facilities as emergency needs dictate. In 

such instances, the care provider should be advised to contact the nearest IHS facility 

7 
for further instructions and for claims advice within seventy-two (72) hours of the first 

furnishing of care or treatment. Hughes County shall promptly notify the tribal police 

of actions taken when such emergency circumstances occur. If for some reason IHS 

refuses to pay for such emergency medical care, the Tribe will take all appropriate 

and lawful action so that the burden of payment will not fall upon Hughes County. 

A listing of Indian Health Service and Indian tribal health care facilities in 

eastern Oklahoma follows: 

Carl Albert Indian Hospital 

Chickasaw Nation Health Clinic 

Chickasaw Nation Health Care Center 

Claremore Indian Hospital 

Sam Hider Jay Community Clinic 

PHS Indian Health Center 

Okemah Indian Health Center 

Salina Community Clinic 

Sapulpa Health Center/ 

Creek Nation of Oklahoma 

W.W. Hastings Indian Hospital 

Eufaula Health Center/ 

Creek Nation of Oklahoma 

Cherokee Nation Health Clinic 

Cherokee Nation Health Clinic 

Choctaw Nation Health Services Authority 

Choctaw Nation Health Center 

Hugo Health Center 

McAlester Health Center 

PHS Indian Health Center 

Lawton Indian Hospital 

+ Open 24 hours, 7 days per week 

* A tribally operated facility 

Ada (405) 436-3980+ 

Ardmore (405) 226-8181 * 

Tishomingo (405) 371-2392* 

Claremore (918) 341-8430+ 

Jay (918) 253-4271 * 

Miami (918) 542-1655 

Okemah (918) 623-0555+* 

Salina (918) 434-5397* 

Sapulpa (918) 224-9310* 

Tahlequah (918) 458-3100+ 

Eufaula (918) 689-2457* 

Sallisaw (918) 775-9159* 

Stilwell (918) 696-6911 * 

Talihina (918) 567-2211 + * 

Broken Bow (405) 584-2740* 

Hugo (405) 326-7561 * 

McAlester (918) 423-8440* 

Wewoka (405) 257-6281 

Lawton (405) 353-0350+ 

IHS personnel shall be permitted to visit tribal prisoners as frequently as necessary 

to ensure that medical care including medication is being provided to the prisoner and 

that all available health services for which the prisoner is eligible are being utilized. 

8 
12. Detention, Travel ann E;mgnses 

A If Indian prisoners are detained in the Hughes County jail, they shall be 

detained in accordance with Oklahoma laws, rules, regulations and jail standards 

applicable to jails in the State of Oklahoma The Sheriff or Chief of Police, pursuant 

to Oklahoma law, shall continue to exercise exclusive control of the operation oflocal 

jails. 

B. All travel and transportation of prisoners necessary for court appearances 

in Federal or CFR Courts and all necessary transportation of prisoners for health care 

except local emergency health care, shall be performed by the tribal police. 

Any necessary travel performed by Hughes County personnel in court 

attendances may be reimbursed to Hughes County by the Tribe at the rate provided 

by the Oklahoma State Travel Reimbursement Act (74 O.S. 500.2 et seq.) upon the 

filing of an appropriate claim with the Tribe. Reimbursement shall be subject to the 

Tribe's approval and further subject to the availability of funds for such purposes. 

C. In the event it becomes necessary to provide guard security for an Indian 

prisoner at a health facility or any place other than the Hughes County jail, it shall 

be the responsibility of the Tribe to provide such service. 

D. In the event an emergency mental or psychiatric situation arises with an 

Indian prisoner, it shall be the responsibility of the Tribe to immediately take custody 

of said prisoner for appropriate action pursuant to applicable law. 

E. In the event of a major crime investigation on Indian land participated 

in by Hughes County personnel, all items of evidence shall be turned over to BIA 

9 
officers who shall be responsible for it and for any expert tests or analyses to be 

performed. 

13. Supervision 

It is understood and agreed by the parties to this Agreement that the 

respective agencies, their agents, employees and insurers, have no authority nor any 

right whatsoever to control in any manner the day-to-day discharge of the duties of 

officers who have been commissioned pursuant to this Agreement. 

14. Liabilities and Immunities 

A It is understood and agreed that each agency which is a party to this 

Agreement, its agents, employees and insurers, do not, by virtue of this Agreement, 

assume any responsibility or liability for the actions of officers commissioned pursuant 

to this Agreement which are performed outside the scope of their duties. 

B. Notwithstanding Subsection A, any officer carrying a DSO performing any 

act within Indian Country will be afforded the protection of the Federal Tort Claims 

Act while acting within the scope of his employment as a Federal officer pursuant to 

the provisions of the Federal Tort Claims Act and pursuant to the provisions of the 

Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act, 25 U.S.C. § 2804(f). 

C. Nothing in this Agreement shall be read as waiving or limiting any 

defenses to claims of liability otherwise available to law enforcement officers, such as 

the defense of qualified immunity. 

D. Nothing in this Agreement shall be construed as a waiver of any 

government's sovereign immunity, not otherwise expressly waived by legislative act. 

10 
15. Additional Parties 

It is understood by the parties to this Agreement that additional agencies with 

law enforcement responsibilities may choose to join as parties hereto but that no 

amendment will be made to the terms of this Agreement without the agreement of 

all the parties signatory to it. 

16. Approval 

This Agreement shall be effective when approved by the Attorney General as 

provided in 74 O.S. § 1004(f), when approved by the Governor and by the State Tribal 

Relations Committee as provided in 7 4 O.S. § 1221 et seq., when signed by authorized 

officials of the Tribe's governing body, when signed by authorized officials of Hughes 

County, Oklahoma, when signed by the Area Director, Bureau of Indian Affairs and 

when filed of record as provided by 74 O.S. § 1001 et seq. Copies of the resolutions 

of the governing bodies of Hughes County authorizing entry into this Agreement are 

attached to this Agreement. 

17. Indian Country Identification 

The Bureau of Indian Affairs or the Tribe shall prepare and furnish to Hughes 

County, Oklahoma, a map and legal descriptions of all known Indian land within 

Hughes County, Oklahoma 

18. Laws Applicable to Indian Country 

The Bureau of Indian Affairs shall provide Hughes County, Oklahoma, with an 

officer's manual containing all laws to be enforced on Indian land including tribal laws. 

11 
Approved as to proper form and compatibility with the laws ofthe State of Oklahoma: 

,STAT OMA 

' 

ATTEST: DATE 

__5k.-..c-.""""'""'""'-"''-'-- ____ LJ - Secretary of State 

DATE 

~ ~ dEJ-l-' , BOARD OF COUNTY DATE 

co::IONERS. HUGHES COUNTY. OKLAHOMA 

DATE 

DATE 

C EK) NATION DATE 

OF OKLAHOMA . 

12 
Aeling 

APPL~ AS TO PROPER FORM AND LEGAL SUFFICIENCY: 

.~, 

J«f, REGIONALSOLCITOR DATE 

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

&e-<2e .:r:s--­

DATE 

13 

f,f,r{"'
RESOLUTION 

The Board of County Commissioners, Hughes County, State of Oklahoma, hereby 

resolve to enter into a Cross-Deputization Agreement with The Bureau of Indian 

Affairs and The Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma Said agreement is pursuant 

to the authority of the Indian Law Enforcement Reform Act, 25 U.S.C. Section 2801, 

et seq., the Oklahoma State Tribal Relations Act, 74 O.S. §§ 1221 et seq.. which 

provide for cooperative agreements to promote better law enforcement services. 

Done this _L day of M 1/ ,19$ 

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS: 

~~~£;? 

Yn,,/A., g j I t2._ 

Vice-Chairman 

ATTEST: 

AGO04.CROSS _ DEF.HUG 14 
74 § 1205 STATE GOVERNMENT 7684 

O.S.199! 

with other state agencies or institutions. All monies accruing to the credit of said fund are hereby 

appropriated and may be budgeted and expended by 

the Director of the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission for the purpose of paying for operating 

expenses of the Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission. Expenditures from said fund shall be made 

upon warrants issued by the State Treasurer 

against claims filed as prescribed by law with the 

Director of State Finance for approval and payment. 

Laws 1984, c. 1, § 126, emerg. eff. Jan. 30, 1984; Laws 

1984, c. 190, § 3, operative July 1, 1984. 

CHAPTER 35A.-STATE-TRIBAL RELATIONS 

Section 

1221. Indian Tribes-Acknowledgment of federal recognition-Cooperation with-Cooperative agreements. 

1222. Joint Committee on St.ate-Tribal Relations. 

1223. [Blank]. 

1224. Land of Indian and Hard Rock Mining Museum 

Commission-Sale to Northeast Eight Inter-Trib;aal Council-Federal trust. 

1225. Sale to Northeast Eight Inter-Tribal Council-Re· 

strictions and covenants. 

Indians 4=>2 et seq. 

§ 1221. Indian Tribes-Acknowledgment of 

federal recognition-Cooperation with-Cooperative agreements 

A. The State of Oklahoma acknowledges federal 

recognition of Indian Tribes recognized by the Department of Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. 

B. The State of Oklahoma recognizes the unique 

status of Indian Tribes within the federal government and shall work in a spirit of cooperation with 

all federally recognized Indian Tribes in furtherance

of federal policy for the benefit of both the State of 

Oklahoma and Tribal Governments. 

, I 

C. The Governor, or his named designee, is authorized to negotiate and enter into cooperative 

agreements on behalf of this state with federally 

recognized Indian Tribal Governments within this 

state to address issues of mutual interest. Such 

agreements shall become effective upon approval by 

the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations. If 

such agreements involve trust responsibilities, approval by the Secretary of the Interior or his designee shall be required. 

D. The governing board of the political subdivision of this state is authorized to negotiate and 

enter into intergovernmental cooperative agreements in behalf of the political subdivisi~ with the 

federally recognized Indian Tribal Governments 

within this state to address issues of mutual interest. Such agreements shall be effective upon approval by the Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations and the Governor, or his named designee. 

E. An executed original of every agreement approved pursuant to this .section shall be filed with 

the Secretary of State. 

Laws 1988, c. 160, § 1; Laws 1989, c. 296, § 1, emerg. eff. 

May 24, 1989; Laws 1991, c. 202, § 3, emerg. eff. May 17, 

1991.

§ 1222. Joint Committee on State-Tribal Relations

A. There is hereby created the "Joint Committee 

on State-Tribal Relations". The Committee shall be 

responsible for overseeing and approving agreements between tribal governments and the State of 

Oklahoma. The Committee shall consist of ten (10)

members, to be appointed as follows: 

1. Five members of the Senate to be appointed

by the President Pro Tempore of the Senate; and

2. Five members of the House of Representatives to be appointed by the Speaker of the House 

of Representatives.

B. The chairman and vice~chairman of the Committee shall be designated from the membership of 

the Committee by the Speaker of the House of 

Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of 

the Senate as provided for in this subsection. The 

President Pro Tempore of the Senate shall designate the initial chairman who shall serve until the 

convening of the First Regular Session of the 44th 

Oklahoma Legislature. The Speaker of the House 

of Representatives shall designate the initial vicechairman who shall serve until the convening of the 

First Regular Session of the 44th Oklahoma Legislature. Thereafter, the chairmanship shall alternate 

every two (2) years between the House of Representatives and the Senate, beginning with the convening of the First Regular Session of the Legislature.

C. All members of the Committee shall serve at 

the pleasure of the appointing authority. 

D. All actions of the Committee shall require a 

quorum which shall be defined as a majority of the 

members appointed. Approval of any agreement 

pursuant to Section 1221 of this title by the Committee shall be determined by a majority of the quorum 

present.

E. Staff for the Committee shall be provided by 

the House of Representatives and Senate from their 

existing staff. 

Laws 1988, c. 160, § 2; Laws 1989, c. 296, § 2, emerg. eff. 

May 24, 1989; Laws 1991, c. 202, § 4, emerg. eff. May 17, 1991. 

§ 1223. (Blank] , § 1224. Land of Indian and Hard Rock Mining 

Museum Commission-Sale to Northeast Eight 

Inter-Tribal Council-Federal trust 

A. Notwithstanding any other provision relating ·· to the authority of the Office of Public Affairs, the