Cherokee Nation and Chickasaw Nation Criminal Jurisdiction Compacting Act of 2021
Bill: H.R.3091 | Sponsor: Rep. Cole, Tom (R-OK)
Policy area: Native Americans

Summary:
Cherokee Nation and Chickasaw Nation Criminal Jurisdiction Compacting Act of 2021
This bill authorizes the Cherokee Nation and the Chickasaw Nation to each enter into intergovernmental compacts with Oklahoma for the state to exercise its criminal jurisdiction within Indian country.
The bill outlines the requirements for such compacts, including that they must define the categories of criminal offenders or offenses within the reservation over which Oklahoma may exercise its jurisdiction.
The Department of Justice must, upon the request of a nation, consult with and provide technical assistance for developing or implementing a compact.
A nation may require an offender who is sentenced to a term of imprisonment of more than six months to serve such a sentence in the nearest appropriate federal facility.
The Department of the Interior must publish a compact that it receives from a nation. Interior must also report on the development and implementation of compacts and make recommendations to support and enhance the criminal justice system of each nation.

To support clarity and consistency with regard to the exercise of 
 criminal jurisdiction and authority in Indian country, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cherokee Nation and Chickasaw Nation 
Criminal Jurisdiction Compacting Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Court rulings have affirmed the Cherokee Nation and the 
        Chickasaw Nation have reservations that constitute Indian 
        country for purposes of criminal jurisdiction, the boundaries 
        of which are set forth in each Nation's respective treaties 
        with the United States.
            (2) Each Nation has worked with the State, including 
        certain political subdivisions of the State, to ensure 
        cooperation and coordination on law enforcement and public 
        safety within the respective reservations of the Nations.
            (3) Legally effective compacts are important tools of 
        Tribal self-determination and are useful in avoiding 
        jurisdictional disputes within Indian country;
            (4) The Nations and the State have successfully implemented 
        intergovernmental agreements on policing, taxation, child 
        welfare, gaming, hunting and fishing, and other matters 
        implicating their respective sovereign authorities, rights, and 
        interests.
            (5) Sections 1152 and 1153 of title 18, United States Code, 
        and other Federal laws preempt the Nations and the State from 
        forming effective compacts respecting criminal jurisdiction in 
        Indian country.
            (6) It is necessary, proper, and consistent with Federal 
        policies supporting Tribal self-determination to provide 
        express, specific, and defined authorization for purposes of 
        the Nations forming lawful and effective compacts with the 
        State respecting criminal jurisdiction on Indian country (other 
        than on Indian lands).

SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

    In this Act:
            (1) Cherokee nation.--The term ``Cherokee Nation'' means 
        the federally recognized Indian Tribe with its present Tribal 
        headquarters south of Tahlequah, Oklahoma, having adopted its 
        most recent constitution on August 7, 2003, and having entered 
        into various treaties with the United States, including the 
        Treaty at Hopewell, executed on November 28, 1785 (7 Stat. 18), 
        and the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on July 19, 1866 
        (14 Stat. 799), and which has maintained a continuous 
        government-to-government relationship with the United States 
        since the earliest years of the Union.
            (2) Chickasaw nation.--The term ``Chickasaw Nation'' means 
        a federally recognized Indian Tribe with its present Tribal 
        headquarters in Ada, Oklahoma, having adopted its most recent 
        constitution on August 27, 1983, and having entered into 
        various treaties with the United States of America, including 
        the Treaty at Hopewell, executed on January 10, 1786 (7 Stat. 
        24), and the Treaty at Washington, D.C., executed on April 28, 
        1866 (7 Stat. 21), and which has maintained a continuous 
        government-to-government relationship with the United States 
        since the earliest years of the Union.
            (3) Indian.--The term ``Indian'' has the meaning given that 
        term in section 201(4) of the Indian Civil Rights Act of 1968 
        (25 U.S.C. 1301(4)).
            (4) Indian country.--The term ``Indian country'' has the 
        meaning given that term in section 1151 of title 18 of the 
        United States Code.
            (5) Indian land.--The term ``Indian land'' means land 
        within a Nation's reservation--
                    (A) title to which is held in trust by the United 
                States for the benefit of an Indian Tribe or an Indian;
                    (B) title to which is held in fee by an Indian 
                Tribe or an Indian subject to restrictions against 
                alienation under laws of the United States;
                    (C) title to which is held in fee by an Indian 
                Tribe or an Indian in accord with a treaty with the 
                United States to which an Indian Tribe is a party, and 
                such land had never been allotted to any individual; or
                    (D) which otherwise constitutes Indian country 
                under subsection (b) or (c) of section 1151 of title 
                18, United States Code.
            (6) Indian tribe.--The term ``Indian Tribe'' means any 
        American Indian or Alaska Native Tribe, band, nation, pueblo, 
        village, or community that the Secretary acknowledges to exist 
        as a federally recognized Indian Tribe under the Federally 
        Recognized Indian Tribe List Act of 1994 (25 U.S.C. 5131).
            (7) Nation.--The term ``Nation'' means the Cherokee Nation 
        or the Chickasaw Nation.
            (8) Nations.--The ``Nations'' means the Cherokee Nation and 
        the Chickasaw Nation.
            (9) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary 
        of the Interior.
            (10) State.--The term ``State'' means the State of 
        Oklahoma.

SEC. 4. RESERVATION INTEGRITY.

    To support clarity and consistency with respect to the exercise of 
criminal jurisdiction and authority on the Nations' respective Indian 
country--
            (1) the reservation of each Nation, with boundaries as set 
        forth in its most recent treaty or agreement with the United 
        States, is acknowledged;
            (2) the Secretary shall not take any land into trust status 
        within the exterior boundary of the reservation of a Nation 
        unless--
                    (A) the land is taken into trust status for the 
                benefit of that Nation or of a citizen or citizens of 
                that Nation; or
                    (B) the Nation consents in writing to the trust 
                status for such land; and
            (3) the Secretary taking land within the exterior boundary 
        of a Nation's reservation into trust in accordance with 
        paragraph (2) shall not alter or diminish any criminal or civil 
        jurisdiction of the consenting Nation.

SEC. 5. NO EFFECT.

    Nothing in this Act--
            (1) waives the sovereign immunity of a Nation;
            (2) expands, limits, modifies, or otherwise affects the 
        authority or right that a Nation possesses under, or which is 
        protected by, a treaty with the United States or other Federal 
        law;
            (3) deprives a Nation of any right, privilege, or immunity 
        afforded under Federal treaty, agreement, statute, or other law 
        with respect to hunting, fishing, or water; or
            (4) invalidates, supersedes, or restricts any 
        intergovernmental agreement or compact between a Nation and the 
        State, or any of its subdivisions, entered into before the date 
        of the enactment of this Act.

SEC. 6. INTERGOVERNMENTAL CRIMINAL JURISDICTION COMPACTS.

    (a) In General.--A Nation may negotiate and enter into one or more 
intergovernmental compacts with the State regarding criminal 
jurisdiction on the Indian country (other than on Indian land) of that 
Nation, in accord with this Act.
    (b) Authorization.--
            (1) In general.--Upon entering into a compact that 
        satisfies the requirements of subsection (c) and subject to the 
        limitations set forth in subsection (d) and the terms of such 
        compact, the State may exercise its criminal jurisdiction in 
        accord with its laws over offenses committed by or against 
        Indians within the reservation of the Nation (other than on 
        Indian land) to the same extent as the courts of the State have 
        jurisdiction over and its laws apply to offenses committed 
        elsewhere within the State on lands that are not Indian 
        country, notwithstanding sections 1152 and 1153 of title 18, 
        United States Code, and other Federal laws providing for United 
        States criminal jurisdiction exclusive of State jurisdiction on 
        lands that are Indian country.
            (2) Existing jurisdiction.--The jurisdiction of the State 
        described in paragraph (1) shall be concurrent with any 
        criminal jurisdiction of the United States and the Nation on 
        lands that are Indian country.
    (c) Requirements.--An intergovernmental criminal jurisdiction 
compact entered into under this section shall--
            (1) define any geographic limits within the reservation of 
        the compacting Nation on which the State may exercise criminal 
        jurisdiction;
            (2) define the categories of criminal offenders or offenses 
        within the reservation of the compacting Nation over which the 
        State may exercise jurisdiction;
            (3) provide for means to amend the compact;
            (4) provide for means for either party to revoke the 
        compact upon not less than one year of written notice to the 
        other party, specifying the date on which such revocation shall 
        take effect and stating that revocation shall not affect any 
        action, pending proceeding, conviction, adjudication, or final 
        determination over which a court has already assumed 
        jurisdiction; and
            (5) provide that it shall take legal effect upon entry in 
        accordance with the respective laws of the State and the 
        Nation.
    (d) Limitations.--Nothing in this Act or any agreement entered 
under this Act shall--
            (1) limit or otherwise diminish the jurisdiction of the 
        United States or of a Nation;
            (2) limit or otherwise affect the allocation of criminal 
        jurisdiction respecting Indian land;
            (3) alter or otherwise affect jurisdiction over any person 
        for any offense committed before a compact takes effect;
            (4) limit or otherwise diminish criminal jurisdiction of 
        the State over offenses committed by a person anywhere on the 
        Indian country of a Nation before the date of a compact taking 
        effect;
            (5) limit or otherwise diminish applicability of the 
        criminal laws of the State anywhere on the Indian country of a 
        Nation before the date of a compact taking effect; or
            (6) confer upon the State any authority to impose any tax, 
        fee, charge, or other assessment upon a Nation, nor may the 
        State refuse to enter into a compact based on the lack of 
        authority in the State, including its political subdivisions, 
        to impose any such tax, fee, charge, or other assessment.

SEC. 7. FEDERAL ENGAGEMENT.

    (a) United States Attorney General.--At the request of a Nation, 
the Attorney General shall consult with and provide technical 
assistance to the Nation for purposes of developing or implementing any 
compact authorized under this Act.
    (b) Bureau of Prisons.--In the case of an offender sentenced by a 
Nation to a term of imprisonment of more than 6 months, the Nation may 
require the offender to serve his or her sentence in the nearest 
appropriate Federal facility. The Bureau of Prisons shall accept and 
implement the term of imprisonment in accordance with such sentence, 
and the term of imprisonment shall be subject to the conditions 
described in section 5003 of title 18, United States Code, regarding 
the custody of State offenders, except that any offender sentenced by a 
Nation shall be imprisoned at the expense of the United States.
    (c) Duties of the Secretary.--
            (1) Publication of compact.--Upon a Nation and the State 
        entering a compact under section 6, the Nation may provide a 
        copy of the compact to the Secretary, who shall then cause 
        notice of the compact to be published in the Federal Register 
        not later than 30 days after receiving such copy.
            (2) Report.--The Secretary shall--
                    (A) in consultation with each Nation--
                            (i) complete a report on the development 
                        and implementation of compacts under this Act; 
                        and
                            (ii) make recommendations for further 
                        action to support and enhance the criminal 
                        justice system of each Nation, including 
                        additional Federal expenditures appropriate to 
                        such actions; and
                    (B) not later than 2 years after the date of the 
                enactment of this Act, submit the report prepared under 
                subparagraph (A) to the Committee on Natural Resources 
                of the House of Representatives and the Committee on 
                Indian Affairs of the Senate.
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