[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 573 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






118th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 573

   Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Boldt decision of 1974.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 5, 2024

  Mrs. Murray (for herself, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Wyden, and Mr. Merkley) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
                           on Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Boldt decision of 1974.

Whereas, since time immemorial, fish have been an integral part of Native 
        American cultural, spiritual, and economic life in the Northwest;
Whereas, between 1854 and 1859, the United States Government signed a series of 
        treaties with Indian Tribes across the Northwest, reserving to the 
        Indian Tribes the right to fish in their usual and accustomed places, in 
        common with the citizens of the Washington Territory;
Whereas article VI of the Constitution of the United States recognizes treaties 
        as the supreme law of the land, including those with Indian Tribes;
Whereas, after the Indian Tribes signed these treaties, their right to fish in 
        accordance with these treaties was not upheld, leading to more than 100 
        years of litigation;
Whereas, following decades of arrests and fish-ins during which Billy Frank Jr. 
        and other Tribal members exercised their treaty-protected fishing 
        rights, Indian Tribes won a historic legal victory protecting those 
        rights;
Whereas, on February 12, 1974, United States District Court Judge George Boldt 
        ruled in United States v. State of Washington, 384 F. Supp. 312 (W.D. 
        Wash. 1974), that--

    (1) Indian Tribes that were parties to treaties which reserved their 
right to fish could take up to 50 percent of the fish harvest that passed 
through their recognized fishing grounds, to be calculated on a river-by-
river, run-by-run basis;

    (2) State law could not regulate treaty-based tribal fishing rights; 
and

    (3) Treaty Tribes would co-manage fisheries in Washington State;

Whereas the decision was affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals for the 
        Ninth Circuit in United States v. State of Washington, 520 F.2d 676 (9th 
        Cir. 1976);
Whereas Tribal co-management of Washington fisheries led to the creation of the 
        Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission and the Columbia River Inter-
        Tribal Fish Commission;
Whereas the Northwest Indian Fishing Commission member Indian Tribes include the 
        Lummi, Nooksack, Swinomish, Upper Skagit, Sauk-Suiattle, Stillaguamish, 
        Tulalip, Muckleshoot, Puyallup, Nisqually, Squaxin Island, Skokomish, 
        Suquamish, Port Gamble S'Klallam, Jamestown S'Klallam, Lower Elwha 
        Klallam, Makah, Quileute, Quinault, and Hoh Tribes;
Whereas the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission member Indian Tribes 
        include the Nez Perce Tribe, the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla 
        Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs 
        Reservation of Oregon, and the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the 
        Yakama Nation;
Whereas sharply declining salmon populations continue to threaten the ability of 
        the Indian Tribes to exercise their treaty rights, secure their economic 
        futures, and protect important cultural practices; and
Whereas the Boldt decision reinforced Tribal sovereignty, elevated the legal 
        status of Tribal treaty rights, and advanced resource co-management: 
        Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Boldt 
        decision;
            (2) recognizes the importance of Tribal treaty rights;
            (3) acknowledges the invaluable role that the Northwest 
        Indian Fisheries Commission and the Columbia River Inter-Tribal 
        Fish Commission play in fisheries management; and
            (4) reaffirms its commitment to support salmon recovery.
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