[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 1, 2017)]
[House]
[Pages H8323-H8324]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1445
  REPEALING THE ACT TO CONFER JURISDICTION ON THE STATE OF IOWA OVER 
  OFFENSES COMMITTED BY OR AGAINST INDIANS ON THE SAC AND FOX INDIAN 
                              RESERVATION

  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill 
(H.R. 1074) to repeal the Act entitled ``An Act to confer jurisdiction 
on the State of Iowa over offenses committed by or against Indians on 
the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation''.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 1074

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the 
     Act of June 30, 1948, entitled ``An Act to confer 
     jurisdiction on the State of Iowa over offenses committed by 
     or against Indians on the Sac and Fox Indian Reservation'' 
     (62 Stat. 1161, chapter 759) is repealed.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
California (Mr. Cook) and the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Torres) 
each will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California.


                             General Leave

  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may 
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include 
extraneous material on the bill under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from California?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 1074. This bill would rescind 
criminal jurisdiction from the State of Iowa over crimes committed by 
or against members of the Sac and Fox Tribe on their lands. In doing 
so, the Tribe or the Federal Government would exercise exclusive 
jurisdiction under the Major Crimes Act. This is the most common legal 
situation for most tribes in America today.
  In 1948, Congress granted jurisdiction over all crimes committed by 
or against Indians on the Sac and Fox Reservation to the State of Iowa. 
In 1949, there was no mechanism in the Federal Government concerning 
criminal jurisdiction on the Tribe's land, and up until that point, the 
Tribe had largely policed themselves.
  Today, the Federal Government has criminal statutory authority on 
Indian lands, the Tribe is again ready to police itself, and the State 
of Iowa has

[[Page H8324]]

agreed that its Federal grant of criminal jurisdiction can be repealed.
  Accordingly, under H.R. 1074, the Federal Government will have 
criminal jurisdiction over crimes, especially major crimes, by or 
against Indians on the Tribe's lands. The Tribe would have jurisdiction 
over Indian offenders for crimes over which it exercises jurisdiction, 
and the State of Iowa would retain exclusive jurisdiction over crimes 
where both offender and victim are non-Indians.
  I thank the sponsor of H.R. 1074, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Blum), 
for his work on this bill, and I urge adoption of the measure.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  There are laws on the books that stand in the way of true tribal 
self-determination and self-governance. One of those laws is Public Law 
80-846, known commonly as the 1948 Act. The 1948 Act targeted only one 
tribe, the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, also known as 
the Meskwaki Nation, and gave the State of Iowa criminal jurisdiction 
over their tribal lands.
  In 1948, the Nation did not have a formal mechanism for law 
enforcement and was not in a financial position to create one. This was 
used as the rationale for the stripping of these jurisdictional rights. 
But this has not been the case for many years. The Tribe has a full-
time police department as well as a fully functioning court system.
  The continued existence of the 1948 Act has resulted in an unfair 
system of crimes committed on Meskwaki land, whereby a Native-American 
defendant must face the possibility of two prosecutions, State and 
Tribal, but a non-Native defendant faces only State prosecution.
  That is why I join my colleagues in supporting H.R. 1074. By passing 
this bill and repealing the 1948 Act, we will remove the inequity it 
has created, and bring the Meskwaki Nation in line with how criminal 
jurisdiction issues are addressed on other Native lands.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the adoption of H.R. 
1074, and I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Iowa 
(Mr. Blum).
  Mr. BLUM. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from California for 
yielding and for his time managing today's floor debate.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H.R. 1074, a bill I first 
introduced in the 114th Congress, which would repeal a 1948 law that 
granted the State of Iowa criminal jurisdiction over offenses committed 
by or against members of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in 
Iowa.
  Prior to this 1948 law, the Tribe had largely policed itself, and 
there was little, if any, Federal law enforcement on the Tribe's land.
  Historically, determining who may exercise jurisdiction over crime in 
tribal communities is complex. Generally, crimes committed by or 
against Indians in Indian Country are under the jurisdiction of the 
United States, pursuant to various Federal statutes. The 1948 Act was 
passed at a time when the Federal Government was attempting to shift 
its responsibility and obligations from tribes to the respective 
States.
  In 1953, Congress passed a law, commonly called Public Law 280, 
transferring criminal jurisdiction over all crimes, regardless of the 
Indian status of the offender or victim, in Indian Country of six 
States from the Federal Government to those States. Even though Iowa 
was not one of those States, for years it has been treated as if it 
were a Public Law 280 State.

  With respect to the law enforcement on the settlement today, a lot 
has changed since 1948. Today, the Tribe has a fully-functional 
criminal justice system, which includes a full-time police department 
whose officers are certified by the State of Iowa. The Tribe maintains 
and employs law-trained judges and a prosecutor who, together with a 
probation department, handle all criminal cases which arise on tribal 
lands.
  H.R. 1074, and its Senate companion bill, have bipartisan support 
from the entire Iowa delegation, as well as the support of the Iowa 
State Legislature, which passed legislation signed by then-Governor 
Terry Branstad in April 2016, that began this process of conferring 
jurisdiction to the Tribe and the Department of Justice.
  As my friend from California previously mentioned, the entirety of 
the Meskwaki Settlement is located in Tama County, Iowa, in my 
district. Since I have come to Washington, I have gotten to know the 
Sac and Fox Tribal Council and their representatives, and I was happy 
to first introduce this bill in 2016 after its approval by then-
Governor Branstad.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge the adoption of this bill, and I hope it 
continues to move through the legislative process so that the Tribe may 
once again have jurisdiction over many of the crimes committed against 
their members on their land, and restore another portion of the Tribe's 
sovereignty, which has been removed since 1948.
  Mrs. TORRES. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. COOK. Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from California (Mr. Cook) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 1074.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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