Oppose HB1495 and HB1496 – Tribal Access to State Lands and Hunting Enforcement

[huntrights]

Please refer to related posts in other forum topic areas; there is a significant amount of discussion regarding both of these Bills:

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,117085.msg1541937.html#msg1541937

http://hunting-washington.com/smf/index.php/topic,112872.msg1479695.html#msg1479695

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Please contact the Community Development, Housing & Tribal Affairs Committee to respectfully ask them to oppose
HB1495 - AN ACT Relating to access of tribal members to state lands; and
HB1496 - AN ACT Relating to hunting-related enforcement actions involving tribal members.

Links to HB1495:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1495
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2013-14/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1495.pdf


Links to HB1496:

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/billinfo/summary.aspx?bill=1496&year=2013
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2013-14/Pdf/Bills/House%20Bills/1496.pdf


Also, please contact your state Representatives and respectfully ask that they oppose these Bills (You can use the same message sent to the Community Development, Housing & Tribal Affairs Committee). 

Find Your Washington State Legislator:

http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/



Copy and paste the email addresses for the Community Development, Housing & Tribal Affairs Committee:

john.mccoy@leg.wa.gov; sherry.appleton@leg.wa.gov; jan.angel@leg.wa.gov; norm.johnson@leg.wa.gov; larry.haler@leg.wa.gov; liz.pike@leg.wa.gov; cindy.ryu@leg.wa.gov; sharontomiko.santos@leg.wa.gov; david.sawyer@leg.wa.gov



Copy and paste subject:

Please Oppose HB1495 and HB1496 – Tribal Access to State Lands and Hunting-related Enforcement


Copy and Paste message:


Dear Community Development, Housing & Tribal Affairs Committee:

I am writing to respectfully request that you oppose
HB1495 - AN ACT Relating to access of tribal members to state lands; and
HB1496 - AN ACT Relating to hunting-related enforcement actions involving tribal members.

While I do hold the Washington State Indian Tribes in high regard, I am concerned that both of these Bills are vague, and will result in prejudiced consequences.  HB1495 would give preferential treatment to tribal members that would not be available to any other class of citizens.  HB1496 would remove jurisdiction from Washington State law enforcement personnel in at least some areas where they now have jurisdiction; they would be required to surrender it exclusively to tribal authorities when a tribal member is involved.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Your contact information]

[bearpaw]

Is this still the proper committee to send messages to?

[Hunter4Life]

These two bills have moved out of committee, each with a substitute bill.
Proposed Substitute House Bill 1495 was adopted:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/m/cmd/main.htm?aid=18705#items_page
Here is the text of the substitute bill:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/m/cmd/Handler.ashx?MethodName=getdocumentcontent&documentId=FcczynlVLO8&att=false

Proposed Substitute House Bill 1496 was adopted:
http://app.leg.wa.gov/m/cmd/main.htm?aid=18705#items_page
Here is the text of the substitute bill
http://app.leg.wa.gov/m/cmd/Handler.ashx?MethodName=getdocumentcontent&documentId=ofon2fjuI4Y&att=false
Some major changes in the bill:
Specifies that certain agreements between tribes and the Department of Fish and Wildlife or
local law enforcement agencies are considered binding on such open and unclaimed lands. 
Also specifies that such agreements are not abrogated or affected by statutory requirements to
refer certain enforcement actions to tribal enforcement authorities.

Still a bad bill, but the substitute still allows for some non-tribal enforcement.

[Hunter4Life]

Please call the Legislative Hotline toll-free at 1-800-562-6000 and tell your legislators to oppose SHB 1495 & SHB 1496.  A call to the hotline is worth 10 emails to your legislators.   I worked for a house member a little over 30 years ago and I can tell you that the hotline is the most effective way to contact your legislator.  All hotline calls are tallied and there is documentation that you called.  These bills are not going to generate a lot of interest outside the tribal and hunting communities, so each call to the hotline is magnified in this case.  These bills will be voted on by the full house and our legislators need to hear from us now!

If you do not know your legislator, the hotline operator will find your legislator.  You do not need to even give the reason why you oppose these bills, just state your opposition.  Your name and contact information will be taken.  Please be polite to the hotline operators.  They do not work for either caucus and usually have no opinion on 99% of the calls.  They work really hard for crappy pay.

If you wish to contact your legislators, please contact the ones from your own district as constituent emails mean much more than non-constituent contact. In this case, with so little interest in these bills, a constituent email means even more as you can vote against them on an issue that generates very little public interest. 

Find Your Washington State Legislator:

http://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder

Please tell your legislators that on SHB 1495, when roads are closed they are closed for a reason, usually to protect a resource, and therefore roads should stay closed to everyone to keep that reource protected.

Jshunt's suggestions are EXCELLENT and are worth repeating:

I am writing to respectfully request that you oppose
HB1495 - AN ACT Relating to access of tribal members to state lands; and
HB1496 - AN ACT Relating to hunting-related enforcement actions involving tribal members.

While I do hold the Washington State Indian Tribes in high regard, I am concerned that both of these Bills are vague, and will result in prejudiced consequences.  HB1495 would give preferential treatment to tribal members that would not be available to any other class of citizens.  HB1496 would remove jurisdiction from Washington State law enforcement personnel in at least some areas where they now have jurisdiction; they would be required to surrender it exclusively to tribal authorities when a tribal member is involved.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

[Your contact information]

[bearpaw]

Legislative Hotline:  1-800-562-6000
The call only took 1 1/2 minutes, I asked them to: "Please oppose HB 1495 and HB 1496"

........Hotline Hours........
Monday-Friday...8am - 8pm
Saturday...........9am - 1pm
Sunday.............closed


Send Email
I also sent my message via email to my two reps and copied it to the rest.

Copy & Paste Email List  (too many for one message, send two messages)

gary.alexander@leg.wa.gov; jan.angel@leg.wa.gov; sherry.appleton@leg.wa.gov; steve.bergquist@leg.wa.gov; brian.blake@leg.wa.gov; vincent.buys@leg.wa.gov; reuven.carlyle@leg.wa.gov; bruce.chandler@leg.wa.gov; frank.chopp@leg.wa.gov; judy.clibborn@leg.wa.gov; eileen.cody@leg.wa.gov; cary.condotta@leg.wa.gov; larry.crouse@leg.wa.gov; cathy.dahlquist@leg.wa.gov; richard.debolt@leg.wa.gov; hans.dunshee@leg.wa.gov; susan.fagan@leg.wa.gov; jessyn.farrell@leg.wa.gov; jake.fey@leg.wa.gov; joe.fitzgibbon@leg.wa.gov; roger.freeman@leg.wa.gov; roger.goodman@leg.wa.gov; tami.green@leg.wa.gov; cyrus.habib@leg.wa.gov; kathy.haigh@leg.wa.gov; larry.haler@leg.wa.gov; drew.hansen@leg.wa.gov; mark.hargrove@leg.wa.gov; paul.harris@leg.wa.gov; brad.hawkins@leg.wa.gov; dave.hayes@leg.wa.gov; jeff.holy@leg.wa.gov; mike.hope@leg.wa.gov; zack.hudgins@leg.wa.gov; sam.hunt@leg.wa.gov; ross.hunter@leg.wa.gov; christopher.hurst@leg.wa.gov; laurie.jinkins@leg.wa.gov; norm.johnson@leg.wa.gov; ruth.kagi@leg.wa.gov; steve.kirby@leg.wa.gov; brad.klippert@leg.wa.gov; linda.kochmar@leg.wa.gov; joel.kretz@leg.wa.gov; dan.kristiansen@leg.wa.gov; marko.liias@leg.wa.gov; kristine.lytton@leg.wa.gov; drew.macewen@leg.wa.gov; chad.magendanz@leg.wa.gov;

matt.manweller@leg.wa.gov; marcie.maxwell@leg.wa.gov; john.mccoy@leg.wa.gov; jim.moeller@leg.wa.gov; dawn.morrell@leg.wa.gov; jeff.morris@leg.wa.gov; luis.moscoso@leg.wa.gov; terry.nealey@leg.wa.gov; steve.o'ban@leg.wa.gov; ed.orcutt@leg.wa.gov; timm.ormsby@leg.wa.gov; tina.orwall@leg.wa.gov; jason.overstreet@leg.wa.gov; kevin.parker@leg.wa.gov; jamie.pedersen@leg.wa.gov; eric.pettigrew@leg.wa.gov; liz.pike@leg.wa.gov; gerry.pollet@leg.wa.gov; chris.reykdal@leg.wa.gov; marcus.riccelli@leg.wa.gov; maryhelen.roberts@leg.wa.gov; jay.rodne@leg.wa.gov; charles.ross@leg.wa.gov; cindy.ryu@leg.wa.gov; sharontomiko.santos@leg.wa.gov; david.sawyer@leg.wa.gov; joe.schmick@leg.wa.gov; elizabeth.scott@leg.wa.gov; larry.seaquist@leg.wa.gov; mike.sells@leg.wa.gov; matt.shea@leg.wa.gov; shelly.short@leg.wa.gov; norma.smith@leg.wa.gov; larry.springer@leg.wa.gov; derek.stanford@leg.wa.gov; monica.stonier@leg.wa.gov; pat.sullivan@leg.wa.gov; dean.takko@leg.wa.gov; gael.tarleton@leg.wa.gov; david.taylor@leg.wa.gov; steve.tharinger@leg.wa.gov; dave.upthegrove@leg.wa.gov; kevin.vandewege@leg.wa.gov; brandon.vick@leg.wa.gov; maureen.walsh@leg.wa.gov; judy.warnick@leg.wa.gov; jt.wilcox@leg.wa.gov; sharon.wylie@leg.wa.gov; hans.zeiger@leg.wa.gov


Subject: Oppose HB1495 and HB1496 – Tribal Access to State Lands and Hunting Enforcement

Representative Shelly Short
Representative Joel Kretz

Dear Legislators:

I am writing to respectfully request that you oppose:
HB1495 - AN ACT Relating to access of tribal members to state lands; and
HB1496 - AN ACT Relating to hunting-related enforcement actions involving tribal members.

While I do hold the Washington State Indian Tribes in high regard, I am concerned that both of these Bills are vague, and will result in prejudiced consequences including additional stress on Washington’s limited resources. HB1495 would give preferential treatment to tribal members that would not be available to any other class of citizens. HB1496 would remove jurisdiction from Washington State law enforcement personnel in at least some areas where they now have jurisdiction; they would be required to surrender it exclusively to tribal authorities when a tribal member is involved.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.

Best Regards,

[bigtex]

I have some issues with the enforcement bill still. Under RCW 77 “ex officio fish and wildlife officers” can enforce state fish and wildlife laws, including on non-tribal members. These officers are city cops, county deputies, troopers, some federal officers, etc. Under this term tribal officers can obtain ex officio status if WDFW and the tribe enter into an agreement, to date no agreement with a tribe has been obtained.

In the substitute bill:
(3) To maximize efficiency and mutual benefit in hunting enforcement, cooperative management and mutual law enforcement assistance agreements agreed to by tribes and the department or local law enforcement agency are hereby considered legally binding, and encouraged, on open and unclaimed lands where a tribe has a treaty or other federally recognized right to hunt.

Hopefully if the tribes and WDFW enter into such mutual LE assistance agreements it doesn’t allow tribal officers to act as ex officio officers. If it does, then tribal officers could enforce WDFW regs on non-tribal members.

[Northway]

I just sent a message to both my representatives opposing these House Bills.

[bearpaw]

Hopefully if the tribes and WDFW enter into such mutual LE assistance agreements it doesn’t allow tribal officers to act as ex officio officers. If it does, then tribal officers could enforce WDFW regs on non-tribal members.

I see other issues that I disagree with in these bills. Please explain why that specifically is a problem?

[bobcat]

Isn't contacting our representatives a waste of time in regards to these two bills? According to a post in the other thread on this topic, both of these bills are already law! So I'm a little confused on this. Does anyone know what the purpose of these two bills are if they don't change anything?

Here's the post from the other thread:

A response I received today from Rep. Jan Angel.

I checked in to this as I thought this was new legislation –it is not.  It is already current law and it appears it was offered for clarity.  I will watch as if it is amended in any way that opens other doors I will take appropriate action.  Thanks for your e-mail –these bills do not appear to really even be necessary.  Rep. Jan Angel

[bigtex]

Hopefully if the tribes and WDFW enter into such mutual LE assistance agreements it doesn’t allow tribal officers to act as ex officio officers. If it does, then tribal officers could enforce WDFW regs on non-tribal members.

I see other issues that I disagree with in these bills. Please explain why that specifically is a problem?

If tribal officers obtain ex officio status they can enforce fish and wildlife laws on non-tribal members.

Do you want a Puyallup Tribal Officer to have the authority to cite a non-tribal member for fishing closed season when all WDFW could do with a tribal member is call the tribe?

[Green broke]

Would that not be a two way street if they entered into a binding agreement?

[bearpaw]

Isn't contacting our representatives a waste of time in regards to these two bills? According to a post in the other thread on this topic, both of these bills are already law! So I'm a little confused on this. Does anyone know what the purpose of these two bills are if they don't change anything?

Here's the post from the other thread:

A response I received today from Rep. Jan Angel.

I checked in to this as I thought this was new legislation –it is not.  It is already current law and it appears it was offered for clarity.  I will watch as if it is amended in any way that opens other doors I will take appropriate action.  Thanks for your e-mail –these bills do not appear to really even be necessary.  Rep. Jan Angel

This is what I recieved from someone who knows more than I do:

Representative Angel is not correct.  These do not exist in law.  They are treaty rights.  This issue dates way back to before Washington was a state.  The Territorial Governor at that time, Isaac Stevens, who signed many treaties at that time.  These treaty took tribal lands, put them on reservations, and gave them hunting and fishing rights on lands off the reservation.  These treaties went to court and we are where we are now.  The courts have determined what hunting and fishing treaty rights are, not law.  These are considered treaties with sovereign nations and is an issue between the feds and the tribes.  Any state interference to try to clarify things will muddy the waters more and make things way worse.  These rights exiast because of treaties, not law.  Enabling their rights further in state law give the tribes double rights from the feds and the state.

[bobcat]

Thanks for the information, Dale. Very helpful, mystery solved.

[bearpaw]

So provided that is true, and I have no reason to doubt that, we definitely do not need state laws granting additional rights and making the tribal issue more complicated.

Look at the list of legislators sponsoring those bills, I bet several have the tribes listed as large donors in their election campaigns.

[Hunter4Life]

Hans Dunshee, public enemy number one to the hunting community, is a sponsor on both bills.  He has received huge money from the tribes.  Dunshee has been HSUS "Legislator of the Year" several times and is in bed with the animal-rights community.

We do not need legislation to clarify something the state can't clarify.  If these bills pass, both will eventually wind up in court due to their vaguenuss.  Look at SHB 1495.  What defines a public safety issue?  Try having the state deny access due to a "public safety" issue and I bet bottom dollar the tribes take this to court.  Bad, bad news.