Felix Clary
ICT + Tulsa World
TAHLEQUAH, Okla. — Cherokee Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. met with Tahlequah’s mayor Thursday to sign the kind of agreement he thinks could begin to resolve strife over tribal license plates.
The agreement, one of 30 the Cherokee Nation has entered into with Oklahoma municipalities on reservation land, ensures revenue sharing from traffic citations issued to tribal citizens, giving the city all but $30 of every ticket written by a tribal police officer.
The McGirt v. Oklahoma ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020 affirmed tribal sovereignty over tribal citizens in much of the state, a decision that has also set precedent in civil matters such as traffic citations.
Gov. Kevin Stitt has responded with concerns that include losing revenue from traffic citations and motor vehicle registrations involving tribal citizens.
Agreements like the one signed in the ceremony Thursday could be a simple way to assuage those concerns, Hoskin said in Tahlequah.
“Irrespective of whether we have an agreement of any sort in place in any particular community within our reservation, it is important to understand that Cherokee Nation has a comprehensive criminal code substantially similar to the state of Oklahoma’s code,” Hoskin said.
“This means that wild and irresponsible claims that tribal citizens are not subject to traffic laws are simply false.”
Six tribes whose reservation boundaries have been deemed still intact have noted that Oklahoma municipalities can still enforce traffic laws through cross-deputization agreements with tribal police.
After an appellate ruling in a civil lawsuit challenging the city of Tulsa’s authority to cite a tribal citizen for a traffic violation, Mayor G.T. Bynum expressed a desire for discussions with tribal leaders to “work through all those issues together — the city and the tribes — and resolve any concerns.”
Cherokee Deputy Chief Bryan Warner said Thursday in Tahlequah that he shares Hoskin’s confidence in the ability of tribal and city police forces to collaborate, noting the ongoing revenue stream for municipalities.
“We want to make sure that people understand how much we value our government-to-government relationships because it is very important that we continue to partner with our neighbors across the reservation,” Warner said.
Other cities to sign similar agreements with the Cherokee Nation include Adair, Bernice, Chelsea, Colcord, Foyil, Gore, Hulbert, Jay, Locust Grove, Muldrow, Muskogee, Owasso, Pryor, Salina, Stilwell, Talala, Verdigris, Vinita, Warner, Watts, West Siloam Springs and Westville.
“In accordance with the Oklahoma Legislature’s compact extension and state law, the Cherokee Nation’s car tag compact was extended in August and does not expire until Dec. 31, 2024,” Hoskin said. “Our current Motor Vehicle Tag Compact has stood for two decades as a model of successful collaboration between our tribe and the state, which is precisely why the Legislature chose to override Gov. Stitt’s veto of our continued partnership.”
This story is co-published by the Tulsa World and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Oklahoma area.
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