TOPPENISH, Wash. -- More than 70 people turned out at the Yakama Nation's Winter Lodge just west of Toppenish on Friday for a special legislative hearing on the tribe's controversial proposal to unravel the state's civil and criminal jurisdiction over its people.
"It's something that I'm very interested in, in recovering the jurisdiction over our people that was taken from us," said Yakama Tribal Council Chairman Harry Smiskin.
Under a 1953 federal act known as Public Law 280, the state assumed jurisdiction over tribal members in key civil and criminal areas ranging from school attendance and juvenile delinquency to adoption proceedings.
But in 1968, Congress amended the federal law to include a so-called "retrocession" provision allowing states to return all or some jurisdiction over Indians back to the federal government, and essentially, to tribes.
Prior to the federal law, tribes shared jurisdiction over its members with the federal government.
Under the 1855 Treaty between the Yakamas and the United States, the federal government promised to provide services to the Yakamas, including a school and hospital. In the treaty, the tribe gave up more than 11 million acres of its original territory in exchange for the exclusive use of the 1.2 million-acre Yakama reservation and to retain its traditional hunting, fishing and food gathering practices in those ceded areas.
But their is no mention of state authority in the treaty, which was ratified by Congress well before Washington became a state.
"When you read the treaty, the federal government is required" to provide those services, Smiskin said. "It doesn't talk about the state. So I'm confident that as we go down the road, it's a wrong that occurred in 1953 that will be righted."
As a result, a "tribal retrocession" task force made of state lawmakers and tribal leaders across the state was created, sparking a series of workshops.
State Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, also a Tulalip tribal member, sponsored House Bill 1448, which would make it easier for tribes to regain civil and criminal authority in eight key areas: School attendance, public assistance, domestic relations, mental illness, juvenile delinquency, adoption proceedings, dependent children and operations of motor vehicles on public streets and roadways.
Each tribe would have to seek retrocession individually and obtain final approval from the federal government. Introduced during the 2011 Legislature, McCoy's measure didn't advance to the House floor.
Flanked by McCoy on Friday, Smiskin listened to tribal social service workers and tribal attorneys explain programs they already have in place.
Some lawmakers like Rep. Dave Taylor, R-Moxee, fear that retrocession would burden an already cash-strapped federal government that is running slim on resources.
"Will there be a breakdown in the level of service simply in the (lack) of manpower?" he questions. "How are we going to get from point A to point B, and what are the consequences?"
Smiskin, who helped the Colville tribe retrocede criminal authority over its members in 1986 when he was a police officer, said the Yakamas have the resources to assume total authority.
The tribe is nearly finished with the construction of a new jail to house both adults and juveniles and has its own police department and court system that includes a children's court.
"We do all those things already -- we're ready," Smiskin said. "One of the misnomers that people tend to have is that we're attempting to seek jurisdiction over non-Indians -- we're not. We never wanted that. All we want to do is make the Yakama reservation a safe community for all those on the reservation."

* Phil Ferolito can be reached at 509-577-7749 or pferolito@yakimaherald.com.