MICSA Task Force Recommendations: An Explainer

The Task Force on Changes to the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Implementing Act (MICSA) was established in the First Regular Session of the 129th Maine State Legislature in 2019. Composed of 13 members (10 voting and three non-voting), the Task Force was directed to review the Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act and corresponding Micmac Settlement Act, make consensus recommendations, suggest legislation, and submit these findings in a report to the Joint Standing Committee on Judiciary.

The Task Force’s 10 voting members included two members of the Maine Senate, three members of the Maine House of Representatives, and five Chiefs (or their designees) of the Wabanaki Nations: the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, the Mi’kmaq Nation (“Aroostook Band of Micmacs” at the time), the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Motahkomikuk, the Passamaquoddy Tribe at Sipayik, and the Penobscot Nation. The three non-voting members included the Governor and Attorney General (or designees) along with the Maine Indian Tribal-State Commission director.

The Task Force held six public meetings from July-December 2019, before submitting their report to the Judiciary Committee in January 2020. The report contains 22 consensus recommendations grouped by subject area, as well as background leading up to the 1980 Settlement Acts, discussion of the Task Force process, notes from each of the six meetings, and other related documentation included as appendices. At nearly 300 pages, the report is a robust document that details the Task Force process and provides legal discussion of each recommendation. The list below contains the 22 consensus recommendations, as printed on page ii of the Task Force report.

You can read the full report here. 

Alternative Dispute Resolution and Tribal-State Collaboration and Consultation

Consensus Recommendation #1 
Amend the Maine Implementing Act to establish an enhanced process for tribal-state collaboration and consultation as well as a process for alternative dispute resolution. Allow stakeholders to meet in January to delineate the contours of the Task Force’s general recommendation on these issues.

Criminal Jurisdiction

Consensus Recommendation #4
Enact and implement L.D. 766, An Act Regarding the Penobscot Nation’s and Passamaquoddy Tribe’s Authority To Exercise Jurisdiction under the Federal Tribal Law and Order Act of 2010 and the Federal Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013, as it is ultimately amended by agreement of the Tribes and the State, to amend the Maine Implementing Act to grant Tribal courts jurisdiction over certain domestic violence criminal offenses committed by non-Indian defendants on Tribal lands against Indian victims.

Fish & Game

Consensus Recommendation #9
Amend the Maine Implementing Act to relinquish the State of Maine’s jurisdiction with respect to the regulation of fishing and hunting by both Tribal and non-Tribal citizens on Tribal lands, except that, solely for conservation purposes, the State of Maine may regulate Tribal members engaged in such activities off Tribal lands to the extent permitted under general principles of federal Indian law and in a manner consistent with reserved Tribal treaty rights.

Land Use & Natural Resources

Consensus Recommendation #10 
Amend the Maine Implementing Act to restore and affirm the Tribes’ rights to exercise regulation of natural resources and land use on Tribal land to the fullest extent under federal Indian law.

Taxing Authority

Consensus Recommendation #13
Amend the Maine Implementing Act to recognize federal law providing that Tribal members who live on Tribal lands are not subject to state income tax for income earned on Tribal lands, using the definition of Tribal lands described in consensus recommendation #2.

Consensus Recommendation #16
Amend the Maine Implementing Act to recognize federal law providing that state and local governments have concurrent jurisdiction to tax non-members on Tribal lands unless their jurisdiction is preempted under a fact-specific, federal common law balancing test.

Gaming

Consensus Recommendation #17 
Amend the Maine Implementing Act to render the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act applicable in Maine.

Civic Jurisdiction

Consensus Recommendation #19
Amend the Maine Implementing Act to restore to the Tribal nations the exclusive authority to exercise civil adjudicatory jurisdiction over Indians and non-Indians on Tribal land. To the extent that a Tribal nation does not exercise, or terminates its exercise of exclusive civil adjudicatory jurisdiction, the State has exclusive jurisdiction over those matters.

Federal Law Provisions

Consensus Recommendation #20 
Amend the Maine Implementing Act to specify that, for the purposes of §6(h) and §16(b) of the federal Settlement Act, federal laws enacted for the benefit of Indian country do not affect or preempt the laws of the State of Maine.

Trust Land Acquisition

Consensus Recommendation #22
Amend the Maine Implementing Act so that, consistent with federal law, state and local governments do not have veto power over trust acquisitions and eliminate time constraints on trust land acquisitions, as included in the Maine Implementing Act.