COMPACTS, CONTRACTS & AGREEMENTS

Compacts, contracts and agreements have been used successfully to address issues of mutual interest between the State of Oklahoma and Oklahoma's Indian Nations. By virtue of 74 O.S. Ch. 35A - 1221 (C), Cross-Deputization agreements, Gaming compacts, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), and Motor Vehicle Licenses are negotiated and executed between the Governor and Oklahoma federally recognized tribal governments and then must be reviewed and ratified by the Joint Committee on State Tribal Relations before being filed with the Secretary of State. The following list indicates the type of agreement, Secretary of State document number and filing or effective date.

CROSS-DEPUTIZATION
GAMING
TANF
TOBACCO
MOTOR FUELS
MOTOR VEHICLE LICENSE

CROSS-DEPUTIZATION
The presence of both tribal and non-tribal lands in Oklahoma presents many jurisdictional concerns to the law enforcement community. In order to address the uncertainties and to maximize law enforcement resources, cross-deputization agreements have been executed between tribal governments, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and local city/county governments. Cross-deputization agreements basically allow one of the agreeing parties to deputize or "commission" a law enforcement officer employed by one of the other parties to the agreement. Such "commission" grants the officer the same law enforcement authority as officers of the commissioning agency. These agreements have been instrumental in increasing law enforcement protection, especially in rural areas of Oklahoma.

GAMING
The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA), Pub. L. 100-497, 25 U.S.C. - 497, 25 U.S.C. -2701 et seq.,
permits state-tribal compacts for certain Class III gaming activities on tribal lands within the state. Listed below are
gaming compacts executed in the State of Oklahoma to date.

TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE TO NEEDY FAMILIES (TANF)
On March 10, 1999, the State of Oklahoma and the Osage Nation entered into the first cooperative agreement for
the administration of a portion of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. The Osage Nation
administers the TANF program for all American Indian families residing in Osage County, Oklahoma.

TRIBAL BOXING
On February 17, 2005, the Peoria Tribe of Indians became the first tribal nation to enter into a tribal boxing compact with the State of Oklahoma.

TOBACCO
In Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Citizen Band of Potawatomi, 498 U.S. 505 (1991), the United States Supreme Court held that the doctrine of tribal sovereign immunity prevented the State of Oklahoma from taxing goods purchased by a tribal member on tribal land but is free to collect taxes on such sales to non-members of the tribe. Recognizing the need to develop a method to properly allocate tax revenues between the State of Oklahoma and the tribal governments, a tobacco tax compact system was implemented. The tobacco tax compact provides that the State of Oklahoma shall exempt all sales of tobacco products to and by the Tribe, and the Tribe agrees to make payments in lieu of state taxes.

MOTORFUELS
In Oklahoma Tax Commission v. Chickasaw Nation, 115 S.Ct. 2214 (1995), the Court found that Oklahoma's motor fuel tax laws in place at the time of the litigation could not be applied to sales of fuel by Indian tribes. In response to the decision, the State of Oklahoma revised the motor fuel tax law so that the tax could legally be applied to fuel sales on tribal lands to non-tribal members. The basic premise of the law allows federally recognized tribes to contract with the State to receive an apportionment of the annual gross motor fuel revenues collected by the State.

MOTOR VEHICLE LICENSE
A sovereign, federally recognized Indian tribe has the power and authority to issue motor vehicle license tags to its enrolled citizens living within its territorial boundaries, in accordance with the United States Supreme Court's decision in Sac & Fox Nation vs. Oklahoma Tax Commission, 508 U.S. 114 (1993). While 26 Oklahoma tribes issue motor vehicle license tags to its members, only one has made a compact with the State of Oklahoma.