33.01.020 Legislative Findings

The Tribal Council finds that members within the Tribal Service Area own, enter and operate vehicles upon the Reservation, its highways, roads, streets, alleys and driveways, and through the exercise of such privilege derive substantial benefit from the Reservation highways, law enforcement, laws and ordinances of the Tribe, and governmental services and benefits provided by the tribal government. The Tribal Council further finds that the ownership and use of vehicles upon the Reservation by those who reside within the Reservation boundaries have a substantial and direct effect upon the economic security, health, welfare and general well-being of the Tribe, its members within the Tribal Service Area and that licensing and registration of such motor vehicles by the Tribe is a necessary and proper exercise of the sovereign authority of the Tribe, and that such ownership and use of vehicles upon the Reservation is deemed a consent to the civil legislative and adjudicatory jurisdiction of the Tribe and the Tribal Court over such persons for all purposes arising from such ownership and use. The Tribal Council further finds that registration and licensing of such vehicles operating within the Tribal Service Area is a proper and essential exercise of the governmental functions of the Tribe and that licensing and registration of such vehicles by the State of North Dakota infringes upon the right of the Tribe to make its own laws and be governed by them and threatens the political integrity and self-government interests of the Tribe.