Salinas, Merkley reintroduce bill to remove consent decree

WASHINGTON -- U.S. Rep. Andrea Salinas and U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley introduced legislation to restore traditional hunting and fishing rights for the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, they announced on Friday, Feb. 21.

The House version of the bill is cosponsored by Suzanne Bonamici, Val Hoyle and Janelle Bynum. The Senate version is cosponsored by Ron Wyden.

 Grand Ronde is the only federally recognized Tribe in the country bound by a consent decree, which limits where, when and how much Tribal members are allowed to hunt and fish on their traditional lands.

If passed, this legislation would allow the Tribe to return to federal court to request the termination or modification of their current consent decree with the state of Oregon, Tribal Council Chairwoman Cheryle A. Kennedy said.

“The Tribe was forced to sign the decree in 1985, when its federal status was restored,” she said. “For nearly 40 years, the consent decree has placed unfair and unjust conditions on the Grand Ronde Tribe’s sovereignty. At this point the Grand Ronde Tribe is the only Tribe in the nation with these restrictions. The introduction of this legislation brings this issue to light and presents us with the first step in righting this historic wrong. We’re grateful to congresswoman Salinas and our delegation for bringing this issue forward.”

Salinas agreed.  

“For decades, members of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde have been unable to freely hunt and fish on their ancestral lands – all because of an unfair consent decree they were forced to sign,” she said. “My legislation would rectify this injustice by allowing the Tribe to renegotiate and come to a new agreement. I'm grateful for the partnership of the Grand Ronde Tribal Council and my Oregon colleagues as we continue to right the wrongs of the past.”

 Merkley introduced a similar bill in 2020 that passed the Senate but not the House.

“The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde were forced to give up their traditional ability to hunt, fish and gather on Tribal land as the price of restoring their homelands,” he said. “This historic injustice has stood for far too long. Our legislation is critical to remove federal restrictions on the Grand Ronde and allow them to fully engage in these traditional activities once more.”

 Wyden agreed.

“The historic injustices inflicted by the federal government on the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde are long overdue for reversal and repair,” he said. “This bill would help to achieve those objectives by restoring their abilities to hunt, fish and gather food on their ancestral lands without government overreach and intervention. I will keep partnering with the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde and the other eight federally recognized Tribes in Oregon for justice that protects Tribal sovereignty.”

 Bonamici called the consent decree a shameful remnant of past U.S. government efforts to undermine Tribal sovereignty. 

“I’m grateful to join my Oregon colleagues on this effort to correct this historic injustice,” she said. 

 Hoyle and Bynum also expressed their strong support.

 In December 2023, Salinas and Merkley’s legislation restoring Grand Ronde’s right to pursue land claims and compensation was signed into law. The Grand Ronde Reservation Act Amendment was the first piece of legislation introduced by Rep. Salinas as a member of Congress, as well as her first bill to become law. It corrected an error introduced into the Grand Ronde Reservation Act in 1994, when the Tribe accepted a 240-acre parcel of land in exchange for an 84-acre parcel that was mistakenly left out of a 1904 sale of lands to the Tribe on the eastern edge of the Reservation.