HELENA — Lake County wants the state to pay the nearly $2 million a year the county pays to prosecute felony crimes committed on the Flathead Indian Reservation.
Lee Newspapers of Montana reports that Republican Rep. Greg Hertz of Polson is sponsoring a bill that would have the state bear the financial burden of prosecuting crimes committed on the reservation. The House Judiciary Committee took no action on the bill Tuesday.
Lake County and the reservation, which is home to members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, operate under a federal law that says the county has jurisdiction over felonies on the reservation within county borders.
Lake County commissioners earlier this year passed a resolution of intent to withdraw from the federal law, saying they don’t have the money to pay for the prosecution.