BANGOR DAILY NEWS • May 4, 2021
A long-awaited debate on whether Maine should alter its relationships with the tribes in the state appears to be delayed until next legislative session. Judiciary Committee members last year approved three bills that would give tribes more authority over their lands, taxation, hunting, natural resources, criminal jurisdiction and more. But those bills died when that lame-duck Legislature adjourned, and the committee was set for a day of hearings on three separate bills to begin today. However, it appears those bills will now be taken up next session, according to Penobscot Nation ambassador Maulian Dana. The state’s side of a 1980 settlement between the Penobscot Nation and the Passamaquoddy Tribes, which altered state and federal law for the four Wabanaki tribes going forward, set up a trust fund and returned 300,000 acres of land to the tribes.