Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-59a

Current with legislation from the 2024 Regular and Special Sessions.

Section 47-59a - Connecticut Indians; citizenship, civil rights, land rights

(a) It is hereby declared the policy of the state of Connecticut to recognize that all resident Indians of qualified Connecticut tribes are considered to be full citizens of the state and they are hereby granted all the rights and privileges afforded by law, that all of Connecticut's citizens enjoy. It is further recognized that said Indians have certain special rights to tribal lands as may have been set forth by treaty or other agreements.

(b) The state of Connecticut further recognizes that the indigenous tribes, the Schaghticoke, the Paucatuck Eastern Pequot, the Mashantucket Pequot, the Mohegan and the Golden Hill Paugussett are self-governing entities possessing powers and duties over tribal members and reservations. Such powers and duties include the power to:

(1) Determine tribal membership and residency on reservation land;

(2) determine the tribal form of government;

(3) regulate trade and commerce on the reservation;

(4) make contracts; and

(5) determine tribal leadership in accordance with tribal practice and usage.

Conn. Gen. Stat. § 47-59a

(P.A. 73-660, S. 1, 11; P.A. 89-368, S. 16.)

Cited. 176 C. 318; 180 C. 474; 217 C. 612; 231 C. 563; 243 C. 115. Although section recognizes the right of tribes to select their own leaders, it does not provide that leadership disputes may be settled through means that violate state criminal statutes. 263 C. 602. Cited. 18 CA 4; 22 CA 229; judgment reversed, see 217 Conn. 612. "Rights and privileges" include access to state's courts, and tribe's initiation of summary process action in state court constitutes consent to the court's jurisdiction. 138 CA 204. Subsec. (a): "Rights and privileges" must include access to the state's courts; court properly exercised subject matter jurisdiction to adjudicate summary process action involving eviction from reservation land where plaintiffs, by initiating action, consented to court's jurisdiction and the court's exercise of jurisdiction did not interfere with the Schaghticoke Indians' right to self-governance or infringe on any tribal laws or adjudicative authority of the Schaghticoke Indians. 138 Conn.App. 204.