6. Are there any limits to state authority under Public Law 280?
States may not apply laws related to such matters as environmental control, land use,
gambling, and licenses if those laws are part of a general state regulatory scheme. Public
Law 280 gave states only law enforcement and civil judicial authority, not regulatory
matters, particularly property held in trust by the United States and federally guaranteed
hunting, trapping, and fishing rights. The state cannot tax on the reservations. The United
States Supreme Court has interpreted Public law 280 as a statute designed to open state
courts to civil and criminal actions involving reservation Indians, not to subject reservations
to the full range of state regulation. Finally, there are some matters so central to the very
definition of the tribe, such as enrollment and certain domestic relations matters, that even
state courts may be excluded from hearing such matters.