GONZÁLEZ, J.
¶ 1 We are asked to decide whether Washington State has the power to prosecute an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation living on the Quinault Indian Nation's reservation for failing to register with the county sheriff as a sex offender. We find the State has that power and affirm.
¶ 2 Howard Shale is an enrolled member of the Yakama Nation. He has family in the Quinault Indian Nation as well. In 1997, Shale was convicted of raping a child under 12 in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 2241(c). After Shale was released from prison, he moved to Seattle and registered as a sex offender with the King County sheriff.
¶ 3 In 2012, a Jefferson County sheriff's detective began investigating whether Shale
¶ 4 Shale moved to dismiss the charges, arguing that "Jefferson County has no jurisdiction for the charged crime, as it is alleged to [have been] committed by a tribal member in Indian Country." Clerk's Papers (CP) at 3.
¶ 5 Shale stipulated to the police records and was convicted at a bench trial. Shale appealed, initially raising only two assignments of error: that "[t]he trial court lacked jurisdiction because Mr. Shale is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe and his offense occurred on the Quinault reservation" and "[t]he trial court erred by finding Mr. Shale guilty and sentencing him for failure to register as a sex offender." Appellant's Opening Br. at 1. A Court of Appeals commissioner considered the appeal on the merits and affirmed. Ruling Affirming J. & Sentence (No. 44654-5-II) at 3-4. Shale successfully moved to modify the Commissioner's ruling, and, after another round of briefing where Shale raised several new issues,
¶ 6 Until the 1950s, "criminal offenses by Indians in Indian country were subject to only federal or tribal jurisdiction," not state. State v. Cooper, 130 Wn.2d 770, 773, 928 P.2d 406 (1996) (citing Washington v. Confederated Bands & Tribes of the Yakima Indian Nation, 439 U.S. 463, 470, 99 S.Ct. 740, 58 L.Ed.2d 740 (1979) (Yakima Indian Nation)). States had little lawful authority on tribal lands — so little that the United States Supreme Court observed that "[t]he policy of leaving Indians free from state jurisdiction and control is deeply rooted in the Nation's history." Rice v. Olson, 324 U.S. 786, 789, 65 S.Ct. 989, 89 L.Ed. 1367 (1945)
¶ 7 The formal relationship between the states and the tribal nations changed dramatically in 1953, when Congress enacted Public Law 280 (Pub. L. No. 83-280, 67 Stat. 588 (1953)). That act required some states and authorized others to "assume[]... jurisdiction over Indians" within a State's borders. Paul, 53 Wash.2d at 791, 337 P.2d 33. In 1957, our state "opted for state jurisdiction... for any tribe that would give its consent." DUANE CHAMPAGNE & CAROLE GOLDBERG, CAPTURED JUSTICE: NATIVE NATIONS AND PUBLIC LAW 280 at 17-18 (2012) (citing Yakima Indian Nation, 439 U.S. 463, 99 S.Ct. 740); see also LAWS OF 1957, ch. 240. Soon afterwards, a group purporting to represent the Quinault Tribal Council requested the State assume civil and criminal jurisdiction over the Quinault reservation, and Governor Rosellini, on behalf of the State, agreed. Quinault Tribe of Indians v. Gallagher, 368 F.2d 648, 652 (9th Cir.1966).
¶ 8 In 1963, the state "assert[ed] nonconsensual civil and criminal jurisdiction over all Indian country with certain exceptions" not relevant here. Cooper, 130 Wash.2d at 773, 928 P.2d 406 (citing ch. 37.12 RCW); CHAMPAGNE & GOLDBERG, supra, at 17-18. The legislature may have been motivated by an attorney general report that concluded few of the tribes at the time had tribal judicial systems prepared for the change. See Allen Lane Carr & Stanley M. Johnson, Comment, Extent of Washington's Criminal Jurisdiction over Indians, 33 WASH. L. REV. & ST. B. J. 289, 292 n. 16 (1958) (citing Richard F. Broz, Office of Att'y Gen., Legal Problems Concerning Indians and Their Rights under Federal and State Laws) (Oct. 20, 1954) (unpublished manuscript). While the available legislative history of RCW 37.12.010 is sparse, there was debate on the senate floor on a proposed amendment that would have conditioned acceptance of jurisdiction on a promise of reimbursement to the affected counties for the costs associated with the assumption of jurisdiction from the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs. SENATE JOURNAL, 38th Leg., Reg. Sess., at 213 (Wash. 1963). This amendment may have been inspired by the fact that Public Law 280 did not include "any federal funding support for the states' new law enforcement and criminal justice duties." CHAMPAGNE & GOLDBERG, supra, at 13. The amendment failed, and Governor Rosellini signed the bill into law.
¶ 9 Soon afterwards, our State began to reconsider its broad, nonconsensual assertion of authority over Indian tribes. In 1965, at the request of the Quinault Indian Nation, Governor Rosellini attempted to withdraw his early acceptance of state jurisdiction and return jurisdiction to the federal government. Comenout v. Burdman, 84 Wn.2d 192, 198, 525 P.2d 217 (1974). This return of jurisdiction from the state to the federal government in the aftermath of Public Law 280 is commonly referred to as "retrocession." E.g., id. Three years later, Congress passed legislation that explicitly allowed states to request to retrocede previously claimed jurisdiction over tribes to the federal government and required tribal consent for future extension of state jurisdiction over Indians and Indian tribes. Cooper, 130 Wash.2d at 774, 928 P.2d 406 (citing 25 U.S.C. §§ 1321-1323); Pub. L. 90-284, 82 Stat. 77; 33 Fed. Reg. 17339 (1968). The 1968 act did not invalidate prior assumptions of state jurisdiction. Cooper, 130 Wash.2d at 774, 928 P.2d 406 (citing In re Estate of Cross, 126 Wn.2d 43, 47, 891 P.2d 26 (1995)).
¶ 10 Setting up the question we need to answer today, the federal government accepted only partial retrocession. Comenout,
¶ 11 Some decades later, the United States Supreme Court concluded that the tribal courts of one tribe did not have jurisdiction over members of other tribes. In response, Congress enacted legislation "permitting a tribe to bring certain tribal prosecutions against nonmember Indians .... [by] enlarg[ing] the tribes' own `powers of self-government'" to include "`exercis[ing] criminal jurisdiction over all Indians,' including nonmembers." United States v. Lara, 541 U.S. 193, 198, 124 S.Ct. 1628, 158 L.Ed.2d 420 (2004) (quoting 25 U.S.C. § 1301(2) and citing Duro v. Reina, 495 U.S. 676, 110 S.Ct. 2053, 109 L.Ed.2d 693 (1990); Act of Oct. 28, 1991, Pub L. 102-137, 105 Stat. 646). This legislation was upheld by the court in Lara on the theory that Congress has the power to "relax[] restrictions on the bounds of the inherent tribal authority that the United States recognizes." Id. at 207, 124 S.Ct. 1628. Nothing in the act itself addressed whether this post-Duro tribal jurisdiction is exclusive of any state jurisdiction.
¶ 12 In 2008, our Court of Appeals partially synthesized this history and ruled that "except for the enumerated categories listed in RCW 37.12.010, the State lacks criminal jurisdiction over members of the Quinault Tribe while on tribal lands within the reservation." State v. Pink, 144 Wn.App. 945, 952, 185 P.3d 634 (2008) (citing Cooper, 130 Wash.2d at 774, 928 P.2d 406). Pink was a member of the Quinault Indian Nation, and the court had no occasion to consider whether the State lacked criminal jurisdiction over members of other tribes while on Quinault tribal lands. In 2012, the Washington Legislature passed a bill that formalized a process for full or partial retrocession of state jurisdiction over members of a tribe back to the federal government. LAWS OF 2012, ch. 48, codified as RCW 37.12.160-.180.
¶ 13 It is against this backdrop that we consider the question presented: whether the State has jurisdiction to prosecute Shale, a member of the Yakama Nation, for failing to register as a sex offender while living on the Quinault reservation. We review jurisdictional questions de novo. State v. Jim, 173 Wn.2d 672, 678, 273 P.3d 434 (2012) (citing State v. Squally, 132 Wn.2d 333, 340, 937 P.2d 1069 (1997)). Both the state and a tribe may have jurisdiction in any given criminal case, and prosecution by one does not bar the other from also charging an offender with a crime arising out of the same conduct. State v. Moses, 145 Wn.2d 370, 374, 37 P.3d 1216 (2002) (citing State v. Schmuck, 121 Wn.2d 373, 381, 850 P.2d 1332 (1993)). Washington's assumption of criminal jurisdiction provides in most relevant part:
RCW 37.12.010 (reviser's note omitted). This statute limits state jurisdiction over crimes committed on trust or allotment land within reservation borders. See State v. Clark, 178 Wn.2d 19, 25, 308 P.3d 590 (2013).
¶ 14 We find the State does have criminal jurisdiction in this case. Asserting jurisdiction is consistent with the "`two independent but related barriers'" that the United States Supreme Court observes limit "the assertion of state authority over tribal reservations." Three Affiliated Tribes of Fort Berthold Reservation v. Wold Eng'g, PC, 467 U.S. 138, 147, 104 S.Ct. 2267, 81 L.Ed.2d 113 (1984) (quoting White Mountain Apache Tribe v. Bracker, 448 U.S. 136, 142, 100 S.Ct. 2578, 65 L.Ed.2d 665 (1980)). "First, a particular exercise of state authority may be foreclosed because it would undermine `the right of reservation Indians to make their own laws and be ruled by them.'" Id. (internal quotation marks omitted) (quoting White Mountain, 448 U.S. at 142, 100 S.Ct. 2578); see also Yakima Indian Nation, 439 U.S. at 470-71, 99 S.Ct. 740 (quoting Williams v. Lee, 358 U.S. 217, 219-20, 79 S.Ct. 269, 3 L.Ed.2d 251 (1959)); Clark, 178 Wash.2d at 26, 308 P.3d 590. "Second, state authority may be pre-empted by incompatible federal law." Wold, 467 U.S. at 147, 104 S.Ct. 2267 (citing White Mountain, 448 U.S. at 142, 100 S.Ct. 2578).
¶ 15 We are not persuaded that prosecuting Shale infringes on the right of the tribe to make its own laws and be ruled by them. No treaty protection against state jurisdiction is asserted. The tribe is free to bring its own prosecution if it wishes, and there is nothing in the record that suggests the tribe feels that this prosecution infringes on its rights. Allowing the State to assert jurisdiction is consistent with United States Supreme Court precedent. For example, the high court has found that imposing Washington state tax law on nonmember Indians living on a reservation does not undermine tribal sovereignty. The court observed:
Washington v. Confederated Tribes of Colville Indian Reservation, 447 U.S. 134, 160-61, 100 S.Ct. 2069, 65 L.Ed.2d 10 (1980); accord Montana v. United States, 450 U.S. 544, 565-66, 101 S.Ct. 1245, 67 L.Ed.2d 493 (1981) ("[T]he inherent sovereign powers of an Indian tribe do not extend to the activities of nonmembers of the tribe.") Similarly, we have recently held that it does not infringe on a tribe's right to self-rule to respect a tribal enterprise's consent to state court jurisdiction. Outsource Servs. Mgmt., LLC v. Nooksack Bus. Corp., 181 Wn.2d 272, 277, 333 P.3d 380 (2014).
¶ 16 We also note that the tribe is very concerned about sexual assault and may well welcome the State's assistance in prosecuting unregistered sex offenders who come to its land. The Quinault Indian Nation's criminal code states that "[a]n astounding thirty percent of Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetimes. Tribal nations are disproportionately affected by violent crime and Sex Offenses in particular from both Indian and Non-Indian perpetrators." State's Resp. to Appellant's Suppl. Br. App. A (Quinault Tribal Code § 12.11.103). "According to federal health statistics, one in every four Native girls and one in every seven Native boys will be sexually abused." Virginia Davis & Kevin Washburn, Sex Offender Registration in Indian Country, 6 OHIO ST. J. CRIM. L. 3, 3 (2008) (citing United States Department of Health and Human Service's Indian Health Service Child Abuse Project). In this case, a tribal officer assisted in the criminal investigation, which suggests the tribe knew about the prosecution, had an opportunity to intervene, and made the deliberate decision not to. In the absence of evidence in the record that the tribe feels this prosecution undermines its sovereignty, we conclude that this prosecution does not undermine the tribe's ability to make its own laws and be ruled by them.
¶ 17 Second, whether state authority is preempted by incompatible federal law primarily turns on the scope of the authority that remained after the federal government accepted partial retrocession of jurisdiction over the Quinault Indian Nation, which, in this case, largely depends on the meaning of RCW 37.12.010, since the federal acceptance of retrocession was subject to that statute. 34 Fed. Reg. 14288.
¶ 18 We affirm the courts below and hold that the State has jurisdiction to prosecute Shale for failure to register as a sex offender while living on the Quinault reservation.
WE CONCUR: MADSEN, C.J., JOHNSON, OWENS, FAIRHURST, STEPHENS, WIGGINS, McCLOUD, and YU, JJ.