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The choanoflagellate — a member of a group that is the closest living relative of all animals — has its own unique microbiome.
BERKELEY, Calif. — Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra Nevada is known for its towering tufa formations, abundant brine shrimp and black clouds of alkali flies uniquely adapted to the salty, arsenic- and cyanide-laced water.
University of California, Berkeley, researchers have now found another unusual creature lurking in the lake's briny shallows — one that could tell scientists about the origin of animals more than 650 million years ago.
The organism is a choanoflagellate, a microscopic, single-celled form of life that can divide and develop into multicellular colonies in a way that’s similar to how animal embryos form. It’s not a type of animal, however, but a member of a sister group to all animals. And as animals’ closest living relative, the choanoflagellate is a crucial model for the leap from one-celled to multicellular life.
Surprisingly, it harbors its own microbiome, making it the first choanoflagellate known to establish a stable physical relationship with bacteria, instead of solely eating them. As such, it’s one of the simplest organisms known to have a microbiome.
"Very little is known about choanoflagellates, and there are interesting biological phenomena that we can only gain insight into if we understand their ecology," said Nicole King, a UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cell biology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator who studies choanoflagellates as a model for what early life was like in ancient oceans.
Typically visible only through a microscope, choanoflagellates are often ignored by aquatic biologists, who instead focus on macroscopic animals, photosynthetic algae or bacteria. But their biology and lifestyle can give insight into creatures that existed in the oceans before animals evolved and that eventually gave rise to animals. This species in particular could shed light on the origin of interactions between animals and bacteria that led to the human microbiome.
"Animals evolved in oceans that were filled with bacteria," King said. "If you think about the tree of life, all organisms that are alive now are related to each other through evolutionary time. So if we study organisms that are alive today, then we can reconstruct what happened in the past."
King and her UC Berkeley colleagues described the organism — which they named Barroeca monosierra, after the lake — in a paper published online Aug. 14 in the journal mBio.
A beautiful colony
Nearly 10 years ago, then-UC Berkeley graduate student Daniel Richter came back from a climbing trip in the Eastern Sierra Nevada with a vial of Mono Lake water he'd casually collected along the way. Under the microscope, it was alive with choanoflagellates. Aside from brine shrimp, alkali flies and various species of nematode, few other forms of life have been reported to live in the inhospitable waters of the lake.
"It was just packed full of these big, beautiful colonies of choanoflagellates," King said. "I mean, they were the biggest ones we'd ever seen."
The colonies of what seemed to be close to 100 identical choanoflagellate cells formed a hollow sphere that twirled and spun as each individual cell kicked its flagella.
"One of the things that's interesting about them is that these colonies have a shape similar to the blastula — a hollow ball of cells that forms early in animal development," King said. "We wanted to learn more about it."
At the time, however, King was occupied with other species of choanos, as she calls them, so the Mono Lake choanos languished in the freezer until some students revived and stained them to look at their unusual, doughnut-shaped chromosomes. Surprisingly, there was also DNA inside the hollow colony where there should have been no cells. After further investigation, graduate student Kayley Hake determined that they were bacteria.
"The bacteria were a huge surprise. That just was fascinating," King said.
Hake also detected connective structures, called extracellular matrix, inside the spherical colony that were secreted by the choanos.
Only then did it occur to Hake and King that these might not be the remains of bacteria the choanos ate, but bacteria living and grazing on stuff secreted by the colony.
"No one had ever described a choanoflagellate with a stable physical interaction with bacteria," she said. "In our prior studies, we found that choanos responded to small bacterial molecules that were floating through the water, or [that] the choanos were eating the bacteria, but there was no case where they were doing anything that could potentially be a symbiosis. Or in this case, a microbiome."
King teamed up with Jill Banfield, a pioneer in metagenomics and a UC Berkeley professor of environmental science, policy and management and of earth and planetary science, to determine which bacterial species were in the water and inside the choanos. Metagenomics involves sequencing all the DNA in an environmental sample to reconstruct the genomes of the organisms living there.
After Banfield's lab identified the microbes in Mono Lake water, Hake created DNA probes to determine which ones were also inside the choanos. The bacterial populations were not identical, King said, so evidently some bacteria survive better than others inside the oxygen-starved lumen of the choanoflagellate colony. Hake determined that they were not there accidentally; they were growing and dividing. Perhaps they were escaping the toxic environment of the lake, King mused, or maybe the choanos were farming the bacteria to eat them.
Much of this is speculation, she admits. Future experiments should uncover how the bacteria interact with the choanoflagellates. Past work in her lab has already shown that bacteria act like an aphrodisiac to stimulate mating in choanoflagellates, and that bacteria can stimulate single-celled choanos to aggregate into colonies.
For her, the Mono Lake choanoflagellate will become another model system in which to study evolution, just like the choanos that live in splash pools on the island of Curaçao in the Caribbean — her main focus at the moment — and the choanos in pools at the North and South Poles. It might be a challenge to get more samples from Mono Lake, however. On a recent visit, only six of 100 samples contained these energetic microorganisms.
"I think there's a great deal more that needs to be done on the microbial life of Mono Lake, because it really underpins everything else about the ecosystem," King said. "I'm excited about B. monosierra as a new model for studying interactions between eukaryotes and bacteria. And I hope it tells us something about evolution. But even if it doesn't, I think it's a fascinating phenomenon."
In addition to King, Banfield, Hake and Richter, UC Berkeley co-authors of the paper include former doctoral student Patrick West, electron microscopist Kent McDonald and postdoctoral fellows Josean Reyes-Rivera and Alain Garcia De Las Bayonas. The work is supported by HHMI and the National Science Foundation.
Robert Sanders writes for the UC Berkeley News Center.
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LAKEPORT, Calif. — The new Lakeport Marshalls store opened its doors to the public on Thursday, welcoming a steady stream of customers throughout the day.
The store is located in one of three retail spaces in the former Kmart store building at 2017 S. Main St.
Tractor Supply is the other tenant of the space, with a third space still available.
A month ago, Marshalls announced the grand opening for the store, in the works since 2022.
The store offers a variety of items, including clothing, shoes, home decor and furniture, and kitchen supplies.
The city of Lakeport announced the store opening on its Facebook page, sharing pictures of customers lined up for when the doors opened.
Customers reported on Facebook that the store was so busy that they had waited in line for checkout for up to two hours.
By Thursday evening, while the parking lot remained full and the store was busy, the lines had grown smaller.
Store hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — A Lake County tribe’s plans to locate a massive casino project in Vallejo is meeting with resistance from tribes in that area as well as elected officials on the local, state and federal levels.
The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians is proposing to build a $700 million casino complex near I-80 and Highway 37 on a 128-acre site that was meant for open space and contains cultural sites sacred to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
On Thursday, a coalition of California tribes and elected officials forcefully denounced the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Department of the Interior for what the group called an “insufficient and inadequate” environmental assessment of Scotts Valley’s casino project.
At a press conference hosted by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in Sacramento, the group urged BIA to swiftly reject Scotts Valley’s attempt to build the casino off-reservation — 100 miles away from their homelands and on Patwin ancestral territory — highlighting the irreparable harm this project would have, including on cultural resources and environmental habitats.
At the press conference, Yocha Dehe Chairman Anthony Roberts — flanked by tribal members holding signs that said “Listen to tribal voices” and “Respect tribal sovereignty,” said his tribe was facing “one of the most severe challenges in decades.”
Roberts expressed his “extreme disappointment” with the Department of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs, who he said has ignored, excluded and mistreated his tribe for months as they’ve tried to weigh in on the decision making process.
“This unprecedented, distorted public process, an attempt at a secret land grab, would allow Scotts Valley from Clear Lake, 100 miles away, and its wealthy Las Vegas Casino investors to build a mega casino on our land. This mega casino has no basis in law, policy, or common sense. And the Patwin people and other tribes and officials here today will tell you that this is wrong, not only for the Patwin people, for California tribes, and an Indian country as a whole.” Roberts said
“The proposed development would directly impact numerous culturally sensitive and sacred Patwin sites. These sites carry the weight of history representing Patwin villages and our ancestors who regarded this land as their homeland. The proposed use of the restored lands exception for taking land into trust as part of the Scotts Valley project misuses the regulation's intended purpose and if applied in this manner, threaten the integrity of all tribes’ ancestral lands,” said Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation Chairman Charlie Wright during the press conference.
The Department of the Interior released the environmental assessment over the July 4 holiday weekend, Yocha Dehe tribal officials reported.
As a result, tribes, local governments and other stakeholders had to fight to extend the comment period from 30 to a mere 45 days.
Thursday’s press conference — held at the future California Indian Heritage Center site in Sacramento — took place on the last day of the 45-day comment period.
On July 23, the BIA held a public hearing over Zoom to take public input on the project.
During that hearing, Scotts Valley Tribal Chair Shawn Davis said the project would reverse the tribe’s history of displacement. He said it will include a casino as well as an administrative building to be the nerve center for tribal governance, along with 24 homes.
He said it’s not just a business venture but a cornerstone of self-sufficiency, and that will be a promise to future generations and would preserve cultural heritage. “We were thoughtful and deliberate in choosing this site in Vallejo,” he said.
Jesse Gonzalez, Scotts Valley’s vice chair, said the tribe had to demonstrate to BIA that it has a significant cultural connection to the Vallejo area. He said the tribe’s journey to pursue this project began a decade ago, and has been long and difficult.
However, during that meeting, elected officials from Vallejo, Solano and Yolo counties, other tribes and residents pushed back on the plan.
Then, as on Thursday, they faulted the environmental assessment for failing to take into account multiple issues, which they said included the destruction of Patwin cultural resources. Plans include bulldozing a chert quarry used by the Patwin people and sites where there are human remains.
Opponents said the environmental assessment also doesn’t address mitigation measures for the destruction of critical habitats for multiple endangered species, high-voltage power lines that cross through the proposed site and the impact of the casino on local traffic.
Scotts Valley’s casino project, which opponents said is largely funded by out-of-state donors, would defy the commitment of Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to protect the ability of every Native person to live safe and healthy lives in their homelands by upending lands that are recognized by California’s Native American Heritage Commission as Patwin ancestral territory.
The speakers at Thursday’s event are part of a larger and diverse coalition that is opposing Scotts Valley’s project.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, U.S. Representatives John Garamendi (D-CA-08) and Mike Thompson (D-CA-04) oppose this project.
“While I support tribes’ self-determination and economic development, I have and will continue to urge the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to follow precedent and well-established safeguards with respect to tribal gaming. A lack of meaningful engagement with impacted Tribes and other interested parties throughout this process would have lasting negative impacts on our community," Thompson said in a written statement.
As the expedited process continues, the group of speakers collectively asked concerned stakeholders to demand Interior Secretary Haaland establish a fair, transparent, and fact-based review process — while warning that an approval of the project would be felt across the state for years to come.
“We believe this casino would have devastating social, cultural, and environmental impacts to the communities and lands around Vallejo. Potential impacts to cultural resources, endangered species, and sensitive habitats that local tribes preserve. It must be taken seriously,” said Yolo County Supervisor Oscar Villegas at the press conference.
“As Chair of the Solano County Board of Supervisors, I am outraged by the obvious irregularities involving the structure, length and time of the Public Comment Period for the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Environmental Assessment. While we are very clearly on the record in opposition to the project itself, we are deeply troubled by what appears to be your agency showing favoritism to one recognized tribe over another,” said Mitch Mashburn, chair of the Solano County Board of Supervisors in a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Governor’s representative outlines opposition to Scotts Valley and Koi Nation projects
Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom joined the ranks of those opposing the Scotts Valley project.
In an Aug. 16 to Bryan Newland, assistant secretary of Indian Affairs, Matthew Lee, Gov. Newsom’s senior advisor for tribal negotiations and deputy legal affairs secretary, wrote that, on behalf of the governor, he was urging the U.S. Department of Interior not to move forward with Scotts Valley casino and tribal housing project in Solano County or the Koi Nation of Northern California’s proposed Shiloh Resort and Casino project in Sonoma County.
The Koi Nation, like Scotts Valley, is a Lake County tribe attempting to locate a casino project well out of their accepted historic territory. In the Koi’s case, they are proposing to build a project in Windsor, also claiming historic ties to the area. Like the Scotts Valley project, the Koi’s casino plan has drawn major opposition from other tribes and community members.
While recognizing the importance of taking land into trust for gaming, the letter said, “caution is warranted when considering the potential expansion of gaming to land that is not currently eligible for gaming. This is particularly true in California, where the voters who legalized tribal gaming were promised that such gaming would remain geographically limited.”
Lee wrote that the Koi Nation and Scotts Valley fail to establish sufficient historical connections to the locations outside of Lake County where they want to locate their projects, and fall far outside of the two tribes’ aboriginal homelands, which make them ineligible for a “restored lands” exception in federal law.
The “restored lands” exception of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows a casino off-reservation if a tribe can prove a historical connection to the land.
Opponents noted that the Department of the Interior has determined on three separate occasions that Scotts Valley lacks the significant historical connection to the Bay Area needed to acquire land eligible for gaming.
“The Windsor parcel does not fall within the Koi Nation’s aboriginal homeland: It lies approximately fifty miles, over winding mountain roads, from the Lake County region” where the Koi Nation has acknowledged that its ancestors had villages and sacred sites along the shores of Clear Lake “since time immemorial,” Lee’s letter explained.
The Scotts Valley project raises similar concerns, the letter said, noting that its aboriginal homeland also is modern-day Lake County, with the Scotts Valley Band lacking the “deep and enduring connection to the relevant territory” necessary under federal rules.
The letter said an 1851 treaty that purported to cede “a vast swath of the North Bay, Sacramento Valley, and Clear Lake regions” — couldn’t be relied upon. “Nineteenth-century treaties were hardly models of respect for tribal sovereignty, and one cannot safely assume that they accurately reflect the boundaries of tribes’ aboriginal homelands.”
Lee continued, “Governor Newsom has deep respect for tribal sovereignty, and he has been proud to restore tribes’ control over lands from which they have been dispossessed. Here, however, he is concerned by the prospect that the Department [of the Interior] might involve the ‘restored lands’ exception to support projects that are focused less on restoring the relevant tribes’ aboriginal homelands, and more on creating new gaming operations in desirable markets.”
The noted Newsom’s concern that the two projects are proceeding in a way that would sidestep the state, ignore the concerns of tribal governments and other local communities, and stretch the restored lands exception beyond its legal limits “while failing to adequately consider whether there might be a better way.
“On behalf of the Governor, I urge the Department not to move forward with these proposed projects,” Lee concluded.
Yocha Dehe’s comments on the environmental assessment will be released on Friday, Aug. 23.
More information on the project is available at www.protecttribalhomelands.com.
Two recent letters Yocha Dehe sent to BIA are also available at https://protecttribalhomelands.com/environmental-assessment/.
Email Elizabeth Larson atThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
The Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians is proposing to build a $700 million casino complex near I-80 and Highway 37 on a 128-acre site that was meant for open space and contains cultural sites sacred to the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation.
On Thursday, a coalition of California tribes and elected officials forcefully denounced the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Department of the Interior for what the group called an “insufficient and inadequate” environmental assessment of Scotts Valley’s casino project.
At a press conference hosted by the Yocha Dehe Wintun Nation in Sacramento, the group urged BIA to swiftly reject Scotts Valley’s attempt to build the casino off-reservation — 100 miles away from their homelands and on Patwin ancestral territory — highlighting the irreparable harm this project would have, including on cultural resources and environmental habitats.
At the press conference, Yocha Dehe Chairman Anthony Roberts — flanked by tribal members holding signs that said “Listen to tribal voices” and “Respect tribal sovereignty,” said his tribe was facing “one of the most severe challenges in decades.”
Roberts expressed his “extreme disappointment” with the Department of Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs, who he said has ignored, excluded and mistreated his tribe for months as they’ve tried to weigh in on the decision making process.
“This unprecedented, distorted public process, an attempt at a secret land grab, would allow Scotts Valley from Clear Lake, 100 miles away, and its wealthy Las Vegas Casino investors to build a mega casino on our land. This mega casino has no basis in law, policy, or common sense. And the Patwin people and other tribes and officials here today will tell you that this is wrong, not only for the Patwin people, for California tribes, and an Indian country as a whole.” Roberts said
“The proposed development would directly impact numerous culturally sensitive and sacred Patwin sites. These sites carry the weight of history representing Patwin villages and our ancestors who regarded this land as their homeland. The proposed use of the restored lands exception for taking land into trust as part of the Scotts Valley project misuses the regulation's intended purpose and if applied in this manner, threaten the integrity of all tribes’ ancestral lands,” said Kletsel Dehe Wintun Nation Chairman Charlie Wright during the press conference.
The Department of the Interior released the environmental assessment over the July 4 holiday weekend, Yocha Dehe tribal officials reported.
As a result, tribes, local governments and other stakeholders had to fight to extend the comment period from 30 to a mere 45 days.
Thursday’s press conference — held at the future California Indian Heritage Center site in Sacramento — took place on the last day of the 45-day comment period.
On July 23, the BIA held a public hearing over Zoom to take public input on the project.
During that hearing, Scotts Valley Tribal Chair Shawn Davis said the project would reverse the tribe’s history of displacement. He said it will include a casino as well as an administrative building to be the nerve center for tribal governance, along with 24 homes.
He said it’s not just a business venture but a cornerstone of self-sufficiency, and that will be a promise to future generations and would preserve cultural heritage. “We were thoughtful and deliberate in choosing this site in Vallejo,” he said.
Jesse Gonzalez, Scotts Valley’s vice chair, said the tribe had to demonstrate to BIA that it has a significant cultural connection to the Vallejo area. He said the tribe’s journey to pursue this project began a decade ago, and has been long and difficult.
However, during that meeting, elected officials from Vallejo, Solano and Yolo counties, other tribes and residents pushed back on the plan.
Then, as on Thursday, they faulted the environmental assessment for failing to take into account multiple issues, which they said included the destruction of Patwin cultural resources. Plans include bulldozing a chert quarry used by the Patwin people and sites where there are human remains.
Opponents said the environmental assessment also doesn’t address mitigation measures for the destruction of critical habitats for multiple endangered species, high-voltage power lines that cross through the proposed site and the impact of the casino on local traffic.
Scotts Valley’s casino project, which opponents said is largely funded by out-of-state donors, would defy the commitment of Department of the Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to protect the ability of every Native person to live safe and healthy lives in their homelands by upending lands that are recognized by California’s Native American Heritage Commission as Patwin ancestral territory.
The speakers at Thursday’s event are part of a larger and diverse coalition that is opposing Scotts Valley’s project.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, U.S. Representatives John Garamendi (D-CA-08) and Mike Thompson (D-CA-04) oppose this project.
“While I support tribes’ self-determination and economic development, I have and will continue to urge the Department of the Interior and the Bureau of Indian Affairs to follow precedent and well-established safeguards with respect to tribal gaming. A lack of meaningful engagement with impacted Tribes and other interested parties throughout this process would have lasting negative impacts on our community," Thompson said in a written statement.
As the expedited process continues, the group of speakers collectively asked concerned stakeholders to demand Interior Secretary Haaland establish a fair, transparent, and fact-based review process — while warning that an approval of the project would be felt across the state for years to come.
“We believe this casino would have devastating social, cultural, and environmental impacts to the communities and lands around Vallejo. Potential impacts to cultural resources, endangered species, and sensitive habitats that local tribes preserve. It must be taken seriously,” said Yolo County Supervisor Oscar Villegas at the press conference.
“As Chair of the Solano County Board of Supervisors, I am outraged by the obvious irregularities involving the structure, length and time of the Public Comment Period for the Scotts Valley Band of Pomo Indians Environmental Assessment. While we are very clearly on the record in opposition to the project itself, we are deeply troubled by what appears to be your agency showing favoritism to one recognized tribe over another,” said Mitch Mashburn, chair of the Solano County Board of Supervisors in a letter to the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Governor’s representative outlines opposition to Scotts Valley and Koi Nation projects
Last week Gov. Gavin Newsom joined the ranks of those opposing the Scotts Valley project.
In an Aug. 16 to Bryan Newland, assistant secretary of Indian Affairs, Matthew Lee, Gov. Newsom’s senior advisor for tribal negotiations and deputy legal affairs secretary, wrote that, on behalf of the governor, he was urging the U.S. Department of Interior not to move forward with Scotts Valley casino and tribal housing project in Solano County or the Koi Nation of Northern California’s proposed Shiloh Resort and Casino project in Sonoma County.
The Koi Nation, like Scotts Valley, is a Lake County tribe attempting to locate a casino project well out of their accepted historic territory. In the Koi’s case, they are proposing to build a project in Windsor, also claiming historic ties to the area. Like the Scotts Valley project, the Koi’s casino plan has drawn major opposition from other tribes and community members.
While recognizing the importance of taking land into trust for gaming, the letter said, “caution is warranted when considering the potential expansion of gaming to land that is not currently eligible for gaming. This is particularly true in California, where the voters who legalized tribal gaming were promised that such gaming would remain geographically limited.”
Lee wrote that the Koi Nation and Scotts Valley fail to establish sufficient historical connections to the locations outside of Lake County where they want to locate their projects, and fall far outside of the two tribes’ aboriginal homelands, which make them ineligible for a “restored lands” exception in federal law.
The “restored lands” exception of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows a casino off-reservation if a tribe can prove a historical connection to the land.
Opponents noted that the Department of the Interior has determined on three separate occasions that Scotts Valley lacks the significant historical connection to the Bay Area needed to acquire land eligible for gaming.
“The Windsor parcel does not fall within the Koi Nation’s aboriginal homeland: It lies approximately fifty miles, over winding mountain roads, from the Lake County region” where the Koi Nation has acknowledged that its ancestors had villages and sacred sites along the shores of Clear Lake “since time immemorial,” Lee’s letter explained.
The Scotts Valley project raises similar concerns, the letter said, noting that its aboriginal homeland also is modern-day Lake County, with the Scotts Valley Band lacking the “deep and enduring connection to the relevant territory” necessary under federal rules.
The letter said an 1851 treaty that purported to cede “a vast swath of the North Bay, Sacramento Valley, and Clear Lake regions” — couldn’t be relied upon. “Nineteenth-century treaties were hardly models of respect for tribal sovereignty, and one cannot safely assume that they accurately reflect the boundaries of tribes’ aboriginal homelands.”
Lee continued, “Governor Newsom has deep respect for tribal sovereignty, and he has been proud to restore tribes’ control over lands from which they have been dispossessed. Here, however, he is concerned by the prospect that the Department [of the Interior] might involve the ‘restored lands’ exception to support projects that are focused less on restoring the relevant tribes’ aboriginal homelands, and more on creating new gaming operations in desirable markets.”
The noted Newsom’s concern that the two projects are proceeding in a way that would sidestep the state, ignore the concerns of tribal governments and other local communities, and stretch the restored lands exception beyond its legal limits “while failing to adequately consider whether there might be a better way.
“On behalf of the Governor, I urge the Department not to move forward with these proposed projects,” Lee concluded.
Yocha Dehe’s comments on the environmental assessment will be released on Friday, Aug. 23.
More information on the project is available at www.protecttribalhomelands.com.
Two recent letters Yocha Dehe sent to BIA are also available at https://protecttribalhomelands.com/environmental-assessment/.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
Supporters argue AB 2138 would add a new tool to fighting the Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis in California.
Native American advocate organizations including Indigenous Justice and Native Sisters Circle gathered Wednesday in Sacramento to urge passage of AB 2138 that would grant peace officer status to tribal law enforcement.
The measure is aimed at increasing public safety on reservations by adding a new tool to confront California’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis.
Assemblymember James C. Ramos, the first and only California Native American elected to the legislature, authored the measure.
AB 2138 sponsors are the Yurok Tribe, California Indian Legal Services and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The measure received overwhelming bipartisan and unanimous support in the Assembly and Senate. Tribes from across the state have urged the state to grant peace officer status during their annual “Day of Action” as a means to prevent and better investigate MMIP-related cases.
Attorney General Rob Bonta, declared in his sponsorship letter:
“In 1953, the United States government passed Public Law 280 (“PL 280”), which shifted jurisdiction over some crimes occurring on tribal lands from the federal government to certain states, including California. However, PL 280 did not provide funding to the states or the tribes who took responsibility for public safety on tribal lands. Additionally, PL 280 has resulted in significant confusion over who has jurisdiction over certain crimes – the federal government, the state government, or the tribes. This jurisdictional confusion, together with the alarming rise in Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) cases in California, has eroded the trust of many tribal communities in our state’s criminal justice system.
“AB 2138 is a significant step toward ameliorating these problems. With the passage of AB 2138, eligible tribal police officers will be able to enforce California criminal law on tribal lands, for all crimes involving tribal members and non-tribal members alike. This bill empowers tribal governments with the tools they need to protect and serve their communities.”
“The devastating issue of MMIP has caused untold tragedy that often becomes long lingering ripples of grief and further tragedy. We can prevent this tragedy by enabling tribes the means to increase safety on their lands and mitigating the dangerous consequences of federal law PL 280,” Ramos said.
Morning Star Gali, founder of Indigenous Justice and a leading advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People victims and families said, “AB 2138 will lead to better outcomes in MMIP cases, allowing tribal police to act swiftly and effectively. The bill’s data collection and reporting requirements will provide critical insights into the scope of the MMIP crisis and the effectiveness of law enforcement responses.”
“Achieving state peace officer status for our qualified tribal officers has been an ongoing effort dating back to the early 1990s. The passage of AB 2138 will represent a significant step toward realizing this goal which is ultimately about creating safer tribal communities,” said Heather Hostler, executive director of California Indian Legal Services and a bill sponsor.
AB 2138 supporters include Blue Lake Rancheria, California Faculty Association, California Nations Indian Gaming Association, California Tribal Business Alliance, Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, Initiate Justice, Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition Inc., Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, Tejon Indian Tribe and Tule River Tribe.
Native American advocate organizations including Indigenous Justice and Native Sisters Circle gathered Wednesday in Sacramento to urge passage of AB 2138 that would grant peace officer status to tribal law enforcement.
The measure is aimed at increasing public safety on reservations by adding a new tool to confront California’s Missing and Murdered Indigenous People crisis.
Assemblymember James C. Ramos, the first and only California Native American elected to the legislature, authored the measure.
AB 2138 sponsors are the Yurok Tribe, California Indian Legal Services and California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
The measure received overwhelming bipartisan and unanimous support in the Assembly and Senate. Tribes from across the state have urged the state to grant peace officer status during their annual “Day of Action” as a means to prevent and better investigate MMIP-related cases.
Attorney General Rob Bonta, declared in his sponsorship letter:
“In 1953, the United States government passed Public Law 280 (“PL 280”), which shifted jurisdiction over some crimes occurring on tribal lands from the federal government to certain states, including California. However, PL 280 did not provide funding to the states or the tribes who took responsibility for public safety on tribal lands. Additionally, PL 280 has resulted in significant confusion over who has jurisdiction over certain crimes – the federal government, the state government, or the tribes. This jurisdictional confusion, together with the alarming rise in Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons (MMIP) cases in California, has eroded the trust of many tribal communities in our state’s criminal justice system.
“AB 2138 is a significant step toward ameliorating these problems. With the passage of AB 2138, eligible tribal police officers will be able to enforce California criminal law on tribal lands, for all crimes involving tribal members and non-tribal members alike. This bill empowers tribal governments with the tools they need to protect and serve their communities.”
“The devastating issue of MMIP has caused untold tragedy that often becomes long lingering ripples of grief and further tragedy. We can prevent this tragedy by enabling tribes the means to increase safety on their lands and mitigating the dangerous consequences of federal law PL 280,” Ramos said.
Morning Star Gali, founder of Indigenous Justice and a leading advocate for Missing and Murdered Indigenous People victims and families said, “AB 2138 will lead to better outcomes in MMIP cases, allowing tribal police to act swiftly and effectively. The bill’s data collection and reporting requirements will provide critical insights into the scope of the MMIP crisis and the effectiveness of law enforcement responses.”
“Achieving state peace officer status for our qualified tribal officers has been an ongoing effort dating back to the early 1990s. The passage of AB 2138 will represent a significant step toward realizing this goal which is ultimately about creating safer tribal communities,” said Heather Hostler, executive director of California Indian Legal Services and a bill sponsor.
AB 2138 supporters include Blue Lake Rancheria, California Faculty Association, California Nations Indian Gaming Association, California Tribal Business Alliance, Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, Initiate Justice, Picayune Rancheria of the Chukchansi Indians, Strong Hearted Native Women’s Coalition Inc., Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, Tejon Indian Tribe and Tule River Tribe.
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