Omaha Reservation - Current Issues

Current Issues

In December 2006, the Omaha Tribe issued notices to the seven liquor stores in Pender (which has a population of 1,000), as well as those in Rosalie and Walthill, Nebraska, informing them that as of January 1, 2007, the merchants would have to pay the Omaha Tribe liquor licensing fees and a 10 percent sales tax to continue to operate within the reservation. The executive director of the Nebraska State Liquor Commission said that he would be consulting with the state attorney general on the issue. Ben Thompson, an Omaha attorney who represents the tribe, notes that it has the legal right to establish such laws within the reservation. The Nebraska Attorney General offered the opinion that the Omaha Tribe had the authority to regulate liquor sales on its reservation and it did not interfere with the Nebraska Liquor Commission. While offering an opinion, he said the tribal boundary was a federal jurisdictional issue.

In April 2007, liquor merchants in Pender (later joined by the village) filed a federal lawsuit challenging the tribe's authority to demand the liquor taxes, based on their contention that Pender was outside the reservation boundaries. In October 2007 the US District Court ordered the parties first to take their challenge to the Omaha Tribal Courts, as part of the tribal exhaustion doctrine, and denied the plaintiffs' request for dismissal. Judge Richard Kopf said he may not be bound by the tribal court, but wanted to hear their opinion. He required the parties to report back to him regularly until a ruling was made by the Omaha Tribal Courts. While the case was pending, the judge ordered a temporary stay on the merchants' paying the liquor sales tax.

In January 2012, the plaintiffs in Pender v. Omaha Tribe filed a request with the Omaha Tribal Courts for a summary judgment due to the length of time the case had taken. The defendants had requested that no hearing be held before June 2012. The plaintiffs had submitted a report to them by an expert witness on transactions related to Pender and the western boundary. In 2008 the village had voted for a five-year, 1% sales tax to finance its lawsuit on the boundary and liquor tax, as well as to promote economic development in the town. Residents voted in May 2012 on whether to renew the sales tax, as the boundary issue continued.