Bureau of Indian Affairs adopts ordinance with surety bond requirement

indian affairs

On January 31, the Bureau of Indian Affairs published a notice of the adoption of the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe Liquor Control Ordinance. The Snoqualmie Tribe is made up of a group of Native American people, located in the Puget Sound area of Washington state. The Snoqualmie Tribe consists of approximately 650 members. This specific ordinance:

regulates and controls the possession, sale, and consumption of liquor within the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe’s Indian country. This ordinance allows for the possession and sale of alcoholic beverages within the jurisdiction of the Snoqualmie Indian Tribe, will increase the ability of the tribal government to control the distribution and possession of liquor within their jurisdiction, and at the same time, will provide an important source of revenue, the strengthening of the tribal government, and the delivery of tribal services.”

In order to execute all that the above excerpt mentions, the ordinance outlines general licensing requirements and processes to obtain the proper license to possess and distribute liquor, as well as taxation information and surety bonding requirements. Specific surety bonding requirements can be found in Section 7.0 of the ordinance, which concerns the Abatement of Nuisance:

“(a) Any room, house, building, vehicle, structure, or other place where liquor is sold, manufactured, bartered, exchanged, given away, furnished, or otherwise disposed of in violation of the provision of this ordinance or of any other Tribal law relating to the manufacture, importation, transportation, possession, distribution, and sale of liquor, and all property kept in and used in maintaining such place, is hereby declared to be a nuisance.

(b) The Chairperson of the Tribal Council shall, upon vote of the Tribal Council, institute and maintain an action in the name of the Tribe to abate and perpetually enjoin any nuisance declared under this section in the Snoqualmie Tribal Court. In addition to all other remedies at Tribal law, the Snoqualmie Tribal Court may also order the room, house, building, vehicle, structure, or place closed for a period of one (1) year or until the owner, lessee, tenant, or occupant thereof shall give bond of sufficient sum of not less than $25,000 payable to the Tribe and conditioned that liquor will not be thereafter manufactured, kept, sold, bartered, exchanged, given away, furnished, or otherwise disposed of thereof in violation of the provisions of this Ordinance or of any other applicable Tribal law and that he will pay all fines, costs and damages assessed against him for any violation of this Ordinance or other Tribal laws. If any conditions of the bond be violated, the bond may be recovered for the use of the Tribe.”

In the case of the Snoqualmie Tribe, the surety bond in discussion is required of any owner of an establishment that is found to be selling or manufacturing liquor in violation of the rules and regulations set forth by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Essentially, this bond prevents liquor establishments that have violated the Tribe’s liquor ordinance from having to close for one full year. The bond must posted in the amount of $25,000.

The experts at SuretyBonds.com are familiar with this new surety bond requirement in Washington state and are ready to assist you with all of your bonding needs. If you have questions or are ready to purchase your bond, give us a call at 1 (800) 308-4358 or submit an online bond request. Our expert surety specialists will you walk you through each step of our fast, easy and accurate bonding process.

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