BOISE, Idaho (AP) – A northern Idaho Indian tribe is closer to winning authority to arrest non-Indians on its reservation following a six-hour hearing Feb.9 where tensions between whites and Indians who live south of Lake Coeur d'Alene were on display.

This was just the latest theater in a conflict between the Coeur d'Alene Indian Tribe and residents of Benewah County that has roots in a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision gave Indians ownership of the southern third of Lake Coeur d'Alene, where the county is located.

The 8-6 vote in the House Judiciary and Rules Committee sends the measure to the full House.

According to the bill, tribal police officers must first be certified by Idaho's police academy. All violations of state laws, including speeding tickets, must be prosecuted in state, not tribal courts. And tribes must waive their sovereign immunity from lawsuits.

A cross-deputization pact between Benewah County and the Coeur d'Alenes unraveled in 2007, leaving tribal officers without the power to arrest non-Indians on the reservation. Efforts to fix the problem, including a proposed compromise in the 2010 Legislature, all unraveled, bringing the tribe back to the Capitol this year.

“It makes my job harder to protect the citizens of Benewah County,” said Tribal Police Officer Brad Hampton, telling the committee it can take hours for Benewah County deputies or Idaho State Police troopers to arrive on the scene to process non-Indians accused of everything from drunk driving to assault.

The Coeur d'Alene reservation's checkerboard property ownership – its 10,000 residents include 8,600 nonmembers – contributes to the problem: Tribal officers often encounter crimes committed by nonmembers in both Kootenai and Benewah counties.

Kootenai County and the tribe have a cross-deputization pact, which Sheriff Rocky Watson said Feb.9 was working well.

But Benewah County Prosecutor Douglas Payne urged lawmakers to reject this bill, for fear the tribe would abuse new arrest powers by sending cases to tribal court.

Even under the bill, the tribe could still summon non-Indians to its reservation court for violating the tribe's separate civil laws governing water quality, docks or field burning. Payne wants Indians to give that up.

“Non-tribal members should not be subjected to citations in tribal court – period,” said Payne, backed by the Idaho Association of Sheriffs and the Idaho Association of Counties

At times, the debate was infused with racial tensions, underscored by an eight-page letter Payne gave to committee members in which he wrote non-Indians would be at the mercy of a tribal government they had no role in electing.

Coeur d'Alene tribal government is “designed to advance the interests of one race and nationality over that of all other ordinary Americans of other races,” Payne wrote, adding the bill's passage would mean Idaho was abandoning “its citizens to endure racially discriminatory law enforcement.”

Eric VanOrden. Coeur d'Alene's legal counsel, insisted the tribe's law enforcement system metes out justice fairly.

“The tribal court is not a kangaroo court,” VanOrden said. “We're going off the rails here, with all these 'sky is falling' type situations.”

Five Republicans backed the bill, as did all three Democrats on the panel.

“Everyone says it should be a local issue,” said Rep. Linden Bateman, R-Idaho Falls, in support. “How could it be more local, if the concern they have is safety of the citizens on the reservation?”

Six Republicans voted 'No,' including Rep. Leon Smith, R-Twin Falls. Idaho couldn't remedy this bitter fight by intervening, Smith said.

“I don't think this document is going to cure anything between the two principal parties,” he said. “They would fight over this, too.”