PlainBillCongress, translated.Legislation. Context. Public interest.Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
Congressional Research Service
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jun 5, 2025
Protection for Reservation Occupants against Trafficking and Evasive Communications Today Act of 2025 or the PROTECT Act of 2025
This bill expands special tribal criminal jurisdiction (STCJ) to include certain controlled substance-related offenses and firearms offenses. It also allows tribal courts to execute warrants for electronic material.
STCJ allows participating tribes to investigate, prosecute, convict, and sentence both Indian and non-Indian offenders who commit covered crimes in Indian country against Indian victims. Covered crimes currently include assault of tribal justice personnel, child violence, dating violence, domestic violence, obstruction of justice, sexual violence, sex trafficking, stalking, and a violation of a protection order.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
The bill expands STCJ to allow participating tribes to prosecute individuals for controlled substance-related offenses (i.e., drug trafficking, unlawful drug possession, or unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia) and firearms offenses (i.e., use or possession of a firearm in furtherance of a covered crime or by a person who has been convicted of domestic violence).
Additionally, the bill allows participating tribes to exercise STCJ over a controlled substance-related offense or a firearms offense if neither the defendant nor the alleged victim is an Indian. (Currently, this exception only applies in cases of obstruction of justice or assault of tribal justice personnel.)
The bill allows offenders convicted pursuant to STCJ to be incarcerated through the Bureau of Prisons Tribal Prisoner Program.
The bill gives tribal courts the same authority as state courts to compel service providers to disclose stored electronic communication information through court-issued warrants, court orders, or administrative subpoenas.
People & committees
Sen. Daines, Steve [R-MT] · R–MT
Legislative record
A procedural vote is different from passage. Passage in one chamber does not establish enactment. Explore the glossary.
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Indian Affairs.
Introduced in Senate
Primary sources
Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.
Source last updated: Mar 13, 2026. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Analyze S.1967 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
Examine S.1967 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
Examine S.1967 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
Examine S.1967 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.