Narrow bill to let cities serve tribal trust lands draws support from Cowlitz tribe and La Center

House Local Government Committee members heard testimony on House Bill 1039, a narrowly tailored proposal that would allow urban governmental services to be extended to property within the jurisdiction of a federally recognized tribe that abuts a qualifying city, provided the tribe and city agree and the extension occurs before Dec. 31, 2028.

Michelle Rask, committee staff, summarized the bill’s scope: the extension is limited in time (through 2028) and geography (to tribal trust lands abutting qualifying cities in counties touching the Columbia River with populations greater than 500,000). The staff summary said the bill is meant to be a limited exception to the Growth Management Act’s general prohibition on extending urban services into rural areas.

Representative Peter Abarno (20th District), sponsor of HB 1039, said the bill responds to a specific local situation involving the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and the city of La Center. He described prior cooperation: in 2015 the tribe financed sewer upgrades and pipe installations that reached the city boundary, but county action later prevented the tribe and city from switching on the connection. The bill, he said, would allow the existing infrastructure to be used to serve tribal trust lands and nearby city needs.

Bill Iel, identified as chairman of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe, described the tribe’s long history in the area and said the tribe had paid for 2015 sewer upgrades that remain unused; he said the exemption would benefit both tribal operations and city residents and was not intended to encourage broader development beyond tribal trust lands. Tom Straubman, mayor of La Center, explained that the tribe paid nearly $5 million to upgrade sewer infrastructure and that the tribe’s own wastewater plant now is at capacity. “The existing infrastructure from 2015 remains unused,” Straubman said, and “a fully functional sewer line simply requires turning a valve to provide service.” He asked the committee to move the bill forward as a narrowly tailored, time‑limited remedy.

FutureWise’s Bryce Aden said the organization supports HB 1039 but emphasized the importance of ensuring the change is limited to trust lands and does not become a precedent for broader exemptions from the GMA. Members of the committee raised no substantive objections during the hearing.

The committee closed public testimony on HB 1039 with several witnesses urging the narrowly tailored approach the bill takes.