- December 20, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
There is no shortage of scholarship or white papers on the intricacies of doing business in Indian County, but until recently, there have been few widely known examples that clearly demonstrate the benefits of operating on tribal land.
This fall, Tesla opened its newest showroom and repair center on the trust land of the Nambé Pueblo, a federally recognized tribe located north of Santa Fe, N.M. The reason for the unlikely Tesla showroom location, in the shadow of a tribal casino near a smoke shop and travel center, was an outdated state law that prohibited the electric auto maker’s business model of direct to consumer sales by requiring all car sales to go through a dealership.
Tribes are sovereign governments that predate the U.S. that retained their sovereignty when the U.S. and 50 states grew around them, and state law largely does not apply on tribal lands. This jurisdictional distinction has manifested in a lot of the businesses commonly…
