California is home to over 100 federally recognized Indian tribes and numerous other Native American tribes recognized by the State of California, all which reside in California’s 58 counties. The United States and California’s complex and varied history with Indian tribes provides a difficult to understand and sometimes challenging environment in which counties interface with these sovereign nations.  This course will provide a thorough review of important historical milestones in national tribal law and relationships and discuss how the existing federal and state statutory and regulatory framework is relevant to counties today. Further, the course will explore the ways in which counties interface with tribes outside of federal and state requirements and have been building cooperative intergovernmental relationships for the mutual benefit of tribes and counties.