State Senate Approves Indian Gambling Pact

An Indian gambling agreement opposed by most California tribes was narrowly approved by the state Senate on Wednesday despite claims that it was one more broken promise for Native Americans.

A bill ratifying a compact between the Pala Band of Mission Indians and the administration of Gov. Pete Wilson was sent to the Assembly on a 21-10 vote. That was the bare majority needed for approval by the 40-seat upper house.

Several senators abstained.

Hours after the vote, Secretary of State Bill Jones announced that an Indian gaming initiative that would supersede the Pala compact and allow tribes to use slot machines and banked card games had qualified for the November ballot. The initiative could be very expensive, as tribes in support of the measure as well as its opponents, potentially including Nevada gambling interests, are expected to pour millions into the campaign.

Wednesday’s bipartisan Senate vote wasn’t a surprise because both Senate Majority Leader John Burton (D-San Francisco) and Wilson, a Republican, have backed the bill. Approval by the Assembly could be tougher to get, however.

Under federal law adopted in 1988, tribes can offer forms of gambling that are legal in their states as long as they sign agreements with the states covering that gambling.

For years a number of California tribes have run casinos without such compacts. The Indians and the Wilson administration have blamed each other for the failure to negotiate gambling pacts.

But in March, Wilson signed a gambling agreement with the Pala Band, which has not had gambling on its 12,000-acre reservation in northern San Diego County.

The Republican governor described the Pala compact as a model for other tribes that operate or want to open casinos, but most tribes blasted the agreement, saying it would result in economic ruin for their reservations.

One of the most controversial provisions of the Pala compact calls for a limit of about 20,000 video gaming machines at Indian casinos statewide.

Each tribe would have an allotment of 199 machines but could lease more from non-gambling tribes, up to a maximum of 975.

The agreement also bans slot machines, video poker and Internet lotteries, but authorizes the use of a new type of video machine that allows players to compete against one another for prizes rather than against the house.

To try to soften opposition to the agreement, Burton amended his ratification bill to stipulate that the Pala pact would not cover tribes that refused to sign it.

He also said that the U.S. Interior Department’s attorneys had concluded that tribes rejecting the pact could not be bound by the limit on video machines.

“We do not affect any other tribe at all,” he said. “A tribe that wants to go in and negotiate with the governor [on a different compact] can do so. A tribe that wants to go its own way and take its chances with the U.S. attorney can do so.”

But the bill’s opponents described the Pala pact as a hammer over the heads of other tribes, forcing them to sign the agreement, accept something very similar, or face a crackdown by federal prosecutors.