Capping a two-year political struggle, Gov. Pete Wilson on Friday signed legislation ratifying agreements with 11 Indian tribes to allow video gambling machines on their reservations.
But the lasting impact of the new law could depend on Proposition 5, a voter initiative on the Nov. 3 general election ballot that would allow more widespread gambling on Indian reservations.
Wilson's action came less than 24 hours after the Assembly gave final legislative approval to a bill that has caused a major rift among California tribes over the future of gambling on tribal lands.
The bill was one of scores of measures expected to be taken up in the closing days of the 1998 legislative session, which ends at midnight Monday.
At a bill-signing ceremony for the Indian gambling legislation, SB 287 by state Senate President Pro Tem John Burton, D-San Francisco, Wilson said the agreements, known as compacts, are the "fairest and most comprehensive" in the nation.
The compacts allow each tribe to operate a limited number of video gambling machines -- provided they operate on a lottery-style system of pooling players' money rather than a house-banked game. Tribes could operate up to 975 machines by purchasing rights to machines from tribes that chose not to run casinos.
Wilson has maintained that the 13,000 video slot machines now operating at about 40 Indian reservations are illegal. Federal prosecutors have moved to seize the devices from tribes that have not negotiated with Wilson.
"I have every hope that more tribes who wish to engage in legal gaming will soon enter negotiations with the state," the Republican governor said.
Wilson legal affairs secretary Dan Kolkey said three other tribes are negotiating similar compacts.
But a spokeswoman for tribes that opposed the bill said they plan to focus on passing Proposition 5, which would allow them to keep all existing video machines without a statewide cap of 19,900 called for by the legislation.
She predicted that if the ballot measure passes, most of the 11 tribes that signed compacts would abandon them.
"The majority of tribes who signed (compacts) did so under duress," said Wiltona Manion, spokeswoman for the California Nations Indian Gaming Association. "If Proposition 5 passes, they will opt for a new compact."
The legislation marked the end of a two-year process that began with negotiations toward a compact with the Pala Band of Mission Indians, a San Diego County tribe that hopes to open a casino.
The Pala tribe reached an accord with the state in March. Ten other tribes that already have casinos signed nearly identical compacts this summer. The legislation provides that new compacts that mirror the Pala accord will be deemed ratified within 30 days unless the Legislature objects.
Representatives of tribes that signed compacts said the legislation would help to ensure a new period of improved relations with the state.
"The Palas feel this is the beginning of a long-term mutual respectful relationship between the tribe and the state," said Stanley McGarr, executive secretary of the Pala Band.
Howard Dickstein, a lawyer for several of the tribes that signed compacts, said he expected those tribes to begin "field testing" new video machines that comply with state requirements this fall.
The Pala compact is the only one that has received necessary approval from the U.S. Department of Interior. But officials predicted that approval of the other compacts will not be a problem.