By Seth Hettena
ASSOCIATED PRESS
August 28, 1998
SACRAMENTO -- Over the opposition of many California tribes, Gov. Pete Wilson signed legislation Friday ratifying gambling compacts that allow 11 Indian bands to open the first state-sanctioned tribal casinos.
Wilson called the compacts "a victory for rule of law," adding that they were "the fairest and most comprehensive compacts in the nation."
The so-called Pala Compact is the model the state hopes California's remaining 90 tribes will follow to open restricted, state-sanctioned tribal casinos.
Tribes have placed on the Nov. 3 ballot Proposition 5, which would allow a rival compact critics say is more in line with Nevada-style casinos.
The bill passed through both houses of the Legislature Thursday, following a heated Assembly debate that covered the country's long history of broken promises to American Indians and the casinos that gave tribes a chance to end decades of poverty.
California's tribes and state officials have long argued over what kind of gambling could be offered in Indian casinos. More than 40 tribes have opened casinos, with most featuring video slot machines that Wilson contends are illegal in the state.
"It's unfortunate that the principal opposition to this bill has come from the minority of tribes that continues to flaunt the law by offering illegal casino gambling," Wilson said. "Sound policy, tribal self-determination and the rule of law have won out."
Senate leader John Burton said he was struck by the fact that, in the name of sovereignty, one group of tribes were trying to stop the 11 tribes from exercising their sovereign rights.
The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act allows American Indian tribes to open casinos on their tribal lands provided they offer games allowed under state law and sign a compact with the governor.
A labyrinth of legal proceedings involving about 30 California tribes is continuing on various judicial levels to resolve the issue of whether tribal casinos are offering illegal gambling.
The governor has refused to negotiate with any tribe with video slot machines. Instead, Wilson negotiated for nearly two years with the Pala Band of Mission Indians, a San Diego County tribe that wants to open a casino.
The compact reached between Wilson and the Pala Band in March does not allow video slot machines. It does allow a new, untested electronic lottery machine that spits out a series of numbers on a slip of paper, rather than dumping coins.
Tribes that sign a Pala-style deal can have up to 975 of the machines under a complicated formula that allows tribes to trade rights to the machines. This is intended to allow tribes located in sparsely populated areas to share in the economic bounty generated by casinos.
Ten other tribes signed similar compacts this summer. Three additional tribes have begun negotiations with the Wilson administration.
Under those agreements, those tribes can continue using video slot machines until the new lottery machines are available or competing tribes cease to operate the slot machines.
Tribes supporting Proposition 5 and the opposition, Nevada gambling interests and anti-gambling groups, have waged an early and costly television advertising battle, spending as much as $1 million a week.
Wilson said Friday that Proposition 5 should be defeated since it would rewrite the laws to open California to Nevada-style casinos.
The Assembly's 53-24 vote Thursday on the Pala bill followed an emotional two-hour debate that included recitations of Indian history, appeals to conscience and a moment of silence. The measure passed the Senate 21-7 minutes later without debate.
During Thursday's long Assembly debate, both sides insisted they were respecting the sovereignty of California Indian tribes.
Those favoring the Pala-style compacts said the 11 tribes had made their choice and should be respected. Critics said the Pala deal infringed on the sovereignty of the state's 90 other tribes.
"Eleven tribes have chosen to live in peace," said Assemblyman Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, the bill's Assembly sponsor. "It is not the business of the Legislature to tell them they have chosen incorrectly."
Assemblyman Dick Floyd, D-Wilmington, said the bill might be the only chance for the tribes. If Proposition 5 is defeated, the Legislature will hesitate to ratify any new Indian gambling contracts, he said.
"This is Governor Wilson's compact. Guess what? Give us a couple months and Governor Wilson's not going to be the guy deciding what's in the compact," Floyd said.
Opponents cited the U.S.-Indian history of broken promises, remote reservations and abject poverty and said gambling has brought prosperity to reservations for the first time. Now, the state government wants to intrude, said Assemblyman Tom McClintock, R-Simi Valley.
"The Indians have developed a way to make the flinty, forsaken, isolated land to which they were banished provide a livelihood, made possible by the one thing we left them after we had taken away everything else -- their liberty. We are now acting to take away that liberty," he said.
Assemblyman Cruz Bustamante, D-Fresno, asked for a "moment of silence, for we are right now destroying Indian sovereignty."