Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Four of Five Tribes sign side deals with Schwarzenegger; Assembly still must ratify Compacts but not new MOAs

posted 6.27.07 by John Myers at KQED's Capitol Notes:




Governor, Tribes Sign Side Deals

After weeks of private meetings and negotiations, Governor Schwarzenegger has signed agreements with four politically powerful Indian gaming tribes that are effectively side deals to the formal casino compacts negotiated last year.

The agreements, technically known as 'memoranda of understanding,' (MOA) are between the state and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, the Pechanga Band of Luiseno Indians, and the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians.

The side deals have been a hot topic of discussion for some time, and have been seen as the key to getting the renegotiated casino compacts through the Legislature. Those compacts have been stalled in the Assembly on issues that have-- at one time or another-- ranged from organized labor criticisms to the auditing powers of casino profits.

In recent days, the buzz has been that the deals were about to be struck, with much of the heavy lifting done by Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez. But that buzz has always focused on the MOAs and how they would need to be approved by both chambers of the Legislature.

This afternoon's announcement makes it clear that these are "government to government" agreements between Schwarzenegger and the tribes. So... do they need to be ratified by the Legislature?

The governor's staff admits that while technically they don't need a legislative blessing, the governor is seeking to have them approved in the Assembly and Senate. And advisers say legislative approval will make the legality of the MOAs that much more certain.

This is no small issue. In fact, it would seem quite possible that legislators... who have, at times, strongly disagreed with the content of any tribal side deals... could just take a pass on the MOAs and let them take effect without any formal votes. That would certainly sidestep, among many issues, the thorny problem of labor union opposition to both the MOAs and the revised compacts.

The side deals' most important provisions pertain to the auditing of slot machines and other Vegas-style casino games... a process that was thrown ito question by a federal court ruling that seems to have taken auditing power away from the National Indian Gaming Commission. The MOAs say that the tribes will continue to maintain standards that are no less strict than those the NIGC has been imposing.

It should be noted that the other big gaming tribe with a pending compact in the Legislature, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, did not agree to sign the new MOA.

The new side deals are expected to be up for discussion tomorrow morning in a legislative hearing.

Full details on the MOAs are here.

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