The Bureau of Indian Affairs has sent a letter informing California’s Redding Rancheria that it must follow the “two-part” determination of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) to pursue its application to put land into trust for its Strawberry Fields casino relocation project near Redding.
Such a process involves the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who would also have to write off on the tribe’s request to put the Strawberry Fields land along Interstate 5 into trust in order to move its existing Win-River Resort and Casino.
Tara Sweeney, Assistant Secretary of the Department of Interior, sent the letter November 16, 2020 to Redding Rancheria Jack Potter, Jr.
The letter noted that the tribe had asked to put the off-reservation land into trust in 2008. In 2010 the BIA denied that request, concluding that the land “did not constitute restored lands within the meaning of IGRA because the tribe was already gaming on other Indian lands.”
In 2016 the tribe, the Department of the Interior and National Indian Gaming Commission entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) indicating their agreement that the tribe didn’t need the agreement of the State government due to a U.S. District Court opinion.
However, a recent decision by the California Supreme Court confirmed “the authority of the state’s governor to concur in a two-part secretarial determination under IGRA,” wrote Sweeney. “In light of that decision, the Department has reconsidered the MOU, and upon further review, determined the MOU to be inconsistent with the Department’s long-standing interpretation of IGRA’s implementing regulations.”
Tribal lawyer Mike Hollowell told the Record Searchlight that the letter was “just a procedural step” on the process to relocate the casino. “While this is a disappointing development, it does not foreclose on the tribe’s Casino Relocation Project. It’s not an end of the project.”
He added that the tribe was “considering all its legal options.”
The group Speak Up Shasta, which opposes the relocation, hailed the decision. Spokesman Robb Korinke said the new process gives the state government a say in the relocation, and since the state government is answerable to local residents, gives them a say as well.
Korinke said, “The state of California’s going to have to sign off, meaning that Shasta County residents have a substantially larger voice in this process.”
Normally, only the federal government decides whether to put land into trust.
Others opposing the relocation are the Redding City Council and Shasta County Board of Supervisors.
