The North Fork Rancheria of Mono Indians last week filed a lawsuit in state court to attempt to block a referendum from the November ballot that would invalidate its tribal state gaming compact.
The tribe seeks to remove the referendum, noting that the legislature and governor have already approved the compact, and that the compact has already been published in the Federal Register.
However, the California constitution makes any action of the legislature subject to referendum.
The referendum is being pushed by Stand Up for California, a casino watchdog group, in an unusual alliance with two gaming tribes that already has a casino and which have already provided $2 million kill the competing casino proposal.
It’s more complicated than that, though, because the North Fork compact is the first off-reservation casino to be approved in the Golden State, a practice referred to by critics as “reservation shopping.”
The legal issues of whether a compact can be challenged by referendum after it has been ratified or whether such a compact is in fact subject to referendum. The case is seen as having the potential to eventually be decided by a landmark court decision.
