U.S. Congressman Brian Babin of Texas, along with representatives from Arizona, California and Alaska, recently introduced legislation that would allow the Alabama-Coushatta Tribe and the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, also known as the Tigua Tribe, to offer gaming on tribal lands under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988. Just one week earlier, U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Giblin ruled the Alabama-Coushatta tribe is violating existing state gaming legislation and must cease operations at its Naskila electronic gaming facility, which remains open for now.
The tribe filed an appeal in the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, contending the Traditional Kickapoo Tribe of Texas has offered electronic gambling for more than 20 years without intervention from the state. In a statement, the tribe noted there is no existing justification for a federal regulatory system to allow an Indian tribe to offer gaming and ban another from doing the same.
Babin said H.R.4985, the Ysleta del Sur Pueblo and Alabama-Coushatta Tribes of Texas Equal and Fair Opportunity Settlement Act, would confirm that both tribes would receive the same treatment as other tribal nations under IGRA. Babin stated Giblin’s ruling threatened hundreds of jobs.
The Alabama-Coushatta Tribe opened Naskila Gaming in May 2016 after it received approval from the National Indian Gaming Commission. Three months later, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a petition in federal court seeking to force the tribe to close Naskila due to violation of the federal 1987 Indian Restoration Act.
Babin co-sponsored a bill to restore the Alabama-Coushatta’s gaming rights in the previous session of Congress. The bill would have required the tribe to drop a $270 million land claim against the U.S. The current measure does not include that requirement. It addresses gaming issues that appeared after the tribes’ federal recognition was restored in 1987.
Alabama-Coushatta Chairperson Jo Ann Battise said Naskila offers 360 electronic bingo games and has 330 employees with a payroll and benefits totaling $17 million annually.
Babin’s bill was referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources, which has jurisdiction over Indian issues in Congress.
