California Senator Dianne Feinstein wants to amend a proposed “fix” of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Carcieri v. Salazar decision to rein in Indian casinos. She thinks there are too many casinos in her home state, although her figures are somewhat inflated.
Senator Feinstein says there are 100 Indian casinos in the Golden State, when the number is closer to 70.
The bill the senator wants to amend is S.1879, or the Interior Improvement Act. Her amendment would bar some tribes that already have casinos on reservation land from acquiring a commercial casino, although that is currently allowed by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
The amendment was clearly aimed at preventing Connecticut’s gaming tribes, the Mohegans and Pequots, from trying to build and operate a joint commercial casino. Although that effort was shut down by the state’s congressional delegation, Feinstein said she’s not going to give up and now wants to add that language to the Interior Improvement Act.
The bill has voted out of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. So far it has no language that addresses gaming, although it does discuss allowing more participation by state and local officials into the process whereby the Bureau of Indian Affairs puts land into trust.
So far the bill hasn’t been considered on the Senate floor. In addition to trying to amend that bill, the senator has also proposed amending IGRA itself to limit the number of casinos in a state.
