New York lawmakers have introduced legislation that requires the start of negotiations between the state and the Seneca Nation of Indians for a new gaming compact.
While the bill may not pass before the end of the legislative season, the current Seneca compact expires in December, and introduction of the new bill poses a challenge to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who would ultimately sign any new compact.
The challenge comes from a clause in the bill under which the state would waive its immunity from legal action by the tribe.
The legislation (A.7350/S.7117), sponsored by Assemblyman J. Gary Pretlow and Senator Tim Kennedy, authorizes the same zone of exclusivity for tribal gaming that was approved in 2002, but the bill’s text would give the Seneca Nation more ability to sue the state if Hochul continues to delay negotiations.
The tribe has accused Hochul and state officials of not bargaining in good faith, and Kennedy and Pretlow have said if the governor doesn’t enter into negotiations with the nation or doesn’t negotiate in good faith the state will waive its sovereign immunity to allow the Seneca Nation to take action against the governor in state or federal court.
“Despite the fact that the Seneca Nation-New York State Casino Compact is set to expire in December 2023, the state has not been bargaining in good faith and, in fact, has delayed negotiations for a number of months,” J.C. Seneca, who organized a rally for the tribe calling for action on the compact, said, according to Jamestown, New York’s Post-Journal.
“It is time that the true decision makers from the governor’s executive chamber and the state gaming commission bargain in good faith with Seneca Nation leaders to reach a fair compact agreement
“An equitable and fair compact is one of the most effective means by which the state of New York can honor its obligation to the Seneca people,” Pretlow and Kennedy wrote in their legislative justification for the bill.
“This is vitally important as the nation has no taxation authority, and thus rely, in large part, on the revenue they generate through the compact to fund essential government services including health care, infrastructure, education, and environmental initiatives. Furthermore, the compact is responsible for thousands of quality jobs for non-Seneca New Yorkers, hundreds of millions of dollars in direct state and local government revenue, and significant secondary economic activity.”
The Senecas operate three casinos in Western New York, under a compact that guarantees them exclusivity in that region. Hochul’s delay of compact negotiations coincides with the state’s efforts to gain bids for three new casinos in downstate New York.
“We hear a lot of words coming from Albany about ‘New York values, social equality, health care as a human right, housing for all,’ but our people do not survive on words,” Tina Abrams, the senior member of the Seneca council, said at a Capitol press conference, according to the New York Post. “It is time for New York to honor its relationship with the Seneca Nation. It’s time for the state to complete fair negotiations with the Seneca.”
The Seneca negotiations also place pressure on Hochul over potential conflict of interest involving her husband, Bill Hochul, who is a top executive and attorney for Delaware North, owner of two New York racinos and a direct competitor to the Senecas. The governor and her husband have recused themselves from any negotiations involving Delaware North.
“I am recused. Recused means being not involved in negotiations day to day or in the long term,” Hochul told reporters, according to the Post. “I am not involved. That is something I set up long ago; it was important to assure people that the process will have the integrity that’s required and remove any doubt as to whether or not that’s going to happen. So I feel comfortable that it’s being managed by other people.”
Despite those recusals, the governor has been involved in interactions with the Senecas that have aided Delaware North, notably when she froze Seneca bank accounts last year to seize $564 million in revenue-share funds the courts ruled the state was owed, and turned most of that payment over to help fund a new stadium for the NFL’s Buffalo Bills, for which Delaware North owns the concession rights.
“What the governor did was literally putting politics over people. She impacted not only the Seneca Nation with access to healthcare prescription medication. She also impacted 5,000 jobs, most of which are non-Seneca, that work in our casinos,” then-Seneca President Matthew Pagels told Spectrum News in November while accusing her administration of holding up talks.
