The Trump Administration is slowing if not reversing an Obama Administration policy that did not discourage tribes from applying to put lands far removed from their reservations into trust for tribal casinos.
The administration is proposing changes to the land-into-trust process that often takes as a long as decade to go from application to decision. It is proposing that tribes be informed up front of their actual chances, so they won’t spend time and resources on the attempt.
John Tahsuda of the Kiowa Tribe, who is a recent addition to the Trump administration as acting assistant secretary for Indian Affairs, last week told the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs: “For instance, in the case of off-reservation land-into-trust efforts, the commitment of time and resources required can be exorbitant, particularly if that proposal is denied. Therefore, we believe it is important to be upfront about proposals that may not be acceptable.”
Tahsuda recently announced a fast-moving schedule for implementing the new proposal, including scheduling the first consultation with tribes in about a week, followed by three more in November.
In 2008 the Obama Administration reversed a policy of the Bush Administration which had used a “commutable distance” standard to reject many requests to put land into trust off the reservation. Now it appears that the Trump Administration may restore that old standard, or at least partially reverse the Obama standard.
In his testimony to the Senate committee Tahsuda conceded that the “commutable distance” standard will be considered. Another possibility is that tribes will need to submit maps showing where their reservations are in relation to the new land they want to put into trust.
Just showing that a casino could be lucrative for the tribe won’t be enough to satisfy the new requirements, said Tahsuda. “Things like employment opportunities, ability to host cultural activities, community activities in the facility, those should be part of the considerations that are impacted from the distance from a reservation.”
Tribes may also be required to show how the proposed acquisitions will impact state and local governments.
The new policy against off-reservation applications had been strongly hinted at since March when Ryan Zinke took office as Secretary of the Interior. At that time Zinke removed the power to make such decisions away from regional BIA offices and reserved them to himself or other political appointees—rather than career officials.
A critic of the new approach is U.S. Senator Tom Udall of New Mexico, vice chairman of the committee. He says the policy would violate Trump’s state goals of easing regulatory burdens on business and of promoting new jobs. He pointed out that the land-into-trust policy would add new steps to a process that already takes several years and called it adding “regulatory obstacles.”
The committee also heard from the chairman of the Forest County Potawatomi Tribe, which opened the first off-reservation casino in 1990 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Harold “Gus” Frank told lawmakers, “We have a diverse set of business that allow us to create opportunities for our people and local communities, including two casinos.”
The Bureau of Indian Affairs is accepting writing comments on the new proposal until December 15, as well as holding the listening sessions and tribal consultations.
