The U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) has rejected two tribal state gaming compacts, between California and the Middletown Rancheria of Pomo Indians in Lake County and Santa Rosa Rancheria in the San Joaquin Valley.
The Middletown Rancheria currently has a Class II gaming compact and operates the Twin Pine Casino & Hotel. The tribe had sought a Class III compact that would allow it to offer Las Vegas-style gaming.
Middletown Rancheria Chairman Jose “Moke” Simon said in a statement: “While California has taken great steps forward, sadly, the betrayal we feel from Interior Secretary Deb Haaland is something we have come to expect from the federal government.” He added, “The path forward is now paved with stones that will make it difficult to navigate our tribe’s future.”
Governor Gavin Newsom and Middletown Rancheria submitted the compact last November. It was rejected on July 22 by the DOI. Bureau of Indian Affairs Assistant Secretary Bryan Newland told the tribal government that it did not adequately address his recommended changes to the compact.
This is the second time the Department has rejected gaming compacts for the two tribes.
The DOI said the compact allows the state and local government more environmental jurisdiction over things such as hotel rooms and gas pumps than is allowed by the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA.) The compact was worded so that expanding or altering the design of the gas station would trigger California Environmental Quality Act review, thus infringing on tribal sovereignty.
In the disapproval letter, the Department noted that both tribes developed “casino resort complexes” that operate beyond the gaming spaces regulated by the tribe. It wrote, “the 2022 Compact confers expansive powers on the State and local governments to regulate the Tribe’s activities and lands that are not directly related to the actual conduct of gaming.”
The Department has in the past decade issued at least four guidance letters to California expressing concerns over “the state’s practice of asserting greater control over tribal land use decisions through class III gaming compacts.”
Haaland wrote: “I recognize that the disapproval of a Class III compact is a harsh remedy in circumstances like this, and that it is ultimately the tribe that suffers the greatest consequences of a disapproval.” She added, “Secretarial disapproval is a blunt instrument, but it is the only tool the Department has at its disposal to protect the balance Congress developed in (the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act).” Haaland concluded, “Secretarial disapproval helps to fulfill Congress’s goal that tribes should not have to sacrifice their inherent sovereignty in exchange for the proven benefits of Indian gaming.”
Tribal Chairman Simon reacted to the statement: “The U.S. Department of Interior’s disapproval of our compact is shocking given that we worked closely with Secretary Haaland’s department to find an agreeable middle ground between the state of California and Interior.”
Leo Sisco, chairman of the Santa Rosa Rancheria Tachi Yokut Tribe also criticized the decisions, declaring, “Our compact, which has broad support from local and state officials, was the key to improved housing, healthcare, and economic self-sufficiency for our tribe.” He added, “The chilling effect this decision will have in Indian Country is immeasurable and the financial cost to our tribe will be irreparable.”
California Governor Gavin Newsom also blasted the twin decisions: “Despite the tribes’ efforts to meet with Interior and changes negotiated with the State of California to address concerns expressed by Interior, the Department chose to disregard the interests of the tribes and arbitrarily disapprove the compacts.” The governor added, “The disapprovals threaten the ability of these and other tribes to invest and maintain jobs in many of California’s economically disadvantaged communities.”
However, CNIGA (California Nations Indian Gaming Association) Chairman James Siva said that while he sympathized with the governor’s “stated intention to rectify the many historic wrongs committed or facilitated by the state of California against its Native peoples,” he disagreed with the governor.
“In this instance Governor Newsom simply is wrong, and the Department of the Interior is correct,” said Siva. “Simply put, the state should not put any tribe in the position of having to choose between the self-reliance offered through gaming, and surrendering its sovereignty in matters not directly related to and necessary for the regulation, licensing and actual operation of Class III gaming activities.”
Siva added, “As the Department of the Interior, the tribes’ trustee, explained in its letters once again disapproving new compacts between the state and two California tribes, Congress never intended that California or any other state be able to use tribal governments’ need for gaming compacts as leverage for imposing requirements and restrictions that have little or nothing to do with the actual regulation, licensing or conduct of Class III gaming activities.”
Siva advised that Newsom, rather than fight the tribes in court, “should come to the negotiating table prepared to enter into new agreements that are confined to what IGRA permits. If he were to do that, new IGRA-compliant compacts could be in place well before the current agreements expire, and the chairs of the two tribes whose compacts were disapproved would not have to worry about any threats to their future prosperity.”
No Sword of Damocles hangs over the tribes since the legislature recently approved extensions of the compacts, which were to have expired on June 30, 2022. The Golden State has gaming compacts with 75 tribes and 66 casinos are operated by 63 tribes.
