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The
California
state Senate voted
“overwhelmingly” Thursday on a bill to ratify the gaming
compact between the state and the Yurok Tribe.
Senate Bill 106, authored by Sen. Pat Wiggins (D-Santa Rosa), was
one of a number of bills related to American Indian gaming
compacts voted on in the Senate Thursday morning, said David W.
Miller, press secretary/consultant for the Committee on Public
Employment and Retirement.
“A compact is an agreement between the state and the tribe (on
gaming),” Miller said. “... And we’re optimistic that this
one will get approved.”
SB 106 was not just approved Thursday, but was “the only measure
to pass unanimously (33-0),” Miller reported via e-mail
Thursday.
Reweti Wiki, Yurok Tribe deputy executive director, said the bill
still needs to pass through the state’s Assembly before it is
fully ratified.
“We’re thrilled that it’s through the Senate,” Wiki said
Thursday, “but it still needs to go through the Assembly.
“So, we are reserving any comments until after it goes through
the Assembly. If it’s successful in the Assembly, then, at that
(point), we will have a fully ratified gaming compact.”
Miller provided a copy of Wiggins’ “verbatim” statement that
she made on the Senate floor, which included the history of the
Yurok Tribe, which she noted, is “the state’s largest
federally recognized tribe, with 5,019 members.”
The tribe’s poverty rate, Wiggins said, is at 80 percent.
“They are considered by many to be the state’s poorest
tribe,” Wiggins added. “Their reservation is located in both
Del Norte and Humboldt counties; the land straddles the
Klamath River
for a mile on each side of the
river for 46 miles.
“The majority of the reservation is without electricity or phone
service; (it) has the only public school in California that
operates without electricity — the students study with the
constant sound of a diesel-powered generator and its fumes; (and)
the reservation is lacking in well-maintained roads, water
systems, wastewater treatment facilities and housing.”
Wiggins added that contained in the Yuroks’ land are probably
the most dangerous state highways in California, including Highway
169, which is a “23-mile-long, one-lane road with steep
drop-offs and blind turns.”
“The ratification of (the Yuroks’) compact through SB 106 will
give the Yuroks the ability to start down the road to
self-sufficiency,” Wiggins said on the Senate floor Thursday
morning. “It will allow the tribe to operate 99 gaming devices
in two locations.”
One of the facilities, Wiggins
said, will be on Yurok lands in Klamath. The other site, Pem-Mey
Fuel Mart — a tribal gas station/mini-mart — will house up to
20 slot machines.
Wiggins told the Senate that the tribe “anticipates that these
facilities will generate $7 million annually.”
“The tribe will continue to receive the $1.1 million annual
payment from the revenue-sharing trust fund,” Wiggins told the
Senate Thursday. “... No one will be getting rich from this
compact (and) the Yurok compact fulfills the true promise of
Proposition 1A (gambling on tribal lands).
“This small compact gives the Yurok Tribe the ability to achieve
greater self-reliance in an isolated and economically challenged
area of the state.”
Via Miller’s e-mail Thursday, Assemblymember Patty Berg
(D-Eureka) issued a statement; Berg was one of the co-authors of
the bill.
“We’ve been waiting a long time to get this done,” Berg
stated. “This isn’t going to make anyone rich, but I sincerely
hope this will help improve the lives of tribal members (and)
isn’t that why Californians voted for gaming in the first
place?”
How will the gaming compact affect the Yurok Tribe?
Existing federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988,
provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming
compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on
American Indian lands within a state.
The California Constitution authorizes the state’s governor to
negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the
state Legislature.
The Yurok Compact provides the tribe, the largest in the state,
with up to 99 slot machines on its reservation — up to 20 slot
machines may be located at a fuel mart, similar to a gas station
with a mini-mart, on the reservation and the remainder at a future
on-reservation casino. The reservation is located along the
Klamath River
in Humboldt and Del Norte
counties, with approximately 3,000 acres of land in trust.
The tribe will continue to receive a $1.1 million annual payment
from the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund, but cannot use the RSTF
monies for payment of any costs arising out of, connected with or
relating to any gaming activities.
Any tribe operating less than 350 gaming devices is considered a
non-gaming tribe and is eligible for revenue payments from gaming
tribes under the 1999 compacts.
The Yurok Tribe has committed to negotiating an agreement with Del
Norte and Humboldt counties, as necessary, to mitigate all
environmental impacts.
In light of the tribe’s large membership, the basic needs of its
members and the very small size of its gaming operations, the
tribe will be able to deduct its mitigation payments from the
revenue contribution payments to the state.
Other facets of the compacts include:
+ The tribe will prepare an environmental impact report to assess
the potential environmental effects of new and expanded gaming
facilities, and detail how environmental damages will be
mitigated.
+ The compact requires that the tribe resolve all disputes with
employees, visitors and surrounding communities through binding
arbitration.
California
tort law will govern any personal
injury or third-party property damage claims, and the tribe will
provide liability coverage.
+ Any new construction must meet or exceed the building and safety
codes of both the county and the city where new construction will
occur.
(Background information contributed by David W. Miller, press
secretary/consultant for the Committee on Public Employment and
Retirement.)
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