"As it is, little enough is known about California's estimated $6 billion Indian gambling industry. The public will know even less if the Legislature approves SB 919 in its current form. Authored by Sen. Dave Cox, R-Fair Oaks, and supported by the governor's office, the bill would permit state gambling regulators to conduct more of the public's business in private.

Like other public bodies in the state, California's Gambling Control Commission already is free to meet in secret to consider litigation and personnel matters. The Cox bill would expand the circumstances under which the commission could meet behind closed doors to matters "involving trade secrets, nonpublic financial data, confidential or proprietary information and other data and information, the public disclosure of which is prohibited by law or a tribal-state gaming compact." That is a list so expansive as to encompass virtually anything and everything the politically powerful gambling tribes want to keep secret."

Get the Story:
Editorial: What's the secret? (The Sacramento Bee 5/25)
pwpwd