BIA reviews status of Sycuan Band's compact

Wednesday, August 6, 2008  

Can the Bureau of Indian Affairs rescind a Class III gaming compact that has already been published in the Federal Register? That's the question being considered with respect to the Sycuan Band of Kumeyaay Indians of California.

The state submitted the compact to the BIA for review and approval. Somehow, the document never made it to the right person in Washington, D.C., so it automatically went into effect late this year. Voters subsequently approved them at the polls in February.

But the BIA now says the tribe may have never finalized the compact. “I have raised this issue with our legal staff,” Paula Hart, the acting director of the BIA's Office of Indian Gaming, told Copley News Service. “It is under review by the Solicitor's Office.”

The tribe still has until January 1, 2009, to ratify the deal.

Get the Story:
Voter-backed gaming deal with Sycuan in jeopardy (Copley News Service 8/6)