Legislation

Controversy on gaming hindering fix to land-into-trust decision

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Concerns about gaming are holding back a fix to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, tribal advocates said at the recent Global Gaming Expo.

The decision restricts the land-into-trust process to tribes that were "under federal jurisdiction" in 1934. The Obama administration supports a fix to ensure that all tribes, regardless of the date of their recognition, can follow the process.

The House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee has included a fix in an appropriations bill. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California), the chair of the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, plans to offer an amendment that makes it nearly impossible for tribes to engage in gaming on newly acquired lands.

The amendment affects Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. It eliminates all off the exceptions for gaming on newly acquired lands and eliminates the two-part determination process for off-reservation casinos.

In place of the exceptions, the proposal sets a new test for gaming on newly acquired lands. A tribe must demonstrate a "substantial direct modern connection" and a "substantial direct aboriginal connection" to a proposed gaming site, terms that are currently not defined anywhere in IGRA.

Get the Story:
Carcieri ‘wrongly framed’ as a gambling issue, say critics (Indian Country Today 11/30)

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