Republican seeks to bar land claim exception for tribal casinos

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Legislation
Republican seeks to bar land claim exception for tribal casinos
Thursday, July 28, 2011

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Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pennsylvania) is proposing to bar tribes from using land claim settlements to open casinos.

Dent has offered a legislative rider to H.R.2584, the Interior appropriations bill that's being considered in the House. It states that federal funds cannot be used to "implement, administer, or enforce section 20(b)(1)(B)(i)" of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

Generally, tribes can't engage in gaming on land taken into trust after 1988. But Section 20(b)(1)(B)(i) provides an exception for land acquired in connection with a land claim settlement.

Since 1988, the provision has only been used twice -- by the Seneca Nation for an off-reservation casino in downtown Buffalo, New York, and the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma for an off-reservation casino in downtown Kansas City, Kansas. No other tribe has successfully opened a casino under similar circumstances.

But if the rider is enacted into law, the provision would presumably bar the interior Department from approving the proposed Tohono O'odham Nation casino in Arizona. It also could affect another proposed Wyandotte Nation casino in Kansas.

The amendment, No. 57, states in full:

LIMITATION OF FUNDS RELATED TO INDIAN GAMING ON SETTLEMENT LANDS
Sec. __. None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to implement, administer, or enforce section 20(b)(1)(B)(i) of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2719(b)(1)(B)(i)).

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