Five tribes sign compacts; two more expected

Ten tribes agreed in May to negotiate a compact with Wilson by Monday, or face losing their casino businesses.

The agreements were modeled after a compact Wilson signed in March with the Pala Band of northern San Diego County, an agreement widely opposed by gaming tribes because they said it undermined their sovereignty by giving new controls to state and local authorities.

Five tribes signed compacts by the deadline, and two more were expected to reach agreements this week. A third tribe will take a compact to its membership for a vote, if Wilson refuses to extend negotiations.

"They've secured their future," said Howard Dickstein, a Sacramento attorney who has represented five of the six tribes that signed compacts. "The tribes can now build and expand, and not worry about losing their economic security."

The tribes that signed are in Northern California. They are the Rumsey Indian Rancheria of Wintun Indians; Jackson Rancheria Band of Miwuk Indians; Table Mountain Rancheria; Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria; and Mooretown Rancheria.

Daniel Kolkey, Wilson's chief negotiator with the tribes, said the state expects to reach agreements this week with the Barona tribe in San Diego County, and another Northern California tribe, Big Sandy.

He said the state has asked U.S. Attorneys to postpone enforcing the deadline only for Barona and Big Sandy, since they are negotiating in good faith. The other tribes - the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians in San Diego County; Mooretown Rancheria in Butte County; and Redding Rancheria in Shasta County - are subject to removal of their machines, along with 27 other tribes who have refused to negotiate compacts.

The Viejas council said in a prepared statement Monday that unless the tribe was extended additional time for negotiations, it would submit the compact signed by the other tribes to its membership for a vote.

"Approval of this option means the Viejas Band will be pursuing the passage of the November Initiative for Indian Self-Reliance and amendments to the compact under a new administration," the council wrote. Wilson's term ends this year.

One of the provisions of the compacts is that if a tribal initiative ballot measure passes in November and is deemed constitutional, the compacts will be terminated. The measure seeks to legalize the video slot machines the tribes now operate.

Kolkey doubts the initiative will be a problem for the state.

"I think that tribes have recognized that their tribal initiative is not going to be the escape hatch that they thought it would be. Even their own lawyers are saying its unconstitutional," he said.

Despite the threat that federal authorities could seize gambling machines, they were unlikely to act quickly. There are court hearings slated over the next few weeks throughout the state for tribes concerning forfeiture. No tribe has yet been ordered to surrender or turn off its gambling machines.

Under federal law, Indian tribes are required to have state compacts for most forms of casino gambling, including video machines. Until recently, none of California's 39 tribal casinos had an agreement; the governor refused to negotiate with tribes he contended were violating state law by operating illegal slot machines.

Wilson finally agreed in October 1996 to begin talks with the Pala Band, a tribe that doesn't have a casino but plans to build one. The compact was intended to serve as a statewide model. It took 17 months to negotiate.

A linchpin of the Pala compact was its authorization of a new form of gambling machine employing a lottery system. A player, by inserting money, would join a game already in progress rather than activating a game of chance on any particular machine. The machines are still in development.

The compacts also allow tribes to keep their current slot machines as long as the new electronic lottery devices required by the compact are under development, or competing tribes continue to operate slot machines without a compact.

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