Committee sends tribes new offer that penalizes Pojoaque

SANTA FE - A legislative committee today voted to send Indian tribes and Gov. Gary Johnson a gambling agreement offer that penalizes Pojoaque Pueblo, which backed out of the negotiations.

The Committee on Compacts approved a provision that would deter state officials from allowing The Downs at Santa Fe to reopen. The track is owned by Pojoaque Pueblo.

If the closed track were licensed again, it would end the obligation of Indian casinos that are located within 75 miles of it - including several of the biggest money-makers near Albuquerque and Santa Fe - to share any of their slot machine revenues with the state.

Pojoaque Pueblo is negotiating to sell the track to a Nevada company that would renovate it and reopen it with slot machines.

Pojoaque Pueblo recently announced it no longer supported efforts to come up with new compacts that could be voted on during this legislative session.

Gov. Jacob Viarrial said the terms under consideration were not good enough for the tribes, and he said he no longer trusted the state.

"They've elected not to participate in the process, and I'm not sure they should be a beneficiary of this process," said Sen. John Arthur Smith, D-Deming, the committee's vice-chairman.

The proposal for new, 18-year compacts goes back to Johnson and the tribes for their consideration. Opponents of the Pojoaque provision said it would make it more difficult for the tribes to accept the lawmakers' latest offer.

The agreement, approved on a 5-4 vote, requires tribes to pay the state 8.5 percent of their slot machine proceeds and $100,000 annually - increased by 5 percent a year - in regulatory fees.

Compacts currently in effect require revenue sharing of 16 percent, which the tribes claim is illegally high and most are not paying.

The compact also says that a tribe's revenue sharing obligation ends if any new race track is opened within 75 miles of its casino. The Downs at Santa Fe had originally been exempt from the provision.

Tribes in arrears to the state would be required to make back payments in full before signing new compacts. The committee had decided last week to have the state attorney general certify that the tribes had settled their obligations before they could sign the new pacts.

Today, the panel decided instead to have the state treasurer, in consultation with the state's gaming representative - an employee of the state Gaming Control Board - do the certification.

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