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Home My WebLink About21 H.R. 3752 - INDIAN GAMING 11-06-07Agenda Item 21 -~ ~. Reviewed: _ ~ AGENDA REPORT City Manager . . Finance Director ~;-,`r MEETING DATE: NOVEMBER 6, 2007 TO: WILLIAM A. HUSTON, CITY MANAGER FROM: COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT SUBJECT: LEGISLATIVE REPORT - H.R. 3752, INDIAN GAMING REGULATORY ACT SUMMARY: H.R. 3752 (Campbell) would provide that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act shall not apply to an Indian tribe or to Indian lands of an Indian tribe until that Indian tribe has been federally recognized for a period of not less than 25 continuous years. A copy of the bill is included as Attachment A to this report. RECOMMENDATION: That the City Council take a position to support H.R. 3752 and direct staff to transmit the attached letter of support to Congressman Campbell. FISCAL IMPACT: The cost to local governments associated with Indian gaming casinos in urban areas can be significant. The fiscal impact would need to be identified in conjunction with a specific proposal to establish a casino in the vicinity of a particular city. DISCUSSION: At the October 16, 2007, meeting, Mayor Bone requested that H.R. 3752 be agendized for the Council's consideration. H.R. 3752 would provide that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act shall not apply to an Indian tribe or to Indian lands of an Indian tribe until that Indian tribe has been federally recognized for a period of not less than 25 continuous years. H.R. 3752 has been referred to the House Committee on Natural Resources. Attached is a brief report prepared by Congressman John Campbell that explains the Congressman's reasons for introducing H.R. 3752. It should also be noted that casinos in urban areas have the potential to significantly impact cities by generating traffic, increasing crime, causing adjacent business to lose revenues, and demanding high levels of water, sewer, law enforcement, and fire services. _~~~~~~,~1~~J Scott Reekstin Senior Planner Attachments A: H.R.3752 S:\Cdd\CCREPORIIHR 3752 Indian Gaming.doc Elizabeth A. Binsack Community Development Director B: Draft Letter of Support ATTACHMENT A H.R. 3752 Search Results -THOMAS (Library of Congress) HR 3752 IH 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 3752 Page 1 of 1 To provide that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act shall not apply to an Indian tribe or to Indian lands of an Indian tribe until that Indian tribe has been federally recognized for a period of not less than 25 continuous years. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 4, 200? Mr. CAMPBELL of California introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources A BILL To provide that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act shall not apply to an Indian tribe or to Indian lands of an Indian tribe until that Indian tribe has been federally recognized for a period of not less than 25 continuous years. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, SECTION 1. WAITING PERIOD ON GANtING ACTIVITIES. The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (25 U.S.C. 2701 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following: SEC. 23. WAITING PERIOD ON GAMING ACTIVITIES. This Act shall not apply to an Indian tribe or to Indian lands of an Indian tribe until that Indian tribe has been a federally recognized Indian tribe for a period of not less than 25 continuous years. This section shall not apply to Indian tribes that were federally recognized before the date of the enactment of this section.'. END http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?c 110:./temp/~c 1 l OQgOlg3 10/30/2007 From Congressman John Campbell's laptop to yours Page 1 of 2 From Congressman John Campbell's laptop to yours: Friday, October 12th, 2007 Of Casinos and Indian Tribes: By now you may have heard that there are several groups trying to get federal recognition as the federally sanctioned Juaneno Indian Tribe in Orange County. It is very clear that the groups seeking recognition as this tribe are doing so because they intend to establish a casino in urban Orange County. I have a copy of a lobbying contract under which the lobbyists are paid only by a contingent fee of the "take" of the eventual casino. If there is no casino, they are working for free. Furthermore, the Orange County Register recently featured a story in which one of the tribe organizers, Joyce Stanfield Perry, says, "it is our inherent right to build any kind of economic development once we have agovernment-to-government relationship." There has been talk of putting this casino in San Juan Capistrano or near Irvine's Great Park. The Federal Bureau of Indian Affairs is scheduled to decide whether to recognize this tribe in about 60 days. If they do achieve recognition technically they could establish a casino on any land they buy in Orange County, although they would have to get a gambling "compact" with the state. I oppose the recognition of this tribe and I oppose a gambling casino in Orange County, or frankly any other urban area. Lest you think I am not consistent on this issue, while in the California State Legislature I aggressively opposed the establishment of what would have been the largest casino on earth for a roughly 20 member tribe that had been recognized in Berkley, California. We have been successful so far in stopping that one. Here is why I oppose these things: 1) Indian casino gambling was originally conceived in order to provide economic opportunity for big groups of largely full-blooded Indians who were poor and whose ancestral reservations were in remote areas with little economic opportunity. That has worked in many areas. Fine. But now you see a handful of professional people tracing small fractions of Indian ancestry, in urban areas where economic opportunity abounds wanting to become tribes so they can make tons of money on gambling. If they would agree to never have a casino, as a tribe in North Carolina recently agreed to do, then we would know that they were merely trying to preserve their cultural heritage. But the Juanenos are not doing that. 2) The federal tribal recognition process has existed for 30 years. Why has this tribal application only surfaced in the last 20 years or so? Perhaps because the availability of and profitability of casino gambling only came to California recently. http://campbell.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=1999930561.90943.354&gen=1 10/30/2007 From Congressman John Campbell's laptop to yours 3) These are not tribes of thousands of people here. The people trying to establish these tribes usually number less than a dozen. I remember meeting once with a group of 6 trying to establish a tribe and a casino in downtown San Diego. So, we're supposed to grant gigantic casino rights so that 6 people can have economic opportunity? 4) Indian casinos are federally granted monopolies. You and I cannot open one to compete with the Juanenos if we wanted to. In an urban -area, why not? They are also basically self-regulated in California so their profit margins are very high because of that lack of competition. 5) Casinos in urban areas are usually accompanied by increases in crime and spousal abuse and gambling addiction. 6) These things are hard to stop because they are very profitable that there is plenty of money to go around for lobbyists and cities and consultants and the only losers are the public. For all these reasons I have introduced a bill to place a 25 year moratorium on Indian casinos for newly recognized tribes. This will preserve the tribal recognition process for those who truly desire to preserve their heritage, but it will stop the practice of setting up these monopoly casinos in urban areas for at least a while. If you agree with this bill or that we should not have casinos in urban areas like Orange County, please a-mail me back so that I can show the Bureau of Indian Affairs the breadth of the opposition to this tribe's plans. More TV Time: Last Friday, I made an appearance on the CBS Evening News to talk about the "paint shield" earmark. Here is the clip for those of you who didn't see it. Until next week, I remain respectfully, Congressman John Campbell Page 2 of 2 http://campbell.houseenews.net/mail/util.cfm?gpiv=1999930561.90943.354&gen=1 10/30/2007 ATTACHMENT B Draft Letter of Support November 7, 2007 The Honorable John Campbell 48th District, California 1728 Longworth HOB Washington, DC 20515 SUBJECT: H.R. 3752 -LETTER OF SUPPORT Dear Congressman Campbell: On behalf of the City of Tustin, I wish to express our support for H.R. 3752. H.R. 3752 would provide that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act shall not apply to an Indian tribe or to Indian lands of an Indian tribe until that Indian tribe has been federally recognized fora period of not less than 25 continuous years. Casinos in .urban areas have the potential to significantly impact cities by generating traffic, increasing crime, and causing adjacent businesses to lose revenues. Casinos also demand high levels of water, sewer; law enforcement, and fire services. For these reasons, the City of Tustin opposes casinos in urban areas and supports H.R. 3752 and its 25 year moratorium on Indian casinos for newly recognized tribes. If you have any questions regarding this matter, please contact me or Elizabeth Binsack, Community Development Director, at (714) 573-3031. Sincerely, Lou Bone Mayor cc: Congressman Nick J. Rahall, II -Chair, House Committee on Natural Resources S:\Cdd\SCOTT\LEGISLAT\HR 3752 Indian Gaming Support Letter.doc