One of the major decisions the Legislature must perform is the ratification of tribal-state gaming. The Legislature passed and the Governor signed SB 470 (Ducheny), the Tribal-State Gaming Compact between the Quechan Tribe of the Fort Yuma Indian Reservation and the State of California. Three other measures, SB 1362 (Chesbro)-Yurok Tribe, AB 1053 (Bogh)-Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and AB 2399 (Garcia)-Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, were unable to be ratified at the end of session because of opposition which came from labor organizations and the horseracing industry and card clubs expressing concerns over labor provisions and the exclusivity provisions in the compacts.
Other significant Indian gaming legislation enacted were SB 288 (Battin) restoring $120 million from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund item-vetoed by the Governor in the 2005-06 Budget for grants to local agencies impacted by tribal gaming, and SB 1247 (Runner) adding employees of a tribal gaming agency to those persons exempt from certification under the Department of Justice’s certification program for persons who roll fingerprints for non-law enforcement purposes if the employee has received training for applicant fingerprint rolling, has undergone a criminal history background check, and if the fingerprints he/she will be rolling are for tribal-state compact compliance purposes only.
