Increase Tribes Role in Local Governments?

There is a bill in the legislature this year that may not be generating as much public attention as the amended compact bills, but Indian tribes are probably watching this one very closely. AB 169, authored by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine, D-Van Nuys, is intended to give Indian tribes a greater role in local and regional government, including the ability to form Joint Powers Agreements with public agencies. This bill is a reprise of legislation that was passed by the Legislature last year but was vetoed by the governor on the last day of the 2005-06 legislative session. Schwarzenegger said at the time that the bill, "contains vague and ambiguous language regarding the rights of tribes as sovereign governments." His concern was about whether the bill was a smokescreen to give tribes a new taxing authority, allowing them to seize property under eminent domain or otherwise impinge on government's role. Supporters of the bill claim that the concern is unwarranted. "This is a regional planning issue. It's apart from gaming compacts, Indian gaming and anything else," Levine said. "By having them become part of the planning process, it allows the tribes to get in early. They become partners instead of adversaries." The bill this year focuses on transportation and Sacramento attorney Howard Dickstein, who represents the California Tribal Business Alliance said,” flashpoints between tribes and local governments have occurred over transportation issues, and over the traffic impacts of casinos. [Levine's bill] makes sense as a starting point because tribes have interests that impact local governments”

If ratified, the bill would give16 federally recognized tribes in Southern California participation and voting rights in the Southern California Association of Governments, or SCAG, which encompasses six counties, 187 cities and a number of transportation and planning agencies. The tribes would have one representative on SCAG's regional council, and two members each on the policy committees that deal with transportation, the environment and housing, among other issues. The tribes would decide among themselves who should represent them in the SCAG positions. The bill would also expedite the use of JPAs, in which the tribes could participate with other agencies in writing rules that govern such things as development, transportation, law enforcement, emergency services, environmental policies and other issues.

SCAG is the sponsor of Levine's bill and has been working on the issue for several years. SCAG produces a regional transportation plan every four years, and the organization believes the tribes should be part of that effort, as well as any other regional issues. But the governor is still concerned that the push for JPAs may somehow cloak an attempt to expand casino gambling without sufficient scrutiny by the Schwarzenegger administration. In his veto message of last year, Schwarzenegger asked that the issue be negotiated with the administration's Office of Planning and Research. JPA bill sponsors and supporters are currently waiting for Schwarzenegger to open negotiations.

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