SB1695 - Limit Location of Casinos

SB1695 authored by Sen. Dean Florez, D-Shafter, who is the head of the Senate committee with authority over gaming, is aimed at limiting a tribe's ability to establish casinos and place them where it wants.

Capitol insiders say that although the bill is written in broad language, the legislation targets a Fresno-area tribe's attempt to set up a casino off Highway 99 near Madera.

The bill, if passed, would effectively block an attempt by the North Fork Mono Tribe, which has lands that overlap portions of Fresno and Madera counties and which is based near the foothill community of North Fork, about 40 miles from the proposed casino site.

The tribe has received a number of federal approvals regarding the use of its land and wants some 300 acres at the proposed site designated as tribal land where they would then build the casino.

Yet for them to have though is a state gaming compact that would be negotiated with the governor, as required by federal law.

Florez is opposed to what is known as "casino shopping," and wants to restrict the casinos to the county "where the tribe has historically carried on its tribal activities." In North Fork's case, that means the tribe would be unable to build its Madera casino if the Florez bill is approved.

The tribe plans are to construct a 500,000-square-foot casino just west of Highway 99 in Madera, a move opposed by other area casino-operating tribes, who say the huge facility would give the North Fork tribe an unfair advantage. "The question is whether this sets a precedent for other tribes for them to follow suit," Florez said at a public hearing on March 13 in Madera. "Every tribe I know would like to move to a better location."

The hearing was jammed with hundreds of residents.

The tribe says the land is properly part of its heritage and contends that it has demonstrated that ancestral connection to federal officials and others. "It's really a shame when we have our neighboring tribes and close relatives of ours that don't want us to follow the process and achieve what they've been able to achieve," Elaine Fink, a vice chair of the North Fork Tribe, said at the same hearing. She was referring to two other area tribes that have casinos: the Table Mountain and Chuckchansi tribes.

Some have raised concerns about the environmental and cultural impacts of the proposed casino.

"Its product will be gambling addicts, alcoholics, drug addicts, broken homes," said Chowchilla resident David Rogers.

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