Stand Up for California! is a statewide organization with a focus on gambling issues including tribal gaming, card clubs, horse racing, charitable gaming and the state lottery.

Is this just BINGO?
 
Letter of Opposition to SB 1328 Bingo Expansion
April 1, 2008, Stand Up For California  - Machine manufacturers have long used a strategy to exploit charity gaming laws to establish new gaming jurisdictions.
 

Charities press for electronic-bingo fund influx
4/7/2008, San Diego Union Tribune
SACRAMENTO - To counter withering competition from Indian casinos and elsewhere, the Catholic Church and other charitable groups want to revolutionize conventional bingo with interconnected games that could offer six-figure prizes. Bingo sessions at hundreds of parishes,

Off Reservation Opposition:

  • The wrong place for a casino
    4/8/2008, Fresno Bee - Editorial
    A proposal for a Las Vegas-style casino on Highway 99 just north of Madera is in the hands of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and a decision probably won't be made until the end of the year. The process the BIA uses for approval is a complicated one. But that doesn't change the most salient facts: This casino would be off-reservation, and its location along Highway 99 would create a badly congested urban area in what is now a largely rural setting. That's why we've opposed this plan from the beginning, and continue to do so.

    • Foreign Sources:

  • BUYING INTO VEGAS
    4/7/2008, Las Vegas Review Journal
    Las Vegas has never been short on cash. From the mob to Wall Street, investors have shelled out billions of dollars in a show of faith in the city's gambling-based economy. These days money is coming more and more from foreign sources. Last year, Dubai World invested $2.7 billion to gain 50 percent interest in CityCenter and put $2.4 billion into MGM Mirage stock. Elad Properties of Israel paid $1.2 billion for the 40-acre New Frontier property.

    CRIT Defends its Questionable Land Grab:

  • CRIT denounces California land-grab effort
    4/7/2008, CRIT Reservation Newsletter
    Pledges to continue to vigorously fight any effort to take land from the Tribes A group of non-Tribal members leasing land from CRIT have formed a group with the expressed goal of stripping away CRIT's land in California and challenging Tribal sovereignty. The informal group has retained an attorney, and have gone to local and regional media outlets to argue that CRIT's boundaries do not extend into California. CRIT's California boundary has been reinforced several times over by federal government action, so Tribal officials are not concerned about the validity of the claim. What's more concerning, said Tribal Chairman Daniel Eddy, Jr., is another example of outsiders trying to take away valuable land from the Tribes, as has been done in the past with damaging results.

     


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    Upcoming Hearings

    Public Comment deadline: Expansion of facility - Draft Environmental Impact Report presented by United Auburn Indian Community. C/O: AES 1801 7th St., Suite 100, Sacramento, CA. 95811.  Written comments will be accepted through April 10, 2008.

    Public Comment deadline: Off Reservation Proposal - Manzanita Band in the City of Calexico.  Mail comments to Amy Dutschke, acting Regional Director, Pacific Regional Office, BIA, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA. 92825. Written comments will be accepted through April 7, 2008.

    Public Scoping Hearing: Off Reservation Proposal - April 9, 2008, 6 p.m., Elks Lodge in Marysville, 920 D. Street.  The hearing is for public input related to the enterpise Rancheria proposed fee to trust land acquistion of 40 acres and the subsequent development of an off reservation casino resort complex in Yuba County. Mail comments to Amy Dutschke, acting Regional Director, Pacific Regional Office, BIA, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA. 92825. Written comments will be accepted through May 5, 2008.
     
    Public Comment Deadline:  Off Reservation Proposal,
    Comments on the Final EIS for the Scotts Valley Casino in the City of Richmond. Mail comments to Amy Dutschke, acting Regional Director, Pacific Regional Office, BIA, 2800 Cottage Way, Sacramento, CA. 92825. Written comments will be accepted through April 28, 2008.
     

    Upcoming Conference

    International Masters of Gaming Law Conference, May 21-23, 2008. Villagio Inn & Spa, Napa Valley, California. Register online: www.imglconference.com/conference.htm
     

    North American Regulators Association

    June 10-13, 2008  Register on Line:  www.nagra.org
     

    22nd National Conference on Problem Gambling

    , June 26-28, 2008,     Long Beach, California.  Register online:         www.ncpgambling.org/conference
     
    INDIAN COUNTRY'S WINNING HAND, October 16-17, 2008, Radisson Fort McDowell Resort & Casino Scottsdale/Fountian Hills, Arizona. Register online: www.law.asu.edu/ilp
     
     

    LINKS and Legislation

    archive

    Stand Up For California - Library

    Stand Up For California - Helpful Links

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    State Legislation to Watch

    AJR 39 -  Assembly Member Huffman

    Reaffirmation of the Winneman Wintu.

    AB 1314 -Assembly Member Strikland

    BINGOAn Act to amend section 326.5 of the California Penal Code.

    AB 1924 - Assembly Member Jeffries Changes the amount of charitable BINGO  funds that may be used for overhead and other operational expenses.

    AB 2026 - Assembly Member  Levine -

    The California Gambling Control in conjunction with the Department of Justice, shall perform a study and report its findings to the legislature by June 30, 2009, regarding authorizing interstate Internet Poker.

    AB 62 - Sen. Florez - Permits the transfer of funds from the General Fund to the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund for eligible recipient tribes should there be insufficient funds in the Special Distribution Fund.

    SB 331 -Sen.  Romero - Imposes a state mandated local program to address tresspassers on tribal lands

    SB 996 Sen. Florez - This bill would require each tribal state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and a federally recognized Indian Tribe to be ratified by the Legislature in Separate Statute. 

     SB 1201 - Sen. Battin Increases the aggregate limit of gaming devices licenses available for issuance under the 1999 compacts to 122,000 slot machines without tribal state compact renegotiations.
    SB 1328 - Sen.  Cedillo - deletes the $250 limitation on bingo game payouts, thereby allows for an award of any denomination. (currently limit $250.00 per pot)
    SB - 1570 - Sen. Vincent - Requires the Governor to use best efforts to enusre that satellite wagering on horese racing is one of the forms of gaming offered at any gambling facility authorized under a compact.  
    SB 1626 - Sen. Steinberg - Regulates the game of BINGO.
    SB 1679 - Sen. Florez - Lottery Reform Bill:  requires that not less than 87% of revenues be used for prizes and to benefit education, 13% for lottery expenses. Total revenue to education will be decided by the Commission but not less than 1,200,000,000. Requires 1 million to be committed to the Office of Problem and Pathological gambling. Defines, expands and loosens restrictions of lottery game themes.

    SB 1695 - Sen. Florez - This bill limits the locations of tribal casinos.  Does it limit the political power of local elected?

    SCA 20 -Sen.  Vincent - Constitutional Amendment authorizes Roulette and Craps on California Indian lands for compact tribes.

     

    Federal Legislation to Watch 

    H.R. 5608 Congressman Rahall - mandates that adminstration directly consults with tribes on policies that directly affect their lives.
     
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    Last sessions legislation rumored to have legs.

    H. R. 3709To authorize inter-tribal transfers of authority in leases between the Ewiiaapaayp Band of Kumeyaay and the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay, and for other purposes. (Introduced in House October 1, 2007)

    S. 1347 - Sentaor Feinstein: A bill to amend the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act to modify the

    date as of which certain tribal land of the Lytton Rancheria of California is deemed to be held in trust and to provide for the conduct of certain activities on the land.  Passed the Senate 11-6-07 and sent to the House.

    Rule Making

    http://thomas.loc.gov/

    Guidance on taking off reservation land into trust for gaming purposes
    Jan 3, 2008,     Carl Artman, Asst. Secretary of the Interior, BIA

     
    Proposed Rule - Secretarily Approval of Compacts within 45 Days
    Feb. 11, 2008, Asst. Secretary - Carl Artman - Dept. of the Inter
     
    Notice of Approval of Class III Tribal Gaming Ordinances
    3/30/2008, Federal Register 3-17-2008 NIGC
    SUMMARY: The purpose of this notice is to inform the public of class III gaming ordinances approved by the Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Commission. EFFECTIVE DATE: This notice is effective upon date of publication in the Federal Register.