Florez gaming bill passes panel
4/15/2008, Fresno Bee
SACRAMENTO  California's governor could not negotiate with casino-seeking tribes until they have qualified land, under a bill passed by a state Senate committee Tuesday. Senate Bill 1695 is the latest attempt by Sen. Dean Florez to limit off-reservation gaming, such as what the Mono Indians of Madera County's North Fork Rancheria have proposed. At present, tribes wishing to build casinos away from their traditional homeland must get the land put into federal trust, meaning it is held by the U.S. government for the benefit of the tribe. But nothing stops the governor from negotiating a compact with the tribe while they wait for land approval. "It is a message bill for the governor no doubt," said Florez, D-Shafter. "I think he's sending us compacts that he has no business negotiating."

No Federal Approval, No Casino?
4/15/2008, KQED - Capitol Notes
Legislation to change how, and possibly where, new Indian casinos are built in California cleared its first hurdle today at the state Capitol. For years, the most controversial part of the tribal gaming process has been casinos proposed for land that either isn't an ancestral reservation or land that the federal government hasn't yet recognized as part of a tribe's reservation. Critics have derided such proposals as examples of "reservation shopping," accusing tribes and their deep-pocketed investors of choosing locations solely based on how much money can be made. The legislation in question, SB 1695, would change the way new casinos are approved, by prohibiting the governor from negotiating with any tribe whose casino land hasn't yet been sanctioned by the U.S. Department of Interior. (A quick explainer to those who don't follow this issue much: federal law lays out a long process for non-Indian land to become a reservation. It also requires a tribe to negotiate a formal gaming agreement, known as a compact, with the governor of the state before opening a casino.)

Valley View Casino tweaks report on proposed hotel
4/16/2008, San Diego Union Tribune
County officials were skeptical. Traffic engineers said casino hotels generate three trips per room and asked for that number to be used in assessing traffic. The plan is still to give rooms away to the casino's best customers, said Joe Navarro, who heads the San Pasqual Indian band's casino business unit, but it will offer rooms to the public if the hotel has extra space. The hotel has revised its traffic figures in response to the county's comments, but it hasn't adopted the county's proposal, exactly. Instead, hotel officials figure that, at most, 30 percent of the rooms could be rented, and figuring three daily trips for each of those rooms, the effects of traffic are not worth worrying about. County officials said they haven't reviewed the tribe's report and couldn't comment on it. The county usually takes environmental reports as the basis for negotiation with tribes on how to deal with the impact of casino projects. The report also said a temporary concert venue at the casino will put more cars on the road, but traffic problems can be dealt with through additional traffic management, such as more sheriff's deputies paid for by the casino.

Four Coachella Valley tribes develop coalition
4/15/2008, The Desert Sun
Four Coachella Valley tribes have formed the Four Winds Coalition to work with local government on regional and economic development issues. The coalition, made up of the Augustine Band of Cahuilla Indians, Cabazon Band of Mission Indians, Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians and Torres-Martinez Desert Cahuilla Indians, was announced Monday by the tribal chairs. The coalition hopes to work with governments of the eastern Coachella Valley and Riverside County to address such issues as the development of: An entertainment zone to draw more residents and visitors to the tribes' gaming operations in Coachella, Indio and the Salton Sea Water projects, including Salton