Gaming change opposed

Steve Kanigher and Mary Manning

Friday, Jan. 16, 1998 | 10:47 a.m.

Nevada Sens. Richard Bryan and Harry Reid want Congress to stop what they anticipate will be Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt's attempt to approve Indian gaming over states' objections.

Babbitt was expected to announce at a press conference in Washington, D.C., today that he will assume authority over appeals by Indian tribes that fail to get state approval for their casino requests.

But Democrats Bryan and Reid said Thursday they'll introduce legislation Jan. 27 to block Babbitt, arguing he would be in violation of the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Reid, a co-author of that law, said it requires tribes to get an agreement from a governor before Indian gaming is allowed.

"What he's trying to do is to do what Congress said he couldn't do," Reid said. "My main fear is he is superseding the law. Administrators try to do this all the time. It's a constant fight between the executive and legislative branches of government."

Like Reid, Bryan said any effort by Babbitt to exert authority over Indian gaming has the potential to hurt Nevada's casino industry. Bryan noted that gaming in Laughlin, 90 miles southeast of Las Vegas, already has been adversely impacted by Indian casinos in Arizona because of the tax breaks tribes enjoy.

"The secretary in effect will circumvent the states by determining the scope of gaming compacts," Bryan said. "Indians have equal opportunity to engage in gaming as do non-Indians. That's fair. But there are 40 Indian tribes in California, and they have 14,000 slot machines that are illegal under state and federal law. What they want is to keep those machines."

Babbitt, through spokeswo-man Stephanie Hanna, said he thinks Nevada's senators are reacting prematurely.

"It would have been much better for Senators Reid and Bryan to wait until we issue the procedures," Hanna said.

Both senators said, however, that their staffs have reviewed preliminary drafts of the proposed regulation.

"We've seen enough that we should be concerned," Reid said.

Hanna said the new procedures, expected to be published in the Federal Register next week, would restore some balance to the regulation of tribal gaming. There is normally a 90-day comment period before a new rule becomes final.

A key issue in this debate has been interpretation of a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision that prohibits tribes from suing states. The court ruled that Florida had the right to deny the Seminole Indian tribe's request for gaming establishments on tribal land in that state.

Indian tribes believe the ruling allows them to take their gaming requests to Babbitt, who has long been considered their ally. In June, the Seminole Tribe sued Babbitt in federal court, accusing him of failing to proceed with regulations permitting expansion of tribal gaming.

But both the National Governors Association and Western Governors Association have sent letters to the Clinton administration protesting the idea of Babbitt and his successors overruling state officials on this issue.

Bryan, a former Nevada governor, said he believes politically powerful tribes in California that are pushing for full-scale casinos have exerted pressure on Babbitt. But the senator said California Gov. Pete Wilson has opposed the spread of Indian gaming in that state.

"The problem is Indian gaming is unregulated, and any problem arising on an Indian reservation could have a spin-off effect on all gaming operations," Bryan said. "We don't want the secretary of Interior to bypass the states, and make a determination we want states to make."

Last fall, Bryan and Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., successfully added an amendment to the Interior appropriations bill to prevent Babbitt from approving any new Indian gaming operations unless an agreement has been reached between a tribe and that's state's governor. The ban, which Reid also supported, ends in September when the bill expires.

Reid said Babbitt should have first offered the proposed new rule for consideration by the Senate Indian Affairs Committee.

"This fall, I joined with members of the Indian Affairs Committee to keep certain tribes from rewriting the terms and definitions of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act," Reid said.

"Regardless of how they each felt on the issue of Indian gaming, we were all united in our concern about attempts to do an end run around Congress and the current law. The (Interior) department will be surprised by the level of opposition that this rule will receive in Congress."