Bill Text: CA AB2656 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 2656

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Tribal gaming: compact ratification.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2024-09-20 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 313, Statutes of 2024. [AB2656 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB2656-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly March 18, 2024

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 2656

Introduced by Assembly Member Jim Patterson

February 14, 2024

An act to ~~amend Section 12012.75 of~~ add Section 12012.114 to the Government Code, relating to gaming.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 2656, as amended, Jim Patterson. Tribal ~~gaming.~~ gaming: compact ratification.

The existing federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude tribal-state gaming compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts between the State of California and specified Indian tribes.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect.
This bill would ratify the tribal-state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and the Table Mountain Rancheria, executed on November 1, 2023. The bill would provide that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions related to this compact are not projects for purposes of CEQA.
Existing federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law establishes the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund within the State Treasury for the receipt and deposit of moneys received by the state from an Indian tribe pursuant to the terms of a tribal-state gaming compact for the purpose of making distributions to an eligible recipient Indian tribe.
~~This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that latter provision governing the fund.~~

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

Section 12012.114 is added to the Government Code, to read:

12012.114.
(a) The tribal-state gaming compact entered into in accordance with the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 (18 U.S.C. Secs. 1166 to 1168, inclusive, and 25 U.S.C. Sec. 2701 et seq.) between the State of California and the Table Mountain Rancheria, executed on November 1, 2023, is hereby ratified.
(b) (1) In deference to tribal sovereignty, none of the following shall be deemed a project for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code):
(A) The execution of the tribal-state gaming compact ratified by this section.
(B) The execution of an amendment to the tribal-state gaming compact ratified by this section.
(C) The execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the tribe and a county or city government negotiated pursuant to the express authority of, or as expressly referenced in, the tribal-state gaming compact ratified by this section.
(D) The execution of an intergovernmental agreement between the tribe and the Department of Transportation, or other state agency, negotiated pursuant to the express authority of, or as expressly referenced in, the tribal-state gaming compact ratified by this section.
(E) The on-reservation impacts of compliance with the terms of the tribal-state gaming compact ratified by this section.
(2) Except as expressly provided in this section, this subdivision does not exempt a city, county, or city and county, or the Department of Transportation, or any state agency or local jurisdiction, from the requirements of the California Environmental Quality Act.

SECTION 1.Section 12012.75 of the Government Code is amended to read:
12012.75.
There is hereby created in the State Treasury a special fund called the “Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund” for the receipt and deposit of moneys received by the state from an Indian tribe pursuant to the terms of a tribal-state gaming compact for the purpose of making distributions to an eligible recipient Indian tribe. Moneys in the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund shall be available to the California Gambling Control Commission, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of making distributions to an eligible recipient Indian tribe in accordance with a distribution plan specified in a tribal-state gaming compact.