Legislature OKs Wilson Deals on Indian Gambling

SACRAMENTO —  The Legislature on Thursday ratified agreements struck by Gov. Pete Wilson to permit gambling on 11 Indian reservations, setting up what is expected to be final approval for tribes statewide to operate casinos with the state’s blessing.

The measure--on one of the highest-stakes issues of the year--was approved 53 to 24 in the Assembly and 21 to 7 in the Senate, as leaders of tribes opposed to the compact and some that supported it watched the daylong wrangling and voting from the Assembly gallery. Wilson is expected to sign the bill today.

The vote followed intense maneuvering by lawmakers who opposed the measure, and came as at least two dozen representatives of Indian casinos and non-Indian gambling interests from Nevada and California worked to sway legislators.

Part of the legislation calls for the creation of California-style slot machines for Indian casinos. The machines have not been developed, although prototypes could be rolled out later this year.

The new machines, while similar to those used in Nevada and in some California Indian casinos, are more like high-speed lottery games that pit players against one another rather than against the house.

After watching the vote, Stan McGarr of the Pala Indians in San Diego County, the first tribe to sign a compact, said he was ecstatic. “This is what we’ve been working for for two years.”

Even though the bill would legalize gambling on reservations, several of California’s wealthiest tribes opposed it as being too restrictive. They have poured $25 million so far into Proposition 5, the November ballot measure that would allow tribes the right to run casinos as they see fit.

Thursday’s approval of the compacts will put pressure on the Yes on 5 side to spend even more on their campaign. It also could make voters less interested in approving the initiative, if they assume that at least some tribes believe they can maintain successful casinos under the state restrictions.

Andrew Masiel of the Pechanga tribe, which has a gambling operation, called the Assembly vote “a shameful sellout to Nevada interests, whose ultimate goal is to shut down gaming” in California.

The vote came as legislators continued their scramble to strike deals on an array of issues before the Legislature adjourns for the year, either later this week or early next week. Among the topics of the day, unions representing state employees continued their effort to persuade Wilson to grant them a raise, while legislators worked into the night to draft two bond deals--$849 million to finance parks and $1.6 billion for new water projects.

However, Wilson opposed the package, saying that there was insufficient money for new reservoirs. Sean Walsh, Wilson’s spokesman, pronounced the deal dead late Thursday.

At the same time, legislators and Wilson appeared to have agreed to a $105-million plan to help struggling students and reduce what politicians call “social promotion”--sending youngsters to the next grade even though they have not mastered the previous one.

Under the proposal, schoolchildren would be tested at the start of the school year. If they are behind, they would take special after-school and weekend programs throughout the school year. If they remain behind at the end of the year, remedial summer school would be offered.

Teachers could also recommend that a student be promoted but be assigned remedial work at the beginning of the next year. In extreme situations, students would be flunked.

However, the administration was on the verge of rejecting separate legislation to provide $50 million to help the state’s worst schools. The bill would allow the 250 lowest-performing schools in the state to apply for grants. In exchange for the money, an independent evaluator would be assigned to help devise a plan to remedy the problems.

Among other actions:

* Wilson signed a record $9.2-billion bond to finance construction of schools and colleges, placing the proposal on California’s Nov. 3 ballot. The measure will be Proposition 1A on the general election ballot.

* The Assembly approved, 41 to 31, legislation by Assemblyman Don Perata (D-Alameda) that would further restrict military-style assault weapons. But a spokesman for Wilson said the governor would probably veto it, because it would restrict some weapons not viewed as assault weapons.

* The Assembly was expected to approve legislation by Sen. Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles) requiring that handguns meet basic safety standards. The bill to limit so-called Saturday night specials would go to Wilson, who will probably veto it.

* In a measure pushed by the Screen Actors Guild and aimed a restricting tabloids, the Senate gave final legislative approval to a bill that could subject news photographers and reporters to criminal trespassing charges if they step onto private property without permission to gather information. Senate President Pro Tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) carried the bill.

* The Senate approved and sent to the Assembly a bill by Assemblywoman Carole Migden (D-San Francisco) that would require that physicians report HIV cases to health departments by using a code system to protect patients’ confidentiality. Although AIDS cases are now reported, there is no requirement that health departments be notified when individuals are found to have HIV.

* The Senate approved a $495-million bond to finance juvenile justice facilities. The measure will be on the November ballot if it is approved by the Assembly and the governor.

The focus of the day, however, was Indian gambling.

Support and opposition crossed party lines. Longtime allies turned on one another.

Backers of the measure maintained that the bill merely would ratify a deal struck by 11 tribes with Wilson. Opponents argued that the pact infringes on Indian rights by forcing its terms on tribes that don’t want to sign it.

“Eleven tribes have chosen to live in peace. Eleven tribes have exercised their sovereignty,” said Assemblyman Gil Cedillo (D-Los Angeles), the bill’s main Assembly proponent. “It is not our business and it is not for us to say that they did not chose correctly.”

Opponents used a wide variety of arguments in an attempt to kill the measure: guilt over the treatment of Native Americans throughout history; an up-by-the-bootstraps argument that Indians can gain economic self-sufficiency by expanding their casinos; claims that an expansion of gambling in California would keep dollars here rather than send them to Nevada.

“I ask for a moment of silence. We are right now destroying Indian sovereignty,” said Assemblyman Cruz Bustamante (D-Fresno), one of the bill’s opponents.

Assemblyman Jim Battin (R-La Quinta) said some tribes that agreed to the pact signed it “with a gun to their head.” He was referring to three tribes in San Diego County, where a federal judge threatened to shut down their operations unless they signed the compact.

Assemblyman Brett Granlund (R-Yucaipa) said the vote amounted to “a little of history repeating itself.”

“We embraced them, broke bread with them, had Thanksgiving with them,” Granlund said. “[Later], we decided to take everything that they had that we wanted.”

Under the compact, each of California’s more than 100 recognized tribes would be allotted rights to 199 of the new California-style slot machines.

However, tribes that did not use their allotment could lease their rights to the devices to other tribes. That would create a form of revenue sharing, backers of the deal say, and ensure that all tribes would reap some economic benefits from gambling.

A tribe that leased slot machines could install no more than 990. Additionally, there would be a statewide cap on the machines, restricting the number to 19,900.

That is one-tenth the number of slot machines at Nevada casinos.

Nevada casinos and non-Indian gambling interests from California backed the measure, believing it would restrict expansion of gambling in this state, thereby limiting competition for Las Vegas, card clubs and horse tracks.

Times staff writers Tom Gorman and Carl Ingram contributed to this story.