Indian gaming grant funds dry up
Governor working to restore grants
Since 2004 the City of Porterville, Tulare County, Sierra View Medical Center and others have benefitted greatly from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund (GSDF) with more than $4 million distributed locally.
Last year, that fund went dry and the governor’s office is working on a solution.
Since 2004 an average of more than $350,000 annually has been distributed in the county, the bulk of that to the City of Porterville and Tulare County.
However, according to Eric Petosky, public information officer with the California Gambling Control Commission, which oversees the fund, the fund went dry last year when no money was distributed. He said he did not feel any funds will be handed out this year, either.
Senate Bill 621 became law on Jan. 1, 2004, and made grant funding available to counties, cities and special districts effected by tribal gaming from the Indian GSDF. Gaming tribes that operated 200 or more gaming devices on or before Sept. 1, 1999 contribute a portion of their net winnings into the fund.
All tribes which operate gaming facilities pay into the fund, which is then distributed in various ways. Tribes pay into the fund based on their gaming revenues. The local money distributed comes from that state pool and not directly from the Tule River Tribe, which operates Eagle Mountain Casino on the reservation.
Petosky said the first obligation is to supplement, if needed, the Special Distribution Fund, which pays tribes which do not have gaming roughly $1.1 million per tribe in the state. There are approximately 75 tribes which receive the annual payment.
The next obligation is the Problem Gambling Initiative, which pays for programs to counsel persons with gambling problems.
Third on the list is to pay regulatory costs and, finally, if there is money left, give grants to local governments and agencies impacted by having a casino.
For example, Tulare County has received probably more than a million dollars to make improvements to Reservation Road, which people travel from the Valley to the casino.
“We use to get a lot of money,” District 5 Supervisor Mike Ennis said Monday. “We’ve gone after grants to work on Success Valley Drive as well.”
“Everybody benefits from it,” Ennis added.
Porterville City Manager John Lollis also wondered what had happened to the fund. He said the city just took delivery of a mass casualty rescue vehicle for the fire de- partment that was paid for by tribal money.
“We’re trying to get an answer,” he said. The county also did not know what had happened to the fund.
Lollis said the city has probably received more than half a million dollars (it is more than that) and has used it in a variety of ways, including to help pay for transit service from the city to the casino.
Sierra View Medical Center has also received funds over the years, including to purchase a 3D mammography machine.
Petosky said the fund was first established in 2001, but did not include the local distributions. That was added in 2004 by SB 621. That first year the local committee handed out $410,265, with Porterville getting $100,000.
The local tribe must sponsor the grants and find that the proposed grant projects have a reasonable relationship to the impacts associated with Eagle Mountain Casino. The local Indian Gaming Benefit Committee is made up of representatives of the county, city and Tribe, as well as citizens. Why Fund Went Dry There are a couple of reasons the fund has a shortfall. One is the addition of the local grants, another is the recession which reduced casino profits, and probably the biggest reason is the administration of former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger renegotiated compacts — contracts with tribes giving them gaming rights — which diverted money from the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund (RSTF) to the state’s general fund. That was done with at least five tribes, but the practice was overturned by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Petosky said for a few years, prior to 2004, there was a surplus in the fund and that allowed the local grants to be given until 2014, when the money ran out.
Today, Gov. Jerry Brown’s administration is renegotiating new compacts and in those they are restoring a local grant program, but it is being set up differently. The new compacts call for a certain amount of money to the RSTF, but tribes which set up their own local distribution fund can get a credit as to what they give the state.
However, that process will be timely. Most compacts were signed in 1999 and are for 20 years. The Tule River Tribe’s compact was signed in 1999.
It is not expected the GSDF will have enough money to pay out of the local grants for years, or at least not until the local tribe negotiates its own compact and agrees to set up its own local fund.
In signing a recent compact, Brown said “the compact provides a framework for the sharing of gaming revenue with local jurisdictions for infrastructure improvements and fire, law enforcement, public transit, education, tourism and other services, and provides incentives for investments in renewable energy or water conservation projects, nongaming-related economic development and health care facilities that provide a mutual benefit to the Tribe and the local community.”
The Tule River Tribe contributes to numerous causes throughout the year on top of what it pays to the GSDF.