Governor signs gaming compact
SACRAMENTO — Governor Jerry Brown Jr. on Friday signed a tribal-state gaming compact between the State of California and the Tule River Indian Tribe of the Tule River Reservation.
The compact allows the Tule River Indian Tribe to continue operations of Eagle Mountain Casino at the current location on the reservation. The previous compact would have sunset in 2020.
The compact has been revised in order to bring it in line with current compacts, extend the sunset for two decades and change the local mitigation process and paying into the special distribution fund.
“The Eagle Mountain Casino is essential to the tribe’s viability,” stated Tule River Tribal Council Chairman Neil Peyron in a letter to Assemblyman Devon Mathis thanking him for his support. “With revenues from the casino, the tribe has invested in improving the reservation and its members by establishing a fire department, police department, medical and dental facility, elementary school, justice center, student study center, and Veterans center.”
The tribe employs more than 375 people to operate and maintain all of its programs. The casino is one of the largest employers in the region with nearly 500 employees.
In order for the compact to be ratified, it still needs to be approved by both houses of the state Legislature.
“The Tule River Tribe believes the revised compact will be a great benefit to the tribe and the City of Porterville and the County of Tulare,” Peyron stated.
The special fund is of great importance to the Tule River Tribe. Currently the tribe is one of only a handful of Indian tribes
that allocates funds to the special distribution fund. Initially, this fund was set up to help mitigate local impacts and local government agencies could then apply for grants, but more recent compacts have tribes mitigate directly with the local governments.
This resulted in fewer tribes paying into the fund and less and less money available for grants and dried up in 2014. Since it was established in 2004, more than $4 million was distributed locally — an average of
$350,000 annually, the bulk of which went to the City of Porterville and Tulare County.
“In the revised compact, the tribe and local governments’ work directly to address local mitigation issues ensuring that local governments are receiving their fair share of resources,” Peyron stated.
The Tule River Tribe continues to move forward on relocating the casino to property near the Porterville Municipal Airport. The tribe will need to go back to the governor once the relocation is approved by Department of Interior.