A good start Senator. NOW, let's go after those tribes that are denying their members basic civil and human rights and put some teeth into the Indian Civil Rights Act.
U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein announced Wednesday that she has drafted legislation that would prevent the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians from expanding Casino San Pablo.
In 2004, the Lytton tribe proposed to expand the 70,000 Class II facility that now offers low-stakes card games and electronic bingo into a 600,000 square foot Class III casino with 5,000 slot machines, according to Feinstein.
Under a loophole in federal law, the tribe could have pursued their plans to expand the casino without going through the regular oversight process, which requires gubernatorial and federal approval, Feinstein reported.
The loophole, which was in the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act passed in 2000, specifically allowed the Lytton tribe's purchase of a nine-acre parcel in San Pablo in 2000 to be backdated to October 17, 1988.
Backdating the land purchase could allow the tribe to circumvent the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act passed Oct. 17, 1988.
According to Feinstein's office, the Lytton tribe ran into roadblocks and dropped its plans to expand the casino, but current law still doesn't prevent them from attempting the process in the future.
The proposed legislation would strike the loophole from the Omnibus Indian Advancement Act, prevent future expansion of the casino and prevent the Lytton Band from engaging in Class III gaming unless it completes the state and federal approval process.
2 comments:
I have been writing D Feinstein for years and there is only one time that she condescended to write back in direct response to my inquiry. Here is that letter.
Mr. Guero Nunez
330 Moonstone Bay Drive
Oceanside, California 92057
Dear Mr. Nunez:
Thank you for writing to me about the difficulties
you are having with a federal agency.
I understand your concern, and my office will be
very glad to do all they can to be of help. To contact an
agency on your behalf, we need to have you complete
and return the form on my Senate website under the title
"Casework Services." It is necessary to have a signed
request from you in order to start an inquiry. Be sure to
include a copy of correspondence from the federal
agencies in question if you have any.
Please send this information to my California
office that handles the specific casework request. For
your convenience, please send your request to the office
handling agency casework as referenced below. This list
is also available on my website. Please know that as
soon as your request is received, we will go to work on
your problem.
I did as she asked and I am still waiting the problem is in our hands I do not expect her to fight the battle for us. She might if we could pay her and it was in her interest, electability and issues that have great public support. The reality is that those of influence do not care. If our problem was to affect their bottom line then we would see movement on the issue. This does not mean to roll over and die it means we carry on the fight.
Thank you White Buffalo for sharing your letter.
Yes, you are right; they do not care, but yes, we cannot quit the fight. We must keep pursuing, we will find the right path and when we do, things will change!
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