Contact: Arnold Vigil
(505) 986-4263
Arnold.Vigil@nmlegis.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 11, 2015
Senate Approves New Indian Gaming Compact
The New Mexico State Senate passed a new 22-year gaming compact on Wednesday afternoon that Governor Susana Martinez and five Native American tribes and nations negotiated throughout the past year. After a spirited debate, Senate Joint Resolution 19 (SJR 19), Gaming Compact Approval, sponsored by Senator Clemente Sanchez (D-30-Cibola, Socorro, McKinley & Valencia) was approved on a 35-7 floor vote.
“I’m happy that all the sides involved were able to reach an agreement to a very complicated issue,” said Sen. Clemente Sanchez. “This has been a very long and involved process and there were many competing interests that were able to find common ground. This was a very historic day in New Mexico history.”
Among the highlights of the compact are that tribes would now be allowed to operate casinos 24 hours a day, grant credit to qualified players, and offer free complimentary alcoholic drinks at a site apart from the gaming facility. It also changes the amount of revenue sharing the tribes pay to the state and allows the Navajo Nation to open one more casino.
Senator Sanchez, whose district is home to two casinos, said there is an immediate need for the Legislature to approve a new compact because another 2001 compact covering the Mescalero Apache Tribe, the Jicarilla Apache Nation, the Navajo Nation and the pueblos of Acoma and Pojoaque is set to expire on June 30, 2015. All of the tribes approved of the provisions in SJR 19 except Pojoaque Pueblo, which broke off from negotiations last year in an attempt to enter into a separate agreement with the U.S. Department of the Interior. A federal court ruled against the pueblo’s move and the case is now pending before a federal appeals court.
Several senators, including Senator Bill Soules (D-37-Dona Ana) and Senator John Arthur Smith (D-35-Dona Ana, Hidalgo, Luna & Sierra) also voiced concern that the compact prevented the Fort Sill Tribe from establishing Class III gaming in southern New Mexico. Among the other issues debated on the floor Wednesday, was the legal recourse possible victims would have if someone who was served too much alcohol while inside a casino located on sovereign tribal land injures them off tribal lands.
“I am concerned that this compact forces those injured by a drunk driver overserved at a casino into tribal court,” said Senator Peter Wirth, whose district also contains a casino. “I am surprised that the governor, as a former prosecutor, did not take a stronger stance on behalf of potential victims of the new provision regarding alcohol.”
SJR 19 now heads to the floor of the House of Representatives for approval. The U.S. Department of Interior would then have to give approval of the negotiated and state-approved compact before it goes into effect.
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