Albuquerque Journal – A proposed new gambling agreement between the Navajo Nation and the state was met in the 2013 legislative session with complaints about the last-minute timing and a cascade of other questions and concerns.
The proposal will be back again in 2014, and it doesn’t appear the welcome will be any warmer.
But the nation says it intends to stick with what it has negotiated, at least for now.
“We love our compact,” said Navajo Nation Council Delegate Lorenzo Bates.
“On our side of the street, this is how we want to do business,” he said.
The agreement negotiated between the tribe and Gov. Susana Martinez’s office would be in force until 2037 and allow the tribe to have five casinos on the New Mexico side of the reservation, which has neighboring gambling tribes concerned about the competition.
The Navajos now have two casinos and a third facility with low-stakes gambling not regulated by the state.
The pact also contains several terms that other gambling tribes view as unfavorable and that they worry could become a precedent for their own, separate negotiations with the state.
State-tribal compacts require legislative approval. The Navajo agreement was unveiled in the last days of the 2013 session, ran into trouble right off the bat, and was never voted on by the full Legislature.
For 2014, the plan is to start early – even before the session gets underway Jan. 21.
Rep. James Roger Madalena, D-Jemez Pueblo, who is expected to chair the Legislature’s Committee on Compacts, says he wants the Navajo Nation to submit a compact – either the current proposal or an amended one – by Jan. 15.
On Jan. 20, the committee would meet to discuss it. If it were approved, it would be introduced in the full Legislature as soon as the 30-day session started.
“It’s a short session, and the sooner the better, in my opinion. If we wait any longer … then we’re competing with time,” Madalena said.
By law, the Legislature can’t rewrite anything in the compact; it can just vote yes or no. But the Committee on Compacts can ask that the Governor’s Office and the tribe renegotiate provisions it finds problematic – and it’s entirely possible such requests will be made.
Bates says that’s the point at which the tribe could consider whether any changes would be acceptable. Until now, there have been only “informal discussions” about possible alterations to the compact, Bates said, declining to be more specific.
The Navajos’ current compact, and those of four other tribes – the pueblos of Acoma and Pojoaque, and the Mescalero Apaches and Jicarilla Apaches – expire on June 30, 2015.
