COMPACT COMMITTEE IRKS NAVAJO NATION
The legislative Committee on Compacts spent over four hours, mostly on trivia, seeming to find some excuses to slow down the compacting process.
At least a half an hour was spent debating whether the term “visitor,” once used in a section about tribal liability, should be inserted thereafter whenever the term”person” was used in the original document.
Representative Georgene Lewis had the presumption to suggest that the Navajos weren’t acting enough in their own financial self-interest by prohibiting alcohol on the gambling floor. Her amendment recommended that drinks should be allowed next to the slots. Her amendment also proposed that they should be allowed to offer free booze and food at their casinos. That one got voted down by about 10 to 2.
The only substantive amendment that passed was an amendment that would reduce the total number of allowed casinos from five to three. The tribal representative said that the amendment was not acceptable and they would not agree to it. The changes will be written up and sent to the governor and the Navajo nation for negotiation, then the result (which could be completely unchanged from the beginning document) will be sent back to the Committee on Compacts. They could keep making amendments and drag the process out so that it was unresolved during this legislative session. If the committee agrees on a draft of the compact, it would be sent to the whole Senate and House, where no amendments can be made, but only a straight up or down vote would be allowed.
If it passes the legislature, it gets sent to the governor, and from there to the Department of Interior for ratification. All this has to be done by June 30 of 2015. If the legislature doesn’t get it passed this session, things could be very dicey next year.
Of course, Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico testified at the previous committee hearing that there should be NO increase in the number of casinos that the Navajos operated. More casinos mean more slot machines, which are the most sophisticated addiction machines on the planet.
About 40 to 60% of all slot machine revenue comes from problem gamblers, whose lives are out of control. We asked, “what sort of public policy is it that raises revenue largely from addicted citizens? What sort of public policy exploits its own citizens to raise funds for state (or tribal) projects? What sort of public policy considers a significant number of its citizens to be expendable?
We will continue to attend these meetings and report the results. We will send out action alerts when it is appropriate.
The Albuquerque Journal article on the committee hearing can be read here.
