Panels back off-rez gambling
EDC, IGR approve statement seeking defeat of House bill

By Kathy Helms
Diné Bureau

WINDOW ROCK — The Economic Development Committee and the Intergovernmental Relations Committee approved a Navajo Nation position statement Monday calling for defeat of House bill 4893, which would restrict off-reservation gaming.

The statement was to be presented to Congress after gaining IGR approval.

Navajo Nation Council Speaker Lawrence T. Morgan said, "H.R. 4893 is the bill that proposes to amend Section 20 of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. Section 20 deals with land in trust for off-reservation gaming. The Navajo Nation's proposed statement is in general opposition to the specific point of the bill."

Morgan said the purpose of the position is "to ensure that economic opportunities are not closed to tribal governments across the country, including the Navajo Nation. The Navajo Nation's position therefore states the intent to preserve Section 20 of Indian Gaming Regulatory Act."

Morgan said the Department of Interior is presently reviewing Section 20 in order to publish regulations pertaining to a two-part determination process for tribes seeking lands into trust opportunities.

Morgan said a bill introduced by Sen. John McCain of Arizona talks about giving the National Indian Regulatory Commission more authority to scrutinize Indian gaming.

"This one, he said referencing H.R. 4893, amends that specific legislation, eliminating the off-reservation Indian gaming.

"In a case where Navajo would like to lease land in lower Arizona, this one here is opposing that amendment to the regulatory act. One day we may want to set up gaming in other areas," Morgan said.

According to the position statement, the Navajo Nation has carefully monitored current congressional efforts to amend the IGRA "and hereby voices its opposition to one provision of H.R. 4893."

"As written, H.R. 4893 would seriously undermine the potential economic opportunities and decision-making authority of Indian tribes, which have already suffered numerous detrimental losses in the past, often because of federal action or inaction," the Nation said.

Under the proposed amendments to the U.S. Code, in Section 1 of H.R. 4893, lands taken into trust as (1) part of a settlement of a land claim; (2) the initial reservation of a tribe acknowledged through the federal acknowledgment process; or (3) the restoration of lands for tribes restored to federal recognition, could not be used for what has become an important source of economic development on Indian lands.

"The attempted removal of these exceptions, which in limited circumstances allow gaming on lands acquired after Oct. 17, 1988, is excessive, unnecessary and would have detrimental effects throughout the Nation Nation," the position statement reads.

The Navajo Nation said it is unnecessary for Congress to substantially limit the ability of Indian tribes to participate in the few economic development opportunities available to them.

"Particularly unconscionable is that the amendments would most significantly harm those Indian tribes that have been clearly wronged.

"These are tribes that through no fault of their own have been forced, for decades and sometimes longer, to address past wrongs by working with the federal government through the federal remedies of land settlements, the federal acknowledgment process, and through the restoration of lost or taken lands," the Nation said.

"The fundamental purposes of the IGRA are defeated when Congress removes important economic development tools from the Indian tribes with the most desperate need for them."