Oh man, the Arnold haters around here are going to be ill when they see this thread!
Are we taking...bets...on which perenial Arnold-bashers show up?!
Posted on 06/21/2004 10:38:43 PM PDT by RGSpincich
POSTED: 3:15 pm PDT June 21, 2004 UPDATED: 6:50 pm PDT June 21, 2004
SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed new Indian gambling compacts with representatives of five California tribes Monday in a deal that's estimated to bring in at least $1 billion for the current budget and annual payments afterward of between $150 million and $200 million a year.
About 300 people attended the ceremony in which Schwarzenegger and tribal officials signed the compacts on a stage and then presented each other with gifts. The governor received a ceremonial blanket, while he gave the tribes a crystal statue etched with a redwood tree.
With the new money, Schwarzenegger moves a step closer to settling this year's budget, and he's able to follow through on a campaign promise to have tribes pay a greater share of their income to the state.
The new deal also allows the tribes to increase their casinos' number of slot machines beyond the current 2,000-per-tribe cap. Those extra machines are expected contribute between $150 million and $200 million a year through the length of the compact, which expires in 2030.
To pay make the $1 billion payment, the tribes will sell bonds that they'lll repay over 18 years. Then the tribes will make direct payments to the state until the end of the compact period.
In return for the $1 billion payment, the tribes get a guarantee they'll be the only ones who can offer casino gambling.
"This is a fair deal for the tribes and for the state," Schwarzenegger said. "It solidifies a partnership based on their exclusive gaming rights and I am hopeful other tribes will join us."
Schwarzenegger's budget plan incorporates the higher fees from tribes with casinos, and administration officials have said much of the money will go to repay money borrowed from the transportation trust fund.
The tribes are the Pala Band of Mission Indians, the Rumsey Band of Wintun Indians, the United Auburn Indian Community, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians and the Pauma Band of Mission Indians.
Under the new deal, they'll get to add thousands of new slot machines to their casinos. The last compact, signed by then-Gov. Gray Davis in 1999, limited tribes to 2,000 slot machines.
The tribes will pay a licensing fee to the state for each additional slot machine above the current limit -- and the more machines a tribe adds, the higher the fee, up to $25,000 per machine.
The deal limits the slot machines to existing Indian land at casinos that are already open.
Anthony Pico, chairman of the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, said he hoped other tribes would strike similar deals with the state, "but at the same time, I respect the sovereignty of each tribal government to reach their own agreements."
Schwarzenegger said he hopes to have new agreements with as many as a dozen Indian tribes, but not all are receptive to the reworked deals.
The Rincon Indian Tribe in San Diego County sued earlier this month to block Schwarzenegger from reworking the compacts. The tribe said the new deal would cost them millions if the caps are lifted for some tribes, but not others.
Another tribe, the Aqua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, has sponsored a ballot initiative that would expand Indian gaming in return for tribes paying the state 8.8 percent of their net income.
Schwarzenegger is seeking more than that, and opposes that initiative and another ballot measure that seeks to tax tribes 25 percent and could allow card rooms and racetracks to operate slot machines.
If either one of the initiative passes, the new compact would likely be void, administration officials said Monday.
While the $1 billion is earmarked to pay back the borrowing from a transportation trust fund, some Democratic leaders would like to add at least $400 million to the governor's proposed $103 billion spending plan for next year.
The wish list, lawmakers and legislative aides say, includes money to lift a cap on enrollments at state colleges and universities that will cost about $60 million.
They want to restore $98 million that will help pay wages of home care providers to the disabled. And Senate Democrats want to provide a cost of living increase to welfare recipients that will add about $234 million to the governor's plan.
Oh no, he's still getting it done.
World Net Daily are going to take a dump over this.
HA Ha ha.........he's putting the squeeze on the rat legislature.........I guess Burton is taking an extra blood pressure medication as we speak.
Far(r)ah is a whiner.
You mean costing the State more in social services than it generates in revenue?
That would fit.
Schwarzenegger is using the power of his popularity to it's full measure.
Bush could learn to do that more by coming to the people more as well. Especially would be good with the war, being the press doesn't publish any good stuff.
There are several WND whiny pieces just now posted on FR.
Read this over weekend.
Wouldn't that make Cali Indian casino slots the worst payoff-wise in the country?
You ask that like it's a BAD thing!
You Know that the 'gaming' industry is the best and richest way the states have found to collect taxes from willing citizens......
Oh man, the Arnold haters around here are going to be ill when they see this thread!
Are we taking...bets...on which perenial Arnold-bashers show up?!
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