AB 2914: Gaming: Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund.

Existing federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments of tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes.

Existing law establishes the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund within the State Treasury for the receipt and deposit of moneys derived from gaming device license fees that are received from tribes pursuant to the terms of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of making distributions to noncompact tribes. Existing law provides that moneys in that fund are available to the California Gambling Control Commission, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of making those distributions in accordance with plans specified in tribal-state gaming compacts.

This bill would clarify that the purpose of the fund is for making distributions to eligible recipient Indian tribes.

Existing law requires the California Gambling Control Commission to, on or before the day of the May budget revision for each fiscal year, determine the anticipated total amount of shortfalls in payment likely to occur in the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund for the next fiscal year, and to provide to the committee in the Senate and Assembly that considers the State Budget an estimate of the amount needed to transfer from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund to backfill the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund for the next fiscal year. Existing law requires, at the end of each fiscal quarter, the commissions Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund report to include specified information, including, among other things, the amount paid into the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund by each of the tribes pursuant to the applicable sections of the tribal-state gaming compact.

This bill would provide that tribes contributing to the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund on a net win or gross gaming revenue basis may be aggregated in the quarterly report described above.

Existing law requires the California Gambling Control Commission to determine the amount of money needed to be transferred from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund to the Indian Gaming Revenue Sharing Trust Fund to ensure that each eligible recipient Indian tribe receives a specified amount of the funds. Existing law defines eligible recipient tribe for those purposes to mean a noncompact tribe, as defined in the tribal-state gaming compacts ratified and in effect, as specified. Those compacts define noncompact tribe to mean a federally recognized tribe that operates fewer than 350 gaming devices.

This bill would clarify that eligible recipient Indian tribe means a noncompact, nongaming, or limited-gaming tribe, as defined in the tribal-state gaming compacts ratified and in effect, as provided. The bill would delete other related, obsolete provisions.