Assembly Standing Committee on Governmental Organization

Good afternoon. The Assembly Governmental Organization Committee is called to order. I'm Assembly Member Blanca Rubio, Chair of the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organizations. I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to today's informational hearing.

The Tribal State Gaming Compact extension before us today was executed between the the governor Newsom on behalf of the state of California and the Yurok Tribe of the Yurok Reservation, in California.

Today, we will hear from the principal architects of the compact, the governor's office, and the tribe. This compact extension does not change the terms of the tribe's existing compact. It simply preserves the term through 12/31/2026 to protect the tribe's economic development, stability, and self sufficiency.

I just want to remind all interested parties that no formal vote will be taken today. Today's hearing is for the committee to be briefed on the content of the compact as it cannot be amended by the legislature.

AB 1389 is the ratification Bill, for the compact extension. At some point, that bill will be taken up for consideration by the entire body on the Assembly floor.

I wanna thank our witnesses in advance for taking time out of their busy schedule to be with us today after a very long hearing, Assembly floor session. And I wanna welcome Matthew Lee, senior adviser for tribal negotiations for governor Newsom. Mister Lee, please join us.

Good afternoon, Madam Chairman, honorable Members. Thank you very much for having me here, especially after such a long day. And do you wanna, of course, extend thanks and recognition to the representatives of the Yurok Tribe and to of of any other tribal governments watching? Pardon me. I will keep this very brief.

This compact extension simply preserves the status quo by extending thank you so much. I do apologize for that.

It's that kind of a weather and we get it.

It's that kind of day. Thank you very much.

And the allergies are terrible. So

Absolutely. Thank you. Simply so all all that we are doing here is the Yurok tribe has an existing tribal state gaming compact. Thank you very much, sir. The Yurok tribe has an existing tribal state gaming compact that dates back to 2006.

Negotiations are underway for a new tribal state gaming compact that will come before this body. We expect in the not too distant future in time to be considered by this body this year.

And so to preserve the status quo while those negotiations for a new compact continue, simply propose to extend the termination of the existing tribal state gaming compact until the end of this calendar year.

Thank you. Would the tribal members want to come up? Simple is fine. I think let's see. We have, Joseph L James, chairman of the York Tribe of York Reservation, California.

Welcome.

There we go. Start over again. Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Members of the committee. My name is Joseph James. I'm the Chairman of the Yurok Tribe.

I come from a village of Shregan located on the Lower Klamath River. I'm honored to be here today on behalf of the citizens of the York tribe to participate in this informal hearing on our compact extension or more formally known as the second amendment to the Tribal State Gaming Compact

between the state of California and New York tribe of the York Reservation. As you heard from mister Lee, the governor's senior adviser, this amount simply extends the compact for one year.

It does not change any of the of the sustainable sustainable terms of the current compact. It simply gives us a time to negotiate a new comp of the governor's office.

We allow us to continue to operate on 99 slot machines, the Better Hotel Casino in Klamath under the existing framework. We are very grateful, Madam Chair, and Members of the committee for holding this important and for also hearing on our compact.

Me and my team here here to answer any questions you may have, and I will say thank you for your time.

Thank you. Anyone else in support? Hold on just a second. There we go.

Hello. Chris Lindstrom with the California Tribal Business Alliance in support.

Thank you. Anyone else in support? Anyone in opposition? K. Hearing none.

Any questions by the Members? K. That's it. Thank you so very much. Appreciate the time.

And again, we our apologies. The floor session took a little bit longer, but thank you, and I appreciate you as well. Thank you, Matthew. K. That was it.

Thank you very much. This meeting is adjourned.

Thank you very much.