California Tribe cites bad faith negotiations in lawsuit against state
Roots of dispute date back to attempt to renegotiate Tribal-state compact beginning in 2018
A California Tribe that operates a casino near Sacramento has filed a lawsuit against the state and Gov. Gavin Newsom in US District Court on December 12, citing bad faith negotiations on the part of California in an ongoing attempt to renegotiate a tribal-state gaming compact.
Berry Creek Rancheria of Maidu Indians of California, a federally recognized Tribe, has operated the Gold Country Casino in Oroville, Calif., since 2003. During that time, other tribal interests have been granted state and federal approval to operate gaming facilities in the same region.
Berry Creek has claimed the approvals were unfair in that the newer operations have ultimately encroached on the local corridor of business upon which they rely. As a result, beginning in February 2018 the tribe sought to renegotiate its Tribal-state compact under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).
Those attempts have not been met with good faith, with Berry Creek claiming that the ensuing three and a half years have resulted in “an abject failure by the state to engage in the individualized negotiations between two unique sovereigns that Congress envisioned when it enacted IGRA.”
At issue is Berry Creek’s attempt to negotiate new class III gaming rights permitted under IGRA. Currently, Berry Creek offers an array of slots and table games, but not the full complement of Vegas-style games such as roulette and craps that tend to be most popular among customers.
The Tribe has sought to gain rights to offer those types of games without success. Furthermore, it claims the state has effectively drawn out the negotiation process as a de facto stalling tactic, with no true intent to work toward a resolution.
The suit claims: “What more than 44 months of negotiation and at least eight proposals on the subject revealed was that the state was not willing to negotiate for an entire form of class III gaming as IGRA requires.”
Berry Creek further claims that the state is now also imposing irrelevant labor-related requirements under the California Tribal Labor Relations Ordinance, which directly conflicts with the National Labor Relations Act to which tribal gaming facilities are subject.
“By insisting upon the inclusion of the foregoing subjects in the compact that are neither directly related to the operation of gaming activities nor counterbalanced by any meaningful consideration, the state has failed to negotiate in good faith irrespective of whether the issues are analyzed individually or collectively,” the suit concludes.
The state had yet to comment on the matter as of 13 December.