It won't get a “rubber stamp” in the Legislature this time - Patrick sure the BIA will approve this new compact
Lawmakers will take up a revised gaming compact with the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe during a May 15 hearing and while the compact is not subject to amendment, the chairman of the committee reviewing it says he won’t serve as a “rubber stamp” while the Gov. Deval Patrick says he expects the pact to move forward soon.
The compact negotiated between the tribe and Gov. Patrick and filed as a bill (
H 3375) in late March is the second attempt to establish an agreement over a proposed casino in Taunton. An earlier version passed by the Legislature last summer was rejected by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (
BIA).
“The Legislature was led to believe by the administration the first time a compact was presented that it would likely be acceptable to the federal government. And in fact, that didn’t happen,” said House
Chairman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technology Joe Wagner. Wagner said. “That certainly suggests to me that my committee and the Legislature as a whole should not be a rubber stamp to something that is being revisited after having been rejected by the federal government.”
Patrick sure the BIA will approve this compact
Patrick has said he showed BIA officials the framework of the second compact before the negotiations were completed. Noting the committee hearing, Patrick said on the radio Thursday that he expected the compact to “move soon” in the Legislature, and that he feels “pretty good” about its chances for federal approval.
In April, with the compact awaiting a public hearing, Sen. Gale Candaras (D-Wilbraham), the Senate chairwoman of the committee, told the News Service that the House “does not have an interest in a hearing on the gaming compact,” which Wagner said is untrue.
“I will say emphatically, there was no objection on the part of the House with regard to placing the compact before the committee for a public hearing,” Wagner told the News Service on Wednesday.
The hearing will be an opportunity for questions and Wagner said he had “areas that are of concern to me.”
Beacon Hill's options limited -No amendments allowed
The Legislature’s options are limited, as the compact is not subject to amendment.
The BIA rejected the first compact, which would have sent 21.5 percent of net casino revenue to the state, arguing the state had not made valid concessions to warrant the revenue-share. The second iteration would provide the state 21.5 percent of casino revenue for as long as the Mashpee operated the only casino in Massachusetts, 17 percent if it operated the only casino in the southeastern part of the state, and nothing if a commercial casino opened in the region.
With the compact pending before the committee led by Wagner and Candaras, the Gaming Commission voted in April to open up the commercial licensure process in the region, which had been on hold.
Patrick said the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe is “understandably concerned” by the decision of the commission to seek private, commercial bidders because “they are, frankly, further along than any other developer.”
“My hope is that the tribe will be positioned to move quickly because if they don’t we run the risk of there being more than three destination resorts in the whole of the Commonwealth and that was not the intent of the legislation,” Patrick said during his hour-long monthly appearance on WGBH radio.
Patrick said he did not lobby members of the commission to protect exclusivity in the southeast region for the tribe. “The Gaming Commission has authority completely independent from me, and I like it that way,” the governor said.
BIA Land in Trust still in doubt
Concerns have been raised about the tribe’s ability to secure a compact, and also to have the BIA agree to take its land into trust, as part of the tribal reservation process. The Mashpee have maintained that with land-in-trust they will not need to pay any revenue to the state.
“The legislation clearly envisioned that the Gaming Commission would make a determination as to whether or not the tribal entity would be able to secure a land in trust,” said Wagner, who helped draft the 2011 law and agrees with the commission’s decision to allow commercial developers to apply for a license in the regions.
As he looks ahead to next week’s hearing, Wagner said, “The last thing I would want to see with respect to the compact would be for the federal government to reject for a second time the compact forwarded for their consideration.”
A prolonged federal approval process could leave the southeastern region “out in the cold” while the casino licensure process moves forward in the other two regions, Wagner said. He said, “Having been down the road once and now being in a position where we have to go down the road again, it’s important that questions be asked, that we are convinced.”
After the Mashpee’s casino plan was announced in February 2012, Taunton voters approved of the tribe’s plans in a non-binding referendum in June 2012. Mashpee Chairman Cedric Cromwell has said that with the city’s support and environmental testing underway, the tribe’s proposal is farther along than those of other commercial developers.
The committee plans an 11 a.m. hearing Wednesday, May 15 on the gaming compact legislation. The hearing will be held in Room B-2 of the State House.
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