Senate OKs Mashpee tribe compact
BOSTON — In less than 10 minutes and with debate that wouldn't even fill 140 characters on Twitter, the compact between the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and Gov. Deval Patrick was approved by a voice vote in the state Senate on Thursday.
The compact, which outlines how much the tribe will pay the state in gross gambling revenue from a proposed $500 million casino in Taunton, still must ping-pong between the House and Senate one more time to be enacted before it's sent to Patrick for his signature.
No timetable has been set for those votes, which appear to be a formality given how easily the compact passed both chambers.
Still, nothing has come easy for the tribe when it comes to this revised compact. The deal was reached in March between Patrick and tribe leaders, but languished for four months in committee before it was given a favorable vote Sept. 10. There was another month between that and the House taking it up, and yet another 28 days between House and Thursday's Senate action.
By contrast, the first compact in 2012 was announced, voted on and signed into law within 19 days.
Cedric Cromwell, tribal chairman, praised Thursday's vote, saying it moves the plans closer to fruition.
"We appreciate the Senate's strong support for this agreement," Cromwell said. "Our Project First Light destination resort casino will bring jobs and economic opportunity for Massachusetts, plus a guaranteed rate of return to the state. Our project is on a brisk pace, and we are looking forward to bringing jobs and economic opportunities to our tribe, the people of Taunton and the residents of Southeastern Massachusetts."
Patrick has been pushing for the House and Senate to move on the deal so he can send the compact along to the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs for final approval. The bureau would have 45 days to either approve or reject the deal.
State Sen. Bruce Tarr, R-Gloucester, asked for an explanation on why the compact was back before the Senate.
Sen. Gale Candaras, D-Wilbraham, co-chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Economic Development and Emerging Technologies, which held a hearing on the compact, explained that the federal bureau found the state "overreached" on the first compact in both revenue and regulations.
The tribe and Patrick received technical assistance from the staff at the bureau this time around and believes it will get approved, she said.
Under the terms of the compact, the state would receive anywhere from 21 percent to 0 percent of gross gambling revenue based on the level of competition in Southeastern Massachusetts, known as Region C in the 2011 legislation that established casinos in the Bay State.
The most likely scenario if the tribe meets its arduous federal hurdles is that it would pay 17 percent to the state, 15 percent if Raynham Park wins its bid to host the state's lone slot parlor.
If a commercial casino is built in Region C, the tribe wouldn't have to pay the state anything. The
Massachusetts Gaming Commission has accepted a commercial application in the region, but has said it will take into consideration the tribe's status before awarding a commercial license.
KG Urban Enterprises, the company that hopes to build a casino on the New Bedford waterfront, sued the state over special considerations given to the tribe in the Expanded Gaming Act. The company declined to comment on the Senate's vote Thursday through spokesman Andy Paven, after blasting the deal before the House vote in October.
"Our proposal for New Bedford would transform an environmentally contaminated waterfront site into a revitalized tourist destination in a city and region that are in dire need of jobs and enhanced economic activity," Barry Gosin, a principal with KG Urban, said at that time. "But the Legislature and the Patrick administration seem determined to eliminate commercial competition in the southeast by passing a compact that will give the commonwealth absolutely nothing — a zero percentage share of the revenue from a Mashpee casino that the law does not presently allow, and which would therefore not open for decades, if ever."
The state and KG Urban are slated for a court showdown Nov. 21 in U.S. District Court.
The Senate vote comes at a tumultuous time in the state's fledgling casino industry. Two elections this week went against casino developers — one in East Boston and the other in Palmer. While those casino developers — Suffolk Downs and Mohegan Sun — are still reportedly weighing options to salvage those plans, they both could become factors in Region C, where the Gaming Commission has said it would welcome commercial developers who lose out in other regions to partner with landowners in Southeastern Massachusetts.
The Mashpee tribe has already won support from city voters in Taunton in a 2012 election.
Even with a compact, the tribe's casino dreams face other hurdles. Separately, the bureau is reviewing the tribe's application to have 155 acres in Taunton and 170 acres in Mashpee taken into federal trust as an initial reservation.
Indian casinos are legal only on tribal lands.
That application faces a legal tangle, including whether the tribe can overcome a 2009 U.S. Supreme Court ruling known as the Carcieri decision, which called into question the ability of the federal government to take land into trust for tribes recognized after 1934.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe was recognized in 2007. But the tribe has made its case that it was under federal jurisdiction before 1934, a distinction it says would allow them to have the Taunton acres taken as reservation land.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment