California
Legislators to Speak at Gaming Conference
A panel of four key California
legislators will discuss the outlook for the
2006 legislative session including their predictions
for newly-negotiated tribal gaming compacts
agreed to by the Schwarzenegger Administration
and all aspects of so-called "reservation
shopping" at the Western Indian Gaming
Conference in Palm Springs January 11, 2005.
More
than 600 tribal and industry leaders from around
the country are expected to attend the conference,
the largest regional Indian gaming conference
in the United States. The conference is conducted
by the California Nations Indian Gaming Association
(CNIGA), the state's largest Indian organization
representing 63 tribes.
Two
days of panels on all aspects of Indian gaming
will be featured January 11-12 in addition to
a major trade show with more than 130 exhibitors
at the Palm Springs Convention Center attached
to the Wyndham Hotel.
"For
anyone who has an interest in any aspect of
Indian gaming, this conference is the place
to be," said Anthony Miranda, recently
elected to a second term as chair of CNIGA.
Indian
gaming in California supports nearly 54,000
jobs, most of them held by non-Indians, and
generates hundreds of millions of dollars in
economic activity in the state, Miranda said.
In the last five years tribal gaming has been
one of the state's fastest growing industries.
The
chair and vice chair of both the state Senate
and Assembly Governmental Organization Committees,
which will offer their insight and predictions
for the 2006 legislative session, will be featured
on a panel called "California Legislative
Report 2006". Participants will include
Senators Dean Florez and Jeff Denham and Assemblymen
Jerome Horton and George Plescia.
The
panel will also discuss opinions relating to
whether tribes either without their own reservation
land or who have reservations located in remote
locations should be able to operate Indian gaming
facilities away from their ancestral lands.
A
similar panel looking at Indian gaming on the
federal level, including potential legislation
to amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA)
will be conducted January 12th at the conference
featuring national experts on Indian gaming.
Confirmed panelists include Ernie Stevens, Jr.,
Chairman of the National Indian Gaming Association,
and John Tahsuda, Deputy Director of the US
Senate Committee on Indian Affairs.
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