(Reuters) – California cannot seek environmental concessions from five Native American Tribes during negotiations to renew their contracts to operate “Las Vegas style” casinos, a federal appeals court held.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Thursday the state violated the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) by demanding nearly 30 pages’ worth of “sprawling” environmental regulations, as well as tort and family-law changes with no direct relation to gaming activities.
Among other things, the state wanted the Tribes to enact “significant aspects” of the California Environmental Quality Act and “give state and local government agencies an apparent veto” over tribal projects, the opinion said.
“Through its negotiating demands, California effectively sought to use the (casino) contracting process as leverage to impose its general policy objectives on the Tribes, which a state may not do,” Circuit Judge Daniel Bress wrote for the 2-1 panel.