Scanned: Case Number 300330

From: David A. Rodriguez To: William J. Clinton Date: 3/30/99 Time: 2:29:00 PM Page 2 of 3 traces 300330 VIEJAS INDIAN RESERVATION IN ANTHONY R. PICO, TRIBAL CHAIRMAN P.O. BOX 908 STEVEN F. TESAM, TRIBAL VICE CHAIRMAN ALPINE, CA 91903 PAULETTE A. LEWIS, TRIBAL SECRETARY 619-445-3810 ANITA R. UQUALLA, TRIBAL TREASURER VIRGINIA M. CHRISTMAN, COUNCILWOMAN 619-445-5337, FAX MABEL M. VELASQUEZ, COUNCILWOMAN GILBERT J. HILL, COUNCILMAN March 30, 1999 The Honorable William Jefferson Clinton President, United States of America 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20500 VIA FACSIMILE: (202) 456-1121 Dear President Clinton: On April 1, 1999 (12:00 am), the prohibition on the Secretary of the Interior from publishing final "Secretarial Procedures" for alternative Class III gaming compacts will expire. This prohibition, the Enzi Amendment to last year's Omnibus Appropriations bill, was only temporary. The Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians strongly encourages the Clinton Administration to publish those procedures that were initially proposed on January 22, 1998. The intent of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) was to provide Indian Nations the opportunity to engage in gaming as a means of economic development. IGRA requires a tribal-state compact when tribes wish to establish Class III gaming. Unfortunately, tribes have been left without a remedy to situations where a state refuses to negotiate such a compact. The U.S. Supreme Court decision in the Seminole-vs.-State of Florida case that a tribe may not sue a state because of the states own sovereign immunity. Tribal government gaming has been the most successful economic development tool for Indian Reservations in the history of the United States. It has provided the means for tribes to divesify into other areas of economic development, as well as for providing the much needed services to the Indian people living on the reservations, services that have never, until the advent of gaming, were provided at an adequate level. Tribes engaged in gaming now have the resources to provide the infrastructure to their reservations that any local government provides for it's citizenry. Although the proposed Secretarial Procedures a far from perfect, we would urge your administration to publish them to provide some relief to many tribes that find themselves in unfair circumstances, and with no other alternatives. Your administration has been consistently upfront about trying to solve this situation, with very supportive statements from Secretary Babbitt, Assistant Secretary Kevin Gover, and Special Assistant for Intergovernmental Affairs Lynn Cutler. S 990405