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The latest on the “Carcieri Fix” effort
by Les
Check out the important news report below from The Providence Journal:
U.S. Senate to consider Indian tribe land trust bill
A key Senate committee has voted unanimously to send to the full Senate a bill that would let the Narragansett Indians claim federal land trust status, exempting a parcel of their property from state and local taxes and laws.
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee’s action on the bill to reverse the Supreme Court’s 2009 Carcieri decision is certain to reopen a national debate about how its restrictions on federal land trust affects tribal sovereignty, gambling rights and other policies.
The early consideration of the bill also underscores the high priority that the new chairman of the committee, Sen. Daniel K. Akaka, Democrat of Hawaii, gives to passage of the “Carcieri fix,” as the legislation has become known. The Supreme Court case is named for the plaintiff, former Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri and has attracted wide attention in Indian country.
In announcing Thursday’s legislative drafting session for the Carcieri fix legislation, Akaka said in a news release, “As a result of the Supreme Court ruling, this legislation is necessary for the United States government to fulfill its trust responsibility towards tribes and Native peoples.”
A similar measure passed the full House of Representatives and the Senate committee last year but died in the waning days of the 110th Congress, in part because of the opposition of California Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein, who warned that could lead to an expansion of tribal gambling enterprises around the country.
Subject
We already have 2 tribal casinos next door in Connecticut. I don’t see how a new one in RI could even compete. Enough already!
Carcieri Fix
If this bill becomes law, we can expect a flood of off-reservation casinos to occur. The current administration has telegraphed their willingness to reverse the prohibitive trend regarding off-reservation casinos that existed in the last years of the Bush administration. You thought you were safe from the encroachment of casinos in your neighborhood because you are many miles from tribal land? Think again.