Bill could limit some casinos

OLYMPIA – The state’s Indian tribes would need the Legislature’s blessing before seeking off-reservation casinos under an influential state senator’s proposal.

Sen. Margarita Prentice, D-Renton, sought the measure after an aborted compact with the Spokane Tribe called for a casino on tribal trust land about 25 miles from the reservation.

Gov. Chris Gregoire rejected that proposal in the fall, sending the tribe and state officials back into negotiations.

Other action by the Legislature

Assisted suicide: Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding Oregon’s physician-assisted suicide law, a Washington lawmaker introduced a bill Thursday that would allow doctors to write prescriptions to help terminally ill patients die. The bill by Sen. Pat Thibaudeau, D-Seattle, would require that patients be competent adults who can make an informed decision to end their lives if they have a terminal disease. They must make a written request witnessed by at least two people, and two doctors must confirm the diagnosis.

Sex tours: Travel agents wouldn’t be able to book or sell sex tours under a measure lawmakers are considering. Arranging such tours would be a Class C felony, intended to crack down on sex tours to such places as Thailand. Violators would face up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Sen. Jeanne Kohl-Welles, a co-sponsor of the bill, said it would have a public hearing on Monday in the Senate Labor, Commerce, Research &Development Committee.

Associated Press

Prentice, one of four legislators who cast votes on tribal compacts at the state Gambling Commission, said the panel went too far in negotiating the rejected compact.

The deal would have shared gambling earnings with the state, a feature praised by Gregoire, but the off-reservation casino deal would have prompted other tribes to seek similar offers, Prentice said.

“I’m just very much concerned that these decisions need to come before the Legislature, because that would have been a real expansion of gambling,” Prentice said Thursday.

Her bill would require off-reservation casino plans to win approval of two-thirds of each house of the Legislature before proceeding.

The Washington Indian Gaming Association did not respond to a message seeking comment on Prentice’s measure, which has a companion bill in the state House.

Rep. John McCoy, D-Tulalip, said Thursday he supports such legislative approval for off-reservation gambling.

McCoy, who works as general manager of the Tulalip Tribes’ Quil Ceda Village, said he first worked with Prentice to ensure that all tribal gambling compacts weren’t brought under legislative review.

Such a move would have undercut the tribes’ government-to-government bargaining status, essentially forcing them to work out gambling compacts with individual legislators, he said.

Off-reservation casinos are generally difficult to establish. To get permission, tribes must get approval from state and federal officials. Nationwide, tribes have won off-reservation gambling only a handful of times, McCoy said.

“The original process is not broken,” he said. “As long as you keep everybody behaving themselves within the system, it works.”

The Spokane Tribe – operator of the Two Rivers Casino north of Davenport and other facilities – is the only tribe in the state that has a gambling operation but no tribal-state compact. Several casinos owned by tribal members also operate on Spokane tribal land.

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