When Governor Gray Davis negotiated the Tribal-State Compact with California’s 61 federally recognized tribes in 1999, the tribes themselves insisted on the creation of the Special Distribution Fund (SDF) and its inclusion in the compact.

The compact language mandates that tribes operating more than 200 gaming devices prior to September 1, 1999 “shall make contributions” to the SDF based on the number of gaming devices in operation and a scale of net win percentages. The monies from this fund, as outlined in Section 5.2 of the Tribal-State Compact, are to be distributed to the following:

“(a) grants, including any administrative costs, for programs designed to address gambling addiction; (b) grants, including any administrative costs, for the support of state and local government agencies impacted by tribal government gaming; (c) compensation for regulatory costs incurred by the State Gaming Agency and the state Department of Justice

in connection with the implementation and administration of the Compact; (d) payment of shortfalls that may occur in the Revenue Sharing Trust Fund; and (e) any other purposes specified by the Legislature.”

It is estimated that TASIN tribal governments alone will contribute more than $1 billion to the SDF through 2020, an estimated two-thirds of all payments into the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund.
 

Tribes, local officials unite to
bring monies back to communities

In March 2002, the tribes of TASIN reached out to local governments surrounding their tribal casinos and invited them to participate in what became known as the Local Government Committee (TASIN-LGC).

The committee consisted of TASIN representatives and a diverse group of local governments from Riverside, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties. Members of the group represented numerous sectors of local government, including cities, counties, police, fire and sheriff departments.

Committee members were concerned the state would use SDF funds for programs unrelated to tribal government gaming. TASIN utilized the expertise of local government officials in crafting a system for the disbursement of SDF funds to public programs.

In a landmark model of government-to-government outreach, the TASIN-LGC coalition worked diligently over many months to develop a fair and equitable proposal to allocate monies from the SDF. This proposal served as the foundation for SB 621, sponsored by Senator Jim Battin (R-La Quinta), which established a regulatory mechanism for these allocations.

SB 621 enjoyed strong statewide support from cities and counties, the California Nations Indian Gaming Association (CNIGA), law enforcement organizations and more than 50 tribal governments.

SB 621 was eventually signed into law on October 11, 2003, which will return hundreds of millions to local communities over the course of the Tribal-State compact.