Tribal gaming: compact ratification.

Senator Padilla anchors SB 864 in a bid to ratify three IGRA‑based tribal‑state gaming compacts and amendments while enacting narrowly tailored CEQA exemptions, paired with an urgency clause that brings the provisions into effect immediately. The measure ratifies the Cher‑Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria compact, executed July 11, 2025, and the first amendments to the Pinoleville Pomo Nation compact and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation compact, both executed July 30, 2025, with actions undertaken under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act.

The bill adds a new Government Code section that (a) ratifies the listed compacts and amendments, and (b) establishes CEQA exemptions for specified actions tied to those compacts. Exempted actions include the execution of the ratified compacts and amended compacts, the execution of intergovernmental agreements between a tribe and a county or city government negotiated under the compact’s express authority or as expressly referenced in the compact, the execution of intergovernmental agreements between a tribe and the Department of Transportation or other state agencies under the same conditions, and the on‑reservation impacts of compliance with the terms of a ratified compact. The measure preserves CEQA applicability for all other actions not expressly exempted.

The proposed statutory framework situates the compacts within IGRA (18 U.S.C. Secs. 1166–1168 and 25 U.S.C. Sec. 2701 et seq.), and notes California’s constitutional authority for gubernatorial negotiation of tribal gaming compacts subject to legislative ratification. The act is designated as an urgency statute with immediate effect, asserting that rapid ratification and related CEQA exemptions are necessary to support the involved tribes and surrounding communities and to protect public interests. There is no state appropriation attached, and the measure requires a two‑thirds majority vote and a Fiscal Committee review.