Commentary on Warm Springs Gaming Compact Approval

Here is the Federal Register notice — Fed Reg 03.01.11

From Lance Boldrey:

Here is today’s Federal Register notice announcing that a compact for Warm Springs has been “deemed approved” notwithstanding that the ultimate effectiveness of the compact is conditioned on, among other things, the land being taken into trust at a future date. (The land is not yet in trust.) Although done without fanfare, this confirms that Interior has completely repudiated the so-called “Warm Springs” doctrine put in place during the Bush Administration. That doctrine, which reversed Interior’s historical practice, held that Interior would not approve a site-specific gaming compact unless and until the land was in trust. By rejecting that doctrine, the Obama Administration returns to a more sensible policy of allowing tribes and states to work out the parameters of gaming before land goes into trust.