[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 216 (Thursday, November 9, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 77362-77363]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24780]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

National Indian Gaming Commission


Fee Rate and Fingerprint Fees

AGENCY: National Indian Gaming Commission, Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the National Indian Gaming 
Commission has adopted its annual fee rates of 0.00% for tier 1 and 
0.08% (.0008) for tier 2, which maintain the current fee rates. These 
rates shall apply to all assessable gross revenues from each gaming 
operation under the jurisdiction of the Commission. If a tribe has a 
certificate of self-regulation, the fee rate on Class II revenues shall 
be 0.04% (.0004) which is one-half of the annual fee rate. The annual 
fee rates are effective November 1, 2023, and will remain in effect 
until new rates are adopted. The National Indian Gaming Commission has 
also adopted its fingerprint processing fee of $53 per card which 
represents an increase of $8 per card. The fingerprint processing fee 
is effective November 1, 2023, and will remain in effect until the 
Commission adopts a new rate.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Yvonne Lee, National Indian Gaming 
Commission, 1849 C Street NW, Mail Stop #1621, Washington, DC 20240; 
telephone (202) 632-7003; fax (202) 632-7066.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) 
established the National Indian Gaming Commission, which is charged 
with regulating gaming on Indian lands.
    Commission regulations (25 CFR 514) provide for a system of fee 
assessment and payment that is self-administered by gaming operations.
    Pursuant to those regulations, the Commission is required to adopt 
and communicate assessment rates and the gaming operations are required 
to apply those rates to their revenues, compute the fees to be paid, 
report the revenues, and remit the fees to the Commission. All gaming 
operations within the jurisdiction of the Commission are required to 
self-administer the provisions of these regulations, and report and pay 
any fees that are due to the Commission. It is necessary for the 
Commission to maintain the fee rate to ensure that the agency has 
sufficient funding to fully meet its statutory and regulatory 
responsibilities as the gaming industry continues to emerge from the 
pandemic. In addition, it is critical for the Commission to maintain 
constantly an adequate transition carryover balance to cover any cash 
flow variations.
    Pursuant to 25 CFR 514, the Commission must also review annually 
the costs involved in processing fingerprint cards and set a fee based 
on fees charged by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and costs 
incurred by the Commission. Commission costs include Commission 
personnel, supplies, equipment & infrastructure costs, and postage to 
submit the results to the requesting tribe. The number of fingerprint 
cards submitted to the NIGC for processing has significantly decreased 
since the pandemic. The fingerprint processing fee increase is a result 
of spreading the fixed costs allocated to fingerprint processing over a 
smaller number of cards processed. In addition, the FY24 fingerprint 
processing fee includes the cost allocation from the one-time capital 
investments associated with the Washington, DC headquarters office 
relocation and the Agency's hardware refresh of core networking and 
server computing devices required to support the Agency's 
infrastructure operations. Maintaining valid support agreements and 
replacing aging hardware when needed is vital to ensure maximum uptime 
for IT operations while

[[Page 77363]]

minimizing disruptions to business processes, including the Tribal 
fingerprint services. In FY24 the Commission will also continue its 
commitment to take necessary measures to comply with the Federal Bureau 
of Investigation Criminal Justice Information Services (FBI CJIS) 
requirements which ensure the NIGC and participating tribes can 
continue to use FBI criminal history report information (CHRI) to 
assist in determining a key employee or primary management official's 
eligibility for a gaming license.

    Dated: November 1, 2023.
Edward Simermeyer,
Chairman.
    Dated: November 1, 2023.
Jean Hovland,
Vice Chair.
[FR Doc. 2023-24780 Filed 11-8-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 7565-01-P