Opinion ID: 4561572
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Proposition 1A

Text: Within weeks of our decision in Hotel Employees, overwhelming majorities in both the Senate and the Assembly voted to place Proposition 1A before the electorate at the March 2000 primary election. Through Proposition 1A, voters were asked to decide whether to add a new subdivision (f) to article IV, section 19 of the state Constitution (article IV, section 19(f)), providing in part that notwithstanding constitutional constraints on gaming, “the Governor is authorized to negotiate and conclude compacts, subject to 11 UNITED AUBURN INDIAN COMMUNITY OF THE AUBURN RANCHERIA v. NEWSOM Cantil-Sakauye, C. J., dissenting ratification by the Legislature, for the operation of slot machines and for the conduct of lottery games and banking and percentage card games by federally recognized Indian tribes on Indian lands in California in accordance with federal law.” (Voter Information Guide, Primary Elec. (Mar. 7, 2000) text of Prop. 1A, p. 90 (Voter Information Guide).) Coincident with Proposition 1A’s placement on the ballot, then-Governor Gray Davis negotiated gaming compacts with 57 tribes. (In re Indian Gaming Related Cases, supra, 331 F.3d at pp. 1105–1106.) None of these compacts required a concurrence. The Legislature promptly ratified the compacts (Stats. 1999, ch. 874, § 1, pp. 6257–6260), which authorized forms of class III gaming (e.g., banked card games) that were not permitted under the model compact found within Proposition 5. Because of the constitutional prohibition on gaming, however, these negotiated compacts would become effective only if Proposition 1A passed. Which it did: Proposition 1A was approved by voters at the March 2000 primary election.