Gambling Stalls in Legislature

Labor groups have shared a collective sigh of relief as the new compacts Governor Schwarzenegger tried to get passed stall in the Legislature. The compacts will now sit until January when the group comes back into session. The compacts would have allowed and approved the largest increase in slot machines and gaming facilities in years, for the Indian Casinos. The labor unions had been fighting the compacts as the deals do not protect the casino workers’ ability to form unions.  

Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, a democrat from Los Angeles, said that the group was concerned with the last minute deals that the governor had tried to pass through. "Members of my Democratic caucus are pretty irritated that all of these compacts came to us at such a late time in the legislative session and folks really don't want to deal with this," he said. "I think folks quite frankly don't feel compelled to have to vote on this and would rather pass it on to the next generation of legislators."  

The deals could bring as many as 20,000 new slot machines to the state, and that has many worried. State Senator Carole Migden, a democrat from San Francisco said, “We all share collective guilt and regret about historical events," she said. "But this would cripple and pulverize the efforts of working people. I'm all for sovereignty within the limits of fairness and decency.” She went on to point out that these deals will be in place for the next thirty-plus years.

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