by T.W. Budig
Capitol reporter

A bill that could establish a Native American casino in the northwest metro I-94 corridor has cleared its second House committee.

The bill, carried in the House by Rep. Bill Haas, R-Champlin, permits the Red Lake and White Earth tribes, located in northern Minnesota, to have a metro casino.

Tribal officials argue they need one because their own casinos are too isolated and revenues too small to ever meet the financial needs of their tribes.

March 17, the legislation passed the House Government Finance Committee - a committee Haas chairs - on a 6-4 vote.

This is the second committee the bill cleared - never before has the legislation succeeded in committee.

"We just passed a hurdle - one more to go," said Haas.

The bill's next stop is the House Ways and Means Committee.

Haas and tribal officials have said the northern metro would be the logical site for a casino.

For one thing, it's distant from gambling operations in the southern metro.

According to Chairman Doyle Turner, of the White Earth Tribal Council, the two tribes are currently examining the northwest metro I-94 corridor as a possible casino location.

"We owe it to our people to keep trying," said Turner of the hunt for a metro casino.

He believes the tribes are making inroads with lawmakers, Turner said.

"Keep telling the story," he said of the tribes' stratagem of success.

Although the casino bill has advanced in the House, it has not had a hearing in the Senate - perhaps its toughest roadblock with Senate leadership's no-more-gambling-expansion stance.

"We're not thinking that far ahead," Turner said of events in the Senate.

Tribal officials bill the proposed casino as not only benefiting tribal members on the reservations but as a job creator for metro tribal members.

Red Lake has about 3.000 tribal members living in the metro, White Earth perhaps 5,000.

Some lawmakers complained during the committee hearing that they have no idea of how the tribes would use the casino revenues if forthcoming.

Darrell Seki, treasurer of the Red Lake Nation, said his tribe's council would be willing to pass a resolution detailing how the gambling revenue would be spent.

The Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, which represents nine of the state's 11 gaming tribes, opposes the metro casino.

The vote in state government finance was a tough one for some committee members.

For others the vote was easy. "We might as well send a squad of state troopers out to mug people if we want to get money," said Rep. Bill Hilty, DFL-Finlayson, disgusted by what he perceives as an explosion of gambling in the state.

Rep. Michael Paymar, DFL-St. Paul, said he understood why Haas' bill was enticing to to people - it could help the two tribes.

But where will the state's reliance on gambling end, he asked. Gambling is one of the social factors that can hurt families, Paymar said.

"It's exploitive in my view. It's regressive in my view," he said.

But the bill cleared the committee.

Top of Page

Anoka County Union
4101 Coon Rapids Blvd.
Coon Rapids, MN 55433
763-421-4444
Fax 763-421-4315

Copyright ©ECM Publishers, Inc. All Rights Reserved