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SB-864 • 2026

Tribal gaming: compact ratification.

Tribal gaming: compact ratification.

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Padilla
Last action
2025-10-01
Official status
Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 244, Statutes of 2025.
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The bill summary and digest do not provide specific details on which actions are exempt from CEQA or the exact types of gaming authorized.

Tribal Gaming Compacts: Ratification

The bill ratifies gaming compacts between California and three Native American tribes, and declares that certain actions related to these compacts are exempt from environmental impact requirements.

What This Bill Does

  • Ratifies a tribal-state gaming compact with the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria.
  • Amends an existing tribal-state gaming compact with the Pinoleville Pomo Nation.
  • Amends an existing tribal-state gaming compact with the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation.
  • Exempts certain actions related to these compacts from California's environmental impact requirements, in deference to tribal sovereignty.

Who It Names or Affects

  • The State of California
  • The Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria
  • The Pinoleville Pomo Nation
  • The Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation

Terms To Know

Tribal-state gaming compact
An agreement between a state and an Indian tribe that authorizes certain types of gambling on tribal lands.
Environmental impact report (EIR)
A document required by California law to assess the environmental effects of proposed projects.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify which actions related to the compacts are exempt from CEQA.
  • It is unclear what types of gaming will be authorized under these compacts.

Bill History

  1. 2025-10-01 California Legislative Information

    Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 244, Statutes of 2025.

  2. 2025-10-01 California Legislative Information

    Approved by the Governor.

  3. 2025-09-22 California Legislative Information

    Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.

  4. 2025-09-11 California Legislative Information

    Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2877.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

  5. 2025-09-11 California Legislative Information

    Urgency clause adopted.

  6. 2025-09-09 California Legislative Information

    In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

  7. 2025-09-09 California Legislative Information

    Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3068.) Ordered to the Senate.

  8. 2025-09-03 California Legislative Information

    Ordered to third reading.

  9. 2025-09-03 California Legislative Information

    Read third time and amended.

  10. 2025-08-19 California Legislative Information

    Ordered to third reading.

  11. 2025-08-19 California Legislative Information

    From inactive file.

  12. 2025-08-18 California Legislative Information

    Notice of intention to remove from inactive file given by Assembly Member Aguiar-Curry.

  13. 2025-07-10 California Legislative Information

    Ordered to inactive file.

  14. 2025-07-10 California Legislative Information

    From consent calendar on motion of Assembly Member Garcia.

  15. 2025-07-03 California Legislative Information

    Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar.

  16. 2025-07-02 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (July 2).

  17. 2025-06-26 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 22. Noes 0.) (June 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  18. 2025-05-19 California Legislative Information

    Referred to Com. on G.O.

  19. 2025-05-08 California Legislative Information

    In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  20. 2025-05-08 California Legislative Information

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 1052.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  21. 2025-05-06 California Legislative Information

    Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar.

  22. 2025-05-05 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar.

  23. 2025-04-25 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing May 5.

  24. 2025-04-22 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0. Page 831.) (April 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  25. 2025-04-08 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing April 22.

  26. 2025-04-02 California Legislative Information

    Referred to Com. on G.O.

  27. 2025-03-21 California Legislative Information

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after April 20.

  28. 2025-03-20 California Legislative Information

    Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Official Summary Text

SB 864, Padilla.
Tribal gaming: compact ratification.
Existing federal law, the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, provides for the negotiation and execution of tribal-state gaming compacts for the purpose of authorizing certain types of gaming on Indian lands within a state. The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to negotiate and conclude those compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments to tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out
or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect.
This bill would ratify the tribal-state gaming compact entered into between the State of California and the Cher-Ae Heights Indian Community of the Trinidad Rancheria, the first amendment to the compact between the State of California and the Pinoleville Pomo Nation, California, and the first amendment to the compact between the State of California and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation. The bill would provide that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, certain actions related to these compacts are not projects for the purposes of CEQA.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
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