Point Reyes Light - December 14, 2000
US Senate approves recognition of Coast Miwok
By Gregory Foley
US Senators on Monday voted to restore federal recognition of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo tribes native to West Marin and southern Sonoma counties.
The Senate vote brings the two tribes – known collectively as the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria – within one step of officially regaining federal status. The Graton Rancheria Restoration Act was passed by unanimous consent in an omnibus bill designed to benefit several California Indian tribes. It will next be forwarded to President Clinton for signature.
The bill, which was introduced by Sen. Barbara Boxer, would make some 400 Coast Miwok descendants eligible for a vast array of federal and state healthcare, housing, and education programs – as well as financial support from casino revenue generated by the state’s permitted gaming tribes under Proposition 1A.
In addition, the Graton Rancheria tribe will become eligible to apply for its own gambling permit through the state to operate a casino on tribal lands.
Gambling not prohibited
Sen. Boxer this week lauded the Senate vote. "With the clock running out in Congress, I am pleased that we are completing work on this important legislation to benefit Native Americans in California," she said.
The Graton Rancheria Restoration Act passed the US House of Representatives in June after it was introduced by Rep. Lynn Woolsey. However, it apparently faltered in the Senate Indian Affairs Committee after Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii objected to the bill’s absence of casino rights – an absence that had been Woolsey’s condition of carrying the bill.
Boxer, a Woolsey ally on most matters, in October resurrected the legislation without the Congresswoman knowing it, eliminated the anti-gaming language, and then attached it to the omnibus Indian Advancement Act, which subsequently passed the House in an after-hours vote unattended by Woolsey.
Boxer’s work was praised by Greg Sarris, chairman of the Rancheria tribe, who since 1992 has campaigned hard for Miwok sovereignty. For Sarris, the decision corrects a 42-year-old mistake by Congress, which dissolved federal recognition of the tribe in 1958 after deciding wrongly that all the Rancheria’s members were dead.
Denied benefits for decades
Awaiting the final Senate approval of the legislation, Sarris explained to The Light the importance of federal recognition for the tribe. "Our Rancheria was terminated in 1958, and with that we lost our federal status and a long list of social benefits," he said.
"Suddenly with recognition, we will have all the same benefits afforded to Indians from all of the other federally recognized tribes," he continued.
However, Rep. Woolsey told The Light on Tuesday she had mixed feelings about the recognition of the Miwok without any restrictions on gambling. "Truly, I’m glad that they won their federal status back," she said. "But I’m sorry that they will be able to operate a casino if they so choose."
Woolsey explained that she believes it will now be easy for the Miwok to operate a casino in the North Bay, something that her constituents have resolutely disapproved of. "They essentially have to buy the land and then ask the governor for a permit," she said. "It’s not hard... And I am certain that the people of the North Bay do not want a casino."
No plans for gambling
Miwok chairman Sarris has repeatedly said the tribe has no intention of running a casino, and that the Miwok will likely enter into a state Proposition 1A agreement as a non-gaming tribe, which would allow them a cut of the proceeds from other tribes’ casinos.
Sen. Boxer’s office, in defending the legislation without its anti-gaming clause, has stated that Sarris and the Miwok have expressly promised the senator that they have no plans to operate a casino in Marin or Sonoma.