Brown

The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act ( 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq.; hereafter IGRA) permits gaming on Indian lands taken into trust for the benefit of a tribe after October 17, 1988, if the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) inter alia determines it would be in the best interest of the tribe and would not be detrimental to the surrounding community, and the governor of the state in which the land is located concurs with the determination ( 25 U.S.C. § 2719 (b)(1)(A)). IGRA requires a tribal-state compact for the conduct of class III gaming (casino-style gaming), and California law designates the Governor as the state officer authorized to negotiate and execute the compact. ( 25 U.S.C. § 2710 (d)(3)(A); Cal. Const., art. IV, § 19, subd. (1).)

A competing Indian tribe challenges the validity of the Governor’s concurrence on the ground it constituted an illegal exercise of legislative power, which was neither delegated to the Governor, nor ancillary and incidental to his power to enter into gaming compacts with Indian tribes. We disagree on the ground the exercise of the power of concurrence is not legislative. Because we conclude concurrence is not a legislative power,…