Seattle Indian Gaming Lawyer Gabe Galanda to Co-Chair Northwest Gaming Law Summit

Gabe Galanda will co-chair the 9th Annual Northwest Gaming Law Summit in Seattle on December 1-2, 2011. Program topics include: -- The State of Indian Gaming in 2012, by NIGA Chairman Ernie Stevens -- NIGC’s Class III MICS: Necessary or Unlawful? -- Status & the Nationwide Impact of the Rincon Decision -- Won’t You Be My Neighbor? Inter-Local Relations Vis-à-vis Indian Gaming -- State Criminal Jurisdiction in Northwest Indian Casinos -- Federal & State Legalization of Internet Gaming: Are We There Yet? -- Fee-to-Trust Acquisitions for Gaming Purposes

Gabe has co-chaired the event since 2005.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com, or via galandabroadman.com.

Tribal Media Outlets Post Gabe Galanda's "Attack on the Tribal Middle Class, Part III"

The Indian Country Today Media Network has published Part Three of Gabe Galanda's three-part series, "Attack on the Tribal Middle Class." The column was reposted by pechanga.net and Indianz.com.

Make no mistake, tribal sovereignty, and the vast economic benefit it brings to Indian and non-Indian America, is under siege. Non-tribal governments are once again speaking the language of assimilation and termination in an attempt to impede or extract value from any tribal economic endeavor that they perceive does not benefit the non-tribal middle class or private sector. Instead of brute physical force, they now deploy the power to tax, legislate, litigate and otherwise exploit sovereignty-based revenue from everything Indian Country and its tribal middle class have worked so hard to rebuild over the last 200 years.

Indian Country must now recognize this growing state and federal attack for what it is – an attack on Indian sovereignty. Then, only by taking preemptive legal and political steps to expose, confront and countervail those insurgent non-tribal forces that threaten American Indian economies, will we deter the termination of the new tribal middle class.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com, or via galandabroadman.com.

Anthony Broadman Publishes First Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals "Roundup" in Indian Country Today

Anthony Broadman has published the inaugural Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Weekly Roundup via the Indian Country Today Media Network. The roundup will inform Indian country about litigation in the West that affects tribal interests. Anthony Broadman is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  His practice focuses on company-critical business litigation and representing tribal governments. He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or anthony@galandabroadman.com, or or via galandabroadman.com.

Tax-Free Inter-Tribal Commerce Upheld By U.S. District Court

On October 18, the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California issued a preliminary injunction ruling that affirmed the tax-free distribution and discount sale of tribal fuel. A quick overview of the facts: -- The Torres-Martinez Tribe developed the Red Earth Travel Center on tribal trust lands; -- A Yakama-member-owned business, First American Petroleum, provides tax-free fuel to the Red Earth Travel Center; -- The Torres-Martinez Tribe has delegated certain fuel management authority to First American Petroleum for purpose of obtaining tax-free fuel for the Red Earth Travel Center; -- First American Petroleum transports tax-free fuel to Red Earth Travel Center; -- The Torres-Martinez Tribe "sells fuel and convenience stores items at the travel center to help support the tribal economy"; and -- Ultimately, state fuel or travel-related taxes are not imposed on the Torres-Martinez Tribe or First American Petroleum and those tax savings are passed on to non-Indian patrons of Red Earth Travel Center.

Not only did the District Court hold that fuel or travel-related taxes could not be assessed on First American Petroleum (at least preliminarily) but it acknowledged that the Torres-Martinez Tribe could not be sued for tax collection due to its sovereign immunity. In other words, any California right to collect excise taxes on the fuel sold at the Red Earth Travel Center cannot, as a practical matter, be collected.

The Southern District of California's decision currently stands as a wonderful affirmation of tax-free inter-tribal commerce.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com, or via galandabroadman.com.

Gabe Galanda's "Attack on the Tribal Middle Class" Series Published by Indian Country Today

The Indian Country Today Media Network has published Part One of Gabe Galanda's three-part series, "Attack on the Tribal Middle Class."

No matter what the growing “Occupy Wall Street” movement seeks to accomplish, it has struck a nerve. Members of the American middle class are losing jobs, homes and savings because of the greed and carelessness of “too-big-to-fail” banks. Meanwhile “the country’s six largest financial institutions . . . now have amassed assets equal to more than 60% of our gross domestic product” (The Guardian). That wealth is not trickling down. According to a recent international study, the United States has the fourth highest income inequality rate per capita – trailing only Chile, Mexico and Turkey.

Make no mistake, the American middle class is hurting. Yet while the non-Indian middle class is at least being considered for U.S. governmental support, the tribal middle class – no stranger to the acute pains of economic recession or income inequality – faces rising attack by state and federal government.

Generally speaking, the middle class is comprised of persons with regular, formal employment, a salary and some benefits, and a reasonable amount of discretionary income – in other words, people who are not living hand-to-mouth. As one economist explains, the middle class are “people who are not resigned to a life of poverty, who are prepared to make sacrifices to create a better life for themselves but who have not started with life’s material problems solved because they have material assets to make their lives easy” (The Economist).

While innumerable Indians still live in abject poverty (despite Indian gaming), an increasing number of tribal citizens are now firmly part of the middle class as a result of hard work and sacrifice. This three-part series explores the tribal middle class, beginning below with a discussion of its genesis, which ironically was the result of federal policies that sought to destroy Indian America. Part Two will consider the emergence of a distinctly tribal middle class, including the tribal small business/private sector, as a consequence of Indian self-determination policy. Part Three will examine the rising national attack on the tribal middle class and how Indian Country might countervail that attack.

Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com, or via galandabroadman.com.

Seattle Native American Attorney Gabe Galanda to Deliver Speech to University of Arizona Indigenous Law Students

Gabe Galanda will speak to the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program at his alma mater, the University of Arizona College of Law on October 27. His speech is titled, "The Federal Indian Consultation Right: What's Old is New." Gabriel "Gabe" Galanda is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  He is an enrolled member of the Round Valley Indian Tribes of Covelo, California.  He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or gabe@galandabroadman.com, or via galandabroadman.com.

How States' "Amazon" Tax Policy Impacts Indian Country Taxation

In a battle over sales tax collection between Amazon.com and California that could have had implications for Indian Country taxation, the online retailer backed down last month. Amazon cut a similar deal with Tennessee on Thursday.  For years, Amazon has refused to collect sales taxes in states where it claims it is not physically present. Amazon’s argument will have familiar elements for those of us in the tribal tax world.

In fact, the undergirding of Amazon’s argument is the 1992 Supreme Court decision Quill Corporation v. North Dakota, in which the Court held that states cannot require vendors to collect sales taxes if they do not have a physical presence in the state.

The case was recently relied upon in Red Earth LLC v. United States by the Second Circuit in striking down part of the PACT Act.

As predicted early and often here, states today (like all governments) are tax starved and leaving no stone unturned in their quest for novel revenue sources.

Amazon, like Tribal entrepreneurs, with billions of alleged uncollected sales taxes nationwide, stood right in states’ path.  For years, Amazon collected taxes in a few states, like Washington, where it’s based. Other states like California argued that Amazon was physically in those states through the presence of facilities and affiliates. Obviously, Amazon disagreed.  The case was headed for high places, and, if the Supreme Court got a hold of it, we could certainly have found ourselves with new rules about sales tax, due process, and taxing nexus.

Then, last month Amazon backed down and agreed that, in a year, it will start collecting sales tax in California.  The year grace period may give the company time to lobby for a federal fix. In the meantime, it has started the dominos elsewhere, including Tennessee’s deal with Amazon on Thursday. Tennesee’s deal starts in 2014.

States aren’t giving away revenue they believe they are entitled to for free.  Amazon has promised to add thousands of jobs and invest several hundred million dollars in the states with whom it has deals.  And for its part, Amazon is presumably spending less on jobs and investment than it would be on collecting sales taxes in California, for instance, in the near term.  The company is probably waiting to see whether federal legislation introduced by Senator Durbin (D-Ill.) will create a uniform national internet retail tax (state taxes, supported by big business, enforced by federal government – sound familiar?)

What’s should be most disturbing to Tribes is states’ willingness to forego tax collection in exchange for capital investment, jobs, and general economic development. When Tribes offer the same, and simply expect to be treated as a government, rather than a corporate entity, states often balk.  The argument for predictable Tribal-state (or -local) taxing agreements is at least as compelling as the case for Amazon’s deal with a growing number of states.

In addition, furthering the double standard of Indian Country taxation, Amazon has made it easy for many customers to not pay sales tax – even though sales tax is probably due – tribal members in Washington Indian Country have to go through a comparably intricate process to avoid paying taxes that are not due.

Anthony Broadman is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  His practice focuses on company-critical business litigation and representing tribal governments. He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or anthony@galandabroadman.com, or or via galandabroadman.com.

Anthony Broadman Makes the Case for an Advisory Set of NIGC MICS

Anthony Broadman has published "At a Minimum: The Legal Case for Advisory MICS," in Casino Enterprise Magazine.

For Indian gaming attorneys, the CRIT decision evoked many questions that have yet to be answered. Earlier this year, Norman H. DesRosiers, Commissioner of the San Manuel Tribal Gaming Commission, brought some of these questions to the forefront in his article, A Closer Look at the NIGC’s Class III MICS, INDIAN GAMING, March 2011, at 28. Some of the gaps created by the CRIT opinion and exposed by Mr. DesRosiers deserve further exploration. In denying the NIGC the regulatory authority to issue binding regulations, the CRIT opinion struck the proper balance between tribal and federal regulatory powers. CRIT did not, however, render the NIGC MICS inoperable or unnecessary, nor did it strike down the authority of the NIGC to promulgate MICS pursuant to other administrative procedures. Indeed, CRIT revealed the appropriate place for the NIGC MICS: advisory regulations issued in order to provide a default template for tribal-state compact negotiation. In short, short of an intolerable intrusion of the NIGC into tribal regulatory authority, NIGC MICS are still permissible and potentially useful – if for no other reason than to keep states out of the tribal internal gaming control arena and Congress from seeking to amend the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA).

Anthony Broadman is a partner at Galanda Broadman PLLC, of Seattle, an American Indian majority-owned law firm.  His practice focuses on company-critical business litigation and representing tribal governments. He can be reached at 206.691.3631 or anthony@galandabroadman.com, or or via galandabroadman.com.

Galanda Broadman Tribal Lawyers in the News

Indian Gaming magazine features Gabe Galanda ("Galanda Named to Best Lawyers in America") and Anthony Broadman ("Indian Law Attorney Elected as Chair of Washington State Bar Administrative Law Section") in the publication's mega G2E edition. Galanda Broadman is a majority Indian-owned law firm that represents tribal governments, businesses and members in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters.

Extra, Extra! "Galanda Broadman Adds Ryan Dreveskracht to Growing Staff"

Read all about it. Galanda Broadman is a majority Indian-owned law firm that represents tribal governments, businesses and members in critical litigation, business and regulatory matters.