---
type: "Bill"
title: "Tribal gaming: compact ratification."
description: "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 tribal-state gaming compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments of tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 253"
citation: "California AB 253 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Tribal gaming: compact ratification."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bigelow"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 0
first_action: "2017-01-31"
last_action: "2017-10-03"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/1c311aca-b437-491c-b516-bf8e0eee5b7e"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB253"
source_hash: "e2e4ffe3cfe4bf82100e869d910578e99fe5cbe81a8fd56fcc2752d309d54604"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 253 (20172018) — 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 tribal-state gaming compacts, subject to ratification by the Legislature. Existing law expressly ratifies a number of tribal-state gaming compacts, and amendments of tribal-state gaming compacts, between the State of California and specified Indian tribes.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/31/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB253&version=20170AB25399INT)
2. **03/23/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB253&version=20170AB25398AMD)
3. **08/30/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB253&version=20170AB25397AMD)
4. **10/03/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB253&version=20170AB25395CHP)
5. **AB253** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB253)
6. **09/13/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB253&version=20170AB25396ENR)

## Sponsors

- Bigelow — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2017-01-31** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-02-01** From printer. May be heard in committee March 3.
- **2017-03-23** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-23** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on G.O. Read second time and amended. `amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-03-27** Re-referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-04** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (May 3). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-08** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-11** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 77. Noes 0. Page 1491.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-05-11** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-05-24** Referred to Com. on G.O. `referral-committee`
- **2017-08-30** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on G.O. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-09-06** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2017-09-06** Ordered to second reading.
- **2017-09-07** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2712.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-11** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 13 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2017-09-12** Assembly Rule 77(a) suspended. (Page 3206.)
- **2017-09-12** Urgency clause adopted. Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 78. Noes 0. Page 3208.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2017-10-03** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-03** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 437, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/1c311aca-b437-491c-b516-bf8e0eee5b7e`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).