---
type: "Bill"
title: "Gaming: Tribal Nations Access to Justice Act."
description: "The existing federal 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 prohibits the Legislature from authorizing casinos of the type operating in Nevada and New Jersey and 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 between the State of California and specified Indian tribes."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 549"
citation: "California SB 549 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Gaming", "Tribal Nations Access to Justice Act"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Newman"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2023-02-15"
last_action: "2024-09-28"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/19d85c87-4840-4801-99b2-c8fb53f18c48"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549"
source_hash: "8ba138a195d265c44c749a26a95164ed37258d1452a138c732a1f12e0baa85fa"
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 SB 549 (20232024) — Gaming: Tribal Nations Access to Justice Act.

The existing federal 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 prohibits the Legislature from authorizing casinos of the type operating in Nevada and New Jersey and 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 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. **02/15/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549&version=20230SB54999INT)
2. **03/20/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549&version=20230SB54998AMD)
3. **06/12/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549&version=20230SB54995AMD)
4. **06/19/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549&version=20230SB54997AMD)
5. **07/10/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549&version=20230SB54996AMD)
6. **08/19/24 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549&version=20230SB54994AMD)
7. **09/28/24 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549&version=20230SB54992CHP)
8. **SB549** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549)
9. **09/05/24 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB549&version=20230SB54993ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass as amended. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Rules] — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 549 Newman Senate Third Reading By Aguiar-Curry — **62–0** (pass) · lower
- Consent Calendar — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB549 Newman et al. Concurrence — **32–2** (pass) · upper
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **15–1** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Newman — primary (person)
- Aguiar-Curry — principal coauthor (person)
- Atkins — coauthor (person)
- Bryan — coauthor (person)
- Chen — coauthor (person)
- Connolly — coauthor (person)
- Essayli — coauthor (person)
- Haney — coauthor (person)
- Hurtado — coauthor (person)
- Jackson — coauthor (person)
- Maienschein — coauthor (person)
- Mathis — coauthor (person)
- Min — coauthor (person)
- Sanchez — coauthor (person)
- Schiavo — coauthor (person)
- Waldron — coauthor (person)
- Wallis — coauthor (person)
- Ward — coauthor (person)
- Weber — coauthor (person)
- Wendy Carrillo — coauthor (person)
- Wilk — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2023-02-15** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-16** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 18.
- **2023-02-22** Referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-20** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-03-29** Re-referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2023-04-10** Set for hearing April 19.
- **2023-04-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 790.) (April 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-21** Set for hearing May 1.
- **2023-05-01** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8 and ordered to consent calendar. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2023-05-02** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-04** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 1004.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-04** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2023-05-11** Referred to Com. on ED. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-19** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on ED. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2023-06-22** June 28 hearing postponed by committee.
- **2023-06-27** Re-referred to Coms. on JUD. and G.O. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
- **2023-07-06** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on RLS. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (July 5). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-07-10** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-01-04** Re-referred to Com. on G.O. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
- **2024-06-12** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on G.O. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2024-07-02** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 15. Noes 1.) (July 2). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2024-08-07** August 7 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2024-08-15** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (August 15). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-08-19** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-20** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2024-08-29** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 62. Noes 0. Page 6898.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2024-08-30** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2024-08-31** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 32. Noes 2. Page 5791.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2024-09-11** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2024-09-28** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2024-09-28** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 860, Statutes of 2024. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/19d85c87-4840-4801-99b2-c8fb53f18c48`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).