During the first round of consultations on this issue, two options were pitched to tribal governments. At that time, we favored Option 1, particularly for new charitable games, and it appears that the NIGC selected said option. Option 1 enables new charitable gaming operations to receive the benefits from this third tier of financial reporting since there is no requirement for strict compliance with § 571.13 for the previous three years. However, the proposed subsection (f)(4) in § 571.12 which states that “[i]f the Chair of the NIGC has reason to believe that the assets of a charitable operation are not being appropriately safeguarded or the revenues are being misused under IGRA, the Chair may, at his or her discretion, require any gaming operation subject to this paragraph (f) to submit additional information or comply with the annual audit requirement of paragraph (b) of this section,” is still objectionable. This language, which is eerily identical to the equally objectionable § 571.12(c)(3), appears to open the door for patchworked enforcement of this regulatory provision and would permit a future Chair to eliminate this third tier of financial reporting altogether without going through notice and comment rulemaking. Accordingly, we oppose the continued inclusion of this provision. C. Limited Submission Window for Comments To close out our comments, we would like to address the limited window tribal governments and organizations had to respond to the proposed rule. Simply put, we believe that thirty (30) days was not enough time, especially as the NIGC has permitted sixty (60) days for responses in the recent past, such as the solicitation of comments on self-regulation. We recommend that the NIGC, for future comment periods, allow interest parties, but especially directly impacted tribal governments, sufficient time to carefully and thoughtfully provide their comments. To do so, we suggest keeping the comment windows open for a minimum of sixty (60) days, as well as ensure that all listed methods of submission are in working order. III. Conclusion We hope that these comments will be accepted in the collegial spirit with which they are submitted. We appreciate your consideration and hope these comments prove useful to the Commission in determining whether and to what extent revisions to the regulatory provisions discussed herein are warranted.
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