VICE-CHAIRMAN’S REPORT DAVID Z BEAN Puyallup Tribe of Indians
W elcome to San Diego and thank you for attending this year’s Conference and Tradeshow. It is hard to believe it has been four years since the Association was last in San Diego. During this challenging timeframe, I have been elected and re-elected as your Vice-Chairman of the Indian Gaming Association. I am honored and humbled by your faith in electing me as Vice-Chairman, and I have done my best to represent Indian Country within the Association and advocate on your behalf at Capitol Hill. I feel incredibly blessed and thankful to continue working alongside so many strong Tribal Leaders, IGA Board Members, and our hard-working and talented team of IGA staff protecting Tribal Sovereignty and Indian Gaming. We began this year with a new Congress and new challenges with a split in Government. It has been many election cycles since Indian Country has confronted a split Congress, with Republicans holding the House and Democrats holding the Senate. With new political leadership in Washington D.C. and strong leadership at the Federal Agencies (including Interior Secretary Deb Haaland of Laguna Pueblo), the Association will remain active on many policy fronts, both legislative and regulatory. As the Association continues to build on its successes during the pandemic, when we secured over $30 billion in direct Covid aid to Tribal Governments, we face new challenges at the Supreme Court and from Commercial Gaming interests. The Association is in a strong position to continue advocating on behalf of Indian Country, and we will continue to channel previous generations of Indian warriors who fought on behalf of Tribal Governments to
8 INDIAN GAMING - ANNUAL REPORT 2023
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