California lawmakers go back to work in January with a hot-button issue on the agenda: new gaming compacts.

Five tribes signed the agreements with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R). The deals allow them to break the 2,000-slot machine limit in exchange for sharing revenues with the state.

But it was a different provision that drew the most objections. Labor unions complained because labor-friendly language was left out of the compacts at the insistence of tribes, who say it should be up to them to set their own labor laws.

"That's a deal breaker," Nancy Conrad, a spokesperson for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians, told The Palm Springs Desert Sun.

The labor complaints, however, were enough for Democrats to block the compacts. The tribes poured millions of dollars in campaign money into Republicans and other politicians who supported the deal.

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It's back to battle over casino pacts (The Sacramento Bee 11/26)
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