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Senate Committee on Indian Affairs opens hearing on Patrice A. H. Kunesh’s nomination to lead National Indian Gaming Commission
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Summary
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs opened a hearing to consider President’s nominee Patrice A. H. Kunesh to serve a three-year term as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission, with members outlining the commission’s statutory powers and noting the chair vacancy since February 2024.
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs opened a hearing to consider the nomination of Patrice A. H. Kunesh of Minneapolis to serve a three-year term as chair of the National Indian Gaming Commission (NIGC). The president nominated Ms. Kunesh on 07/23/2024, and the committee said it will take testimony to establish a public record for the Senate’s advice-and-consent role.
The committee chair said, "This hearing is an important first step in carrying out the Senate's constitutional obligation to provide advice and consent," and framed the hearing as an opportunity to hear how Ms. Kunesh would uphold the United States' trust responsibility to tribes and exercise oversight of Indian gaming. The chair noted that the NIGC chair has statutory powers to "approve class 2 and class 3 gaming ordinances or resolutions, impose fines and order the temporary closure of gaming facilities, and approve management contracts for class 2 and class 3 gaming." The committee identified those powers as central points for the record.
Committee members stressed the significance of those authorities amid changes in gaming technology. "It's been almost 40 years since Congress passed the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act," the chair said, adding that gaming has evolved from electronic bingo to online sports betting and that technology "holds great opportunity, but with it, our regulatory challenges change and grow." The committee noted the agency must adapt to new technologies while balancing enforcement with the NIGC’s mission to promote tribal economic development and tribal self-determination.
The chair said the NIGC chair position has been vacant since a resignation in February 2024 and discussed the committee's expectation that the chair manage both regulatory and tribal-engagement responsibilities. The transcript named the prior confirmed chair (appearing as "Simmer Meyer") who was confirmed by the Senate in 2019; the committee said it will examine how the agency has functioned in the interim.
The chair also recorded that the committee had received endorsements from tribes and tribal organizations supporting Ms. Kunesh and placed those endorsements into the hearing record. The committee said Ms. Kunesh previously was reported favorably and confirmed by the full Senate in February 2023 by a 57-to-35 vote for her current role as commissioner of the Administration for Native Americans at the Administration for Children and Families within the Department of Health and Human Services.
The chair praised Ms. Kunesh's service in that role and said he was "confident that Ms. Kunesh will bring the same strong leadership and ethics to the position" of NIGC chair. The chair then turned the hearing to Vice Chair Murkowski to proceed with the next items.
The hearing constitutes the initial committee step in the confirmation process; the transcript does not record a committee vote on the nomination during the excerpted segments.
