Squaxin Island Compact Amendment Takes Effect by Operation of Law

The Seventh Amendment to the tribal-state gaming compact between the Squaxin Island Tribe and the State of Washington took effect on September 29, 2026, when the Interior Department published a notice in the Federal Register confirming that the Squaxin Island compact amendment had been approved by operation of law. The notice, identified as document 2026-19928 and appearing at 91 Federal Register 61434, closes a process that began with a tentative agreement earlier this year.

The mechanism is one of the quieter features of the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act, and it is worth understanding because it now governs a growing share of compact actions. Our explainer on the 45-day rule covers the statute in detail; the short version follows here.

What the notice says

Under IGRA, the Secretary of the Interior has 45 days to approve or disapprove a compact or amendment submitted by a tribe and a state. If the Secretary takes no action within that window, the compact is considered approved, but only to the extent it is consistent with the statute. The Federal Register notice follows that template. It states that the amendment governs the operation and regulation of Class III gaming activities on the Tribe's Indian lands in Washington and that it is approved only to the extent it is consistent with IGRA.

The notice was signed by William Henry Kirkland III, Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs, and lists Troy Woodward, Acting Director of the Office of Indian Gaming, as the contact. The effective date is the date of publication, September 29, which is the date from which the amendment's provisions operate as federal law for purposes of Class III gaming.

It is important to read what operation of law does not mean. It is not an affirmative endorsement of every term. Because approval is conditioned on consistency with IGRA, a provision that exceeds what the statute permits, such as an improper tax or a term unrelated to gaming, would not be validated simply because the 45 days lapsed. The practical effect for most amendments is nonetheless straightforward: the tribe and the state may rely on the compact, and the Tribe may offer the games and operate under the rules it describes.

How the amendment got here

The Squaxin amendment is a restatement of the existing compact rather than a narrow edit. Washington's process begins at the Gambling Commission, which negotiates on the state's behalf. According to state materials, the Commission and the Tribe announced a tentative agreement early in 2026, and state summaries described updates to device limits, electronic table games, and problem-gambling safeguards. The Commission later voted unanimously to forward the amendment to the governor, who signs on behalf of the state before the document goes to Interior.

That sequence is typical for Washington, where compacts are negotiated by the Commission, reviewed in legislative hearings, and executed by the governor. We previously covered the restated Squaxin compact at the state stage. Today's notice is the federal finish line.

The details of the amendment's gaming terms are set out in the compact text published by the Commission, and readers who need specifics on device allocations should consult that document directly rather than rely on summaries. We have not reproduced numerical limits here because the notice itself does not restate them.

A pattern across Washington

Squaxin Island is one of several Washington tribes that have moved amendments through the state process this year. Earlier in 2026, Interior published similar notices for other Washington compacts, including a June notice involving the Upper Skagit Indian Tribe, and approved a Port Gamble S'Klallam compact in April. Our overview of the Washington amendments wave tracks the broader sequence, and the Washington state hub lists tribes and properties across the state.

For the Tribe, approval removes the main remaining uncertainty and allows it to plan around the amended terms. For the state, it confirms that Washington's commission-led model continues to produce compacts that clear federal review without a formal Secretarial decision. For observers, the notice is another data point in a trend: operation-of-law approvals have become a common endpoint for amendments that the parties negotiated carefully in advance.

That trend carries a design lesson. Because the Secretary's silence produces approval, the quality of the review rests heavily on the parties and on the conditions written into the statute. Tribes and states that draft within IGRA's boundaries, particularly on the permitted subjects of compacts, face little federal friction. Those that stray invite later challenge, since the consistency condition remains available to courts and to Interior if a dispute emerges.

The Squaxin notice does not describe any dispute. It reports a routine outcome, and its significance lies in what it confirms: the amendment is now in force, the Tribe can operate under it, and the state process that produced it worked as designed. We will report if the Tribe or the Gambling Commission announces implementation steps, such as new game offerings or related regulatory changes.