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SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) - The state Senate on Thursday approved adding 22,500 slot machines to Indian casinos, which would be a 50 percent bump from the current number and the state's largest such expansion since tribes gained gaming rights.
The proposal now goes to the Assembly, where its fate is uncertain. Agreements similar to those approved Thursday never made it out of the Legislature last year, in large part because of objections from labor groups. They say the deals roll back important advances for labor that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger included when he signed other deals with tribes in 2004.
Schwarzenegger, who negotiated the latest agreements with the tribes last year, needs the Legislature to approve the compacts by mid-May to help balance his spending plan for the budget year that begins in July.
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