2008
Beshear still committed on casino bill - BUT ODDS DROP IF TRACK LICENSES LEFT OUT
Posted by sara in Casino NewsFRANKFORT –
Gov. Steve Beshear and House leaders committed on Thursday to passing casino legislation even if it doesn’t set aside licenses for racetracks.But that concession might cost the bill several Democratic votes and any possible Republican votes, leaving it far short of the 60 needed to pass the House.
“We’re at a point now to where we do have a bill out and beginning to move. I believe all five of the House leadership and I are committed to continuing this process, beginning to count votes, and to move this along,” Beshear told reporters in his office after he met with Speaker Jody Richards and the other four House Democratic leaders.
Both Beshear and Richards promised to allay horsemen’s concerns about the draft.
“I want to be very clear that the horse industry is a very important part of this whole process. They’re part of the reason I am pushing so strongly to get an amendment like this on the ballot,” the governor said.
Two other Democratic House leaders — Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark and Whip Rob Wilkey — had fought to make five licenses available only to tracks, with four for free-standing casinos.
Up to this point, racetracks, horsemen and breeders have supported that draft.
But the bill that will go to the House floor for a vote, possibly next week, would allow open competition for all nine licenses. That has the horse industry fretting that tracks could get shut out.
Last night, the Kentucky Equine Education Project issued a carefully worded statement expressing a reluctant willingness to allow the bill to pass the House because lawmakers and Beshear have pledged their support to horsemen.
“We have not yet seen that sentiment manifested in a constitutional amendment bill,” the statement said. But “because of the strong statements of support for our industry we are willing to see this bill move forward.”
Some legislators alienated
Still, the current version has turned off potential supporters of the casino proposal on both sides of the aisle. So the proposal starts many votes shy of the necessary 60 to pass the House, as a bipartisan bloc holds out to see whether the horse industry will reluctantly embrace it or whether someone can come up with a compromise.
Clark, D-Louisville, said horse industry support is crucial to passing any casino bill.
“I think if the industry is not satisfied in some way, no version of the bill will pass,” Clark said. “I think they have that much influence on the vote count. I think you’ve got to get at least 10 Republicans, and maybe 12, to get to 60.”
Republican Floor Leader Jeff Hoover of Jamestown said that is “not going to happen.” In fact, he said the “several” Republicans most likely to support a casino bill are unhappy with the way the current bill leaves out tracks.
Rep. David Osborne, R-Prospect, is a horse owner who was one of a handful of House Republicans interested in approving casinos. But he said he’s so concerned about the current version’s language that he’s not sure he could vote for it even if the horse industry didn’t protest.
“To take something that was motivated by helping the industry and turning it into something that can be detrimental to the industry is a little beyond me,” he said.
Rep. Ruth Ann Palumbo, D-Lexington, said she had planned to support the bill but assumed it would specifically include provisions for racetracks to get licenses.
“If it doesn’t, I’ve got a problem with that,” she said, adding that she would “probably” vote against it.
However, Richards said that although he hasn’t seen a head count, he thinks those willing to approve the measure number “in the 50s.”
Promises of changes
The horse industry has two main avenues for convincing lawmakers to address tracks: change the proposal on the House floor, or wait to see whether the Senate or future legislation will designate licenses for racetracks.
Beshear and Richards both said they’ll work with the horse industry to develop accompanying legislation that will lay out the details of establishing and regulating casinos. But neither man would guarantee that any tracks would get licenses.
“Any enabling legislation that does not give protection to the horse industry, I will veto,” promised Beshear, who campaigned on expanding gambling. The governor could not veto the constitutional amendment, which would go instead to voters for ratification in November.
Wilkey, D-Scottsville, said some might be willing to vote for the current language “just to keep it moving.”
He said he’ll propose an amendment on the House floor that, like his earlier drafts, would designate five licenses for tracks and four for free-standing casinos.
Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, introduced a floor amendment Thursday that says the “number of free-standing casinos shall not exceed the number of casinos authorized” for tracks. That way, he said, the horse industry wouldn’t be outnumbered by free-standing gambling houses, which he views as competition to tracks.
Settling down?
The last week of debate over casinos has spawned a series of unusual legislative maneuvers that have only seemed to heighten uncertainty among lawmakers.
Most notably, Richards replaced Rep. Dottie Sims, D-Horse Cave, on the committee handling the casino bill with two members who agreed with Richards’ version. The next day, that draft flew through the committee.
Hoover, the GOP leader, said such controversial maneuvers have given lawmakers who may have been on the fence an excuse to vote “No.”
“I think anybody — Republican or Democrat — who may have been thinking of voting for the constitutional amendment can clearly see … what a zoo this situation has become,” he said.
Beshear acknowledged that the bitter wrangling to get the bill through committee has made it harder to come up with votes.
“We’re just at the point where we’ve got to move on,” he said. “As tempers cool, and as people begin thinking again about the substance of the amendment, hopefully we can overcome that and pull together the necessary votes to pass that.”
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