House Approves Slots, Ending
Three-Year Stalemate
By Mike Torralba
Capital News Service
Friday, Feb. 25, 2005 ANNAPOLIS - Clarence "Tiger" Davis stared
long and hard at the voting scoreboard Friday, unsure whether his colleagues
in the House of Delegates had ended their two-year embargo on slot-machine
gambling.
The vote had been taken minutes before; the red and green lights looked
evenly split. But the final roll call had not been taken, and some delegates
had not recorded their votes.
When numbers lit up -- 71-66 -- Davis, D-Baltimore, and his fellow slots
supporters let out a triumphant roar. The bill had received the exact number
needed for passage.
The tally meant that for the first time in three attempts, a bill to
legalize slot machines and turn revenues into school buildings had passed
the House, the chief obstacle. If enacted, the slots bill would mean
hundreds of millions of dollars in extra funding for the public school
system.
Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who saw his previous two efforts to legalize slots
extinguished in the House Ways and Means Committee, did his best to keep a
straight face for the cameras after the vote.
"I'm pleased, obviously," he said. "Pleased, I guess with the caveat
(that) now the real work begins."
However, James "Chip" DiPaula, Ehrlich's budget secretary and his most
fervent slots booster, beamed over what is shaping up to be a major win for
the administration.
"Can't help it. Can't help it," DiPaula said.
But the administration's elation could be short-lived.
After the vote, House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, told
reporters the bill's narrow passage left little wiggle room for Ehrlich and
Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., D-Calvert.
"The governor and the president of the Senate are either going to have to
accept this bill, or I don't believe there will be any expansion of gambling
in the state of Maryland," Busch said.
The House and Senate now will trade versions of the bill. Each chamber
will likely amend the other's bill. If so, a conference committee of members
of both chambers must then try to draft a final bill for Ehrlich's
signature.
The House bill differs from the Senate version in that it allows fewer
machines -- 9,500 -- and specifies counties where they may be located: Anne
Arundel, Allegany, Frederick and Harford. The Senate would allow 15,500
video slot machines in venues selected by a special panel.
Prince George's County and Baltimore City, home to several major horse
racetracks, were dropped from the list of potential sites during
sub-committee meetings in an effort to gain support from their delegates.
But those jurisdictions would benefit most from slots because the bill
calls for local-aid grants to be doled out in proportion to lottery sales.
Prince George's and Baltimore residents spend the most money per capita on
lottery tickets.
"I do believe there is further room for improvement" in the House bill,
Ehrlich said.
He'll be "flexible" in negotiating with the Legislature, Ehrlich said.
But he still held "concerns" about the membership of the licensing
commission and was still opposed to placing slots at Timonium in Baltimore
County and Ocean Downs in Worcester County.
The vote came after more than an hour of last-chance debate. The chamber
also spent Thursday evening debating the bill, but made no major changes to
it.
To the surprise of none, Delegate Peter Franchot leaped out of his chair
as soon as Busch opened the floor for debate Friday.
Franchot, D-Montgomery, one of slots' most vocal opponents, warned
lawmakers that slots approval would invite the gambling industry to bring
casinos to Maryland.
"Does anyone in this room actually think the most powerful lobby in the
country will allow a bill that excludes our three largest jurisdictions?"
Franchot asked.
Ways and Means Committee Chairwoman Sheila Hixson, D-Montgomery, said the
bill was "the best that we could do" to satisfy the most delegates.
"Are there political reasons behind it? Yes. The speaker has led this
piece of legislation along with Ways and Means," she said on the floor. "We
are here to help the speaker. We are here to make money for the state of
Maryland."
Until the negotiations begin -- if they begin -- Ehrlich said he wouldn't
get into specifics about changes he'd like to see in the final bill.
"Let us just have our little victory here before we begin to speculate on
what happens down the road."
Copyright © 2005
University of Maryland
Philip Merrill College of
Journalism
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