|
March 14, 2005
Major VLT and Casinos Package
Could Be on Fast Track in House
By
Mike Hailey
Capitol
Inside Editor
As Texas House members launched into a debate Monday on
an $11 billion plan to raise state taxes to pay for property
tax relief, a major gambling package that was filed on Friday
appeared to be on a fast track as a backup source of revenue
that could be used to help cut local school taxes if the
tax plan fails. Anti-gambling forces are marshalling their
troops with a five-alarm intensity in response to the latest
proposal, which would open the gates to video lottery games
and Las Vegas-style casinos in Texas to help foot the bill
for reductions in local school taxes.
Heavy-Hitter
Lineup
to Help Sell Gambling
Bill to State House
State Rep. Kino Flores of Mission
as enlisted some of the House's most powerful members
to help him sell video lottery terminals and casino
gambling to their fellow representatives.
Flores, who's filed several VLT and casino bills
including one that has a priority designation as House
Bill 9, says that State Reps. Terry Keel of
Austin, Jim Pitts of Waxahachie and
Allan Ritter of Nederland have agreed
to be co-sponsors. All three co-sponsors are members
of Speaker Tom Craddick's leadership
team - and all three are committee chairmen.
Keel and Pitts are Republicans who chair the Criminal
Jursprudence and Appropriations committees respectively.
Ritter - like Flores - is a Democrat. Ritter is the
chairman of the Economic Development Committee while
Flores chairs the Licensing and Administrative Procedures
Committee.
|
The bill numbers assigned to the latest gambling measure
and a proposed constitutional amendment that accompanies
it suggest that the package is a high priority for House
Republican leaders as they scramble to find a way to slash
local property taxes by as much as $11 billion - or 33 percent.
Sponsored by State Rep. Kino Flores, a
Mission Democrat who chairs the Licensing and Administrative
Procedures Committee, House Bill 9 would set up a new state
agency to license and regulate video lottery terminals at
race tracks and Indian reservation while paving the way
for full-scale casinos that would take several years to
build. Its sister proposal - HJR 4 - would give Texas voters
the opportunity to give the Legislature permission to do
that. A two-thirds vote would be needed in the House and
the Senate before the question could go to voters on a statewide
ballot November 8.
Bill numbers do not have the same weight as emergency declarations
by the governor. But they are telling indicators of what
the legislative leadership views as the most important items
under consideration during a regular session in odd-numbered
years. HB 1, for example, is the state appropriations bill.
House Speaker Tom Craddick reserved the numbers 2 and 3
for the school finance plan and related tax package. HB
4 is a high-tech textbooks measure while HB 5 is designed
to raise supplemental state revenues by tying the gasoline
tax to the rate of inflation. The House hopes to overhaul
the child and adult protective services systems in HB 6
while HB 7 proposes a restructuring of how workers' compensation
is handled in the state. HB 8 is the number one priority
for tort reform advocates who are pushing for limits on
litigation related to exposure to asbestos and silica. HB
10 is a supplemental appropriations measure that deals with
spending on Medicaid, CPS and other state programs during
the current biennium.
HB 9 - the gambling measure - was the last of the bills
with the top 10 numbers to be submitted for review by legislators
when it was dropped into the mill on on the final day for
filing legislation without special permission that would
require suspending House rules.
Groups that oppose gambling sent out all-point bulletins
to grassroots supporters as soon as they saw the bill number
that Flores was given for the most recent VLT and casino
measure that he's filed in the past month. The anti-gambling
advocates are planning a rally at the Texas Capitol on Thursday,
March 24 to showcase their opposition to the newest plan
and a dozen other measures that would have the same general
effect of legalizing slot machine gaming at tracks and Indian
casinos while Nevada-style casinos are under construction
around the state.
In an email alert on Monday, Texas Eagle Forum President
Cathie Adams urged supporters to try to
enlist the aid of their pastors to voice opposition to the
gambling legislation at the rally in Austin next week. Adams,
who had a role in the development of the national Republican
Party platform at the GOP convention in New York City last
year, noted the significance of the bill number on the new
Flores proposal and the fast track it appears to be on.
"We cannot let that happen," Adams warned.
The opposition to gambling includes lobbyists for religious
organizations such as the Baptist Christian Life Commission
and the Texas Catholic Conference.
HB 9 would establish a Texas Gaming and Boxing Commission
to oversee VLTs at horse and dog racing tracks and Indian
casinos while full-blown casinos like those in Las Vegas,
Reno and Atlantic City are being built at 12 "tourist
destination locations" around the state. The tracks
and Indian tribes that are already in the VLT business will
also be able to obtain licenses to expand the operation
to full-service casinos. Similar measures have been filed
by State Senator Rodney Ellis of Houston
and State Rep. Charlie Geren of Fort Worth.
State Rep. Ray Allen of Grand Prairie has
proposed a VLT bill. Geren and Allen are Republicans. Ellis
- like Flores - is a Democrat.
| 
