Slots Update: House Vote Could Come Today
By Bernie Becker (Capital News Service)    Nov. 16
ANNAPOLIS

 A House committee advanced a plan Thursday that would let voters decide the fate of slot machine gambling in a referendum next November.

 The full chamber could vote on the proposal as early as Friday.

 The House bill largely mirrors one the Senate passed last week, which would put a constitutional amendment before voters that would allow up to 15,000 slot machines in Baltimore City and Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester counties.

 As a constitutional amendment, the measure needs 85 votes, or a three-fifths majority, to pass the House.

 The House was poised to vote on the plan Thursday night, but delayed action after a day of back-room conversations and apparent arm-twisting that left even lawmakers dazed. House leaders decided to adjourn Thursday night to give delegates time to draft amendments.

 "We've had so many changes and twists and turns," said Delegate J.B. Jennings, R-Baltimore County. "It's amazing what's happened in 10 hours."

 As of Wednesday night, a House subcommittee had amended the Senate's version of the slots bill to strip out a proposed Worcester County site and replace it with Frederick County, arguing that Frederick could lure gamblers who now play Charles Town, W.Va., slots. The subcommittee also added Harford County to Cecil County as a potential site along the Interstate 95 corridor.

 Around noon Thursday, the same subcommittee reversed itself and approved the Senate version of the bill because it was believed to have a better chance of passing.

 "Even though I think we put out a good product, we have to make sure we have 85" votes, said Delegate Frank Turner, D-Howard, who chairs the Finance Resources Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee.

 By Thursday afternoon, the full Ways and Means Committee put the House version of the slots bill, HB4, back on the table alongside the Senate version, SB4. But while the Senate version of the bill struck language that would have required a referendum for any expansion of gambling in the state, the House kept the referendum requirement.

 Meanwhile, the full Ways and Means Committee did not push forward accompanying legislation that spells out guidelines for implementing slot machine parlors and how revenues would be divided.

 House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, said the referendum needed to be passed before the accompanying proposal would be considered. Without the referendum, "there is no companion bill," Busch said after the House adjourned for the day.

 But Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, D-Calvert, was left fuming by that decision.

 Miller, a longtime slots supporter, said that if the House could only pass the referendum bill, HB4 or SB4, it might as well not pass any slots legislation at all. He said the Senate might throw out funding to cleanup the Chesapeake Bay and expand Medicaid if the entire slots package is not passed.

 But even passage of the referendum bills was not assured Thursday night.

 As votes on the House floor were continually delayed Thursday, Gov. Martin O'Malley personally met with delegates in Busch's office and House leaders worked with members to assuage doubts over locations and whether voters should decide the fate of slots.

 "It's kind of like a Rubik's Cube," said House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, D-Montgomery. "Every time you get one thing figured out, another problem pops up."

 Busch said at the end of the day that he thought the referendum would eventually "get over the hump."

 And Delegate Barbara Frush, D-Prince George's, said she thought "the votes were there," adding the House adjourned simply so "the other side" could prepare its amendments.

 But House Minority Whip Christopher Shank, R-Washington, was not so sure.

 "I guarantee you if they had the votes, they would have" brought the referendum to the floor Thursday night, Shank said. "The real reason (for adjourning) is to get the votes."

 Still, Shank said he would not bet against the Democrats, who have long dominated Maryland government.

 "Monopolies don't like to lose," Shank said during one of the House's midday breaks.

 "And they particularly don't like to embarrass their chief presiding officer," Shank said, referring to O'Malley.
 -- CNS reporter Kenneth R. Fletcher contributed to this report.

Slot Machine Legalization Plan Moving Forward
By Bernie Becker (Capital News Service)    Nov. 15
ANNAPOLIS

 A House subcommittee voted Wednesday to cut Worcester County out of a bill to legalize slot machines in the state, inserting Frederick County instead.

 The full Ways and Means Committee was expected to meet Thursday morning to take up the slots package, part of Gov. Martin O'Malley's plan to bridge a $1.7 billion budget shortfall, and send it to the full House later in the day.

 Delegate Frank Turner, chairman of the Finance Resource Subcommittee, said Frederick County probably would generate more revenue than a site in Worcester, which would likely be at the Ocean Downs racetrack.

 He said a Worcester site might only be busy during the Eastern Shore tourist season, while a Frederick site might attract people who would otherwise go to play the slots in Charles Town, W.Va.

 "If we're going to have (slots), it's important to have a good product," said Turner, D-Howard, Wednesday afternoon. "Frederick makes our state competitive."

 Earlier Wednesday, House Speaker Michael Busch, D-Anne Arundel, said he was working toward securing the votes for the slots plan, which would go before voters in a referendum next November. As a constitutional amendment, the plan requires a three-fifths majority of the House, or 85 votes.

 O'Malley said slots, which have dominated discussion in the legislature for years, have been the "monkey wrench in the cogs of consensus and compromise" and said he hoped the House would give the voters the final word on the issue.

 Both O'Malley and Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller said they hoped the House did not fiddle with O'Malley's original proposal, which passed the Senate largely unchanged last week.

 Miller, D-Calvert, said he did not want Frederick County as a potential slots location because the Senate had not discussed that possibility. But he did not think adding Frederick would be a deal breaker either.

 "I don't think anything kills the slots plan in the Senate," said Miller, a longtime slots supporter.

 O'Malley said he was grateful the Senate basically "passed the bill we gave them. I hope the House might do the same thing."

 Besides changing the proposed slots locations, however, Turner's subcommittee also cut the maximum number of slot machines allowed in the state from 15,000 to 14,000 and voted to put a proposed parlor on Interstate 95 in either Harford or Cecil counties. The governor's original slots plan only included Cecil County.

 "We're trying to make their product a better product," Turner said after his subcommittee met Tuesday.

 The other slots locations proposed by O'Malley -- Baltimore City and Anne Arundel and Allegany counties -- were adopted by the Finance Resources subcommittee.

 The subcommittee did adopt the major Senate change to the bill, increasing the amount that licensed slots operators will collect from the machines from 30 to 33 percent.

 The slots plan is one of the last major hurdles as the General Assembly tries to wrap up the special legislative session, which Miller and Busch said Wednesday could end by the weekend.

 Both O'Malley and Busch were confident the slots plan would eventually pass the House, but Miller said the governor and  House speaker have "a tough task" ahead of them. The House historically has been more opposed to slots than the Senate.

 On that point at least, Turner seemed to agree with the Senate president.

 "It's hard getting 85 votes," Turner said. "It's hard enough to get" a simple majority.

   -- CNS reporters Andy Zieminski and Kenneth R. Fletcher contributed to this report.