From: FGA President Phil Ruotolo
Florida
Senate report by Alisa Snow and Lena
Juarez:
The stonewalling that we’ve seen
throughout the legislative session continues in the Senate, where members
appear more interested in protecting the thoroughbred racing industry.
Sen. Geller’s bill (SB 2434) which
authorizes VLTs passed the Senate Finance and Tax Committee on Thursday with
language that protects the thoroughbred horse owners and breeders. It does the
following:
- Includes Gadsden
County’s new jai alai facility
on the list of pari-mutuel facilities that could have VLTs;
- Requires tracks to have an agreement governing the
payment of purses on live thoroughbred races in order to have VLTs;
- Requires the agreement to be between the track and
the association representing a majority of thoroughbred racehorse owners
and trainers;
- Requires a binding written agreement with the Florida
Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association about payment of breeders, stallion and
special racing awards on live thoroughbred races;
- Explains how the parties will secure an arbitrator
and a timeline for negotiations.
The bill passed in a 3-2 vote
with Sen. Ronda Storms (R-Brandon) and Chairman Mike Haridopolos (R-Melbourne)
voting against it.
Sen. Geller declined to meet with
us earlier in the week to discuss the equity language we are seeking for the
greyhound industry. Without the support of Sen. Geller, and the fact that Sens.
Haridopolos and Storms oppose VLTs, we did not have enough votes on the
committee to support our amendment.
The Senate General Government
Appropriations Committee approved Sen. Jones’ bill (SB 1038) which is goes to
the Senate for a floor vote. This bill allows racetracks to have up to 2,000
slot machines and establishes how the state will license and regulate them.
You may recall that Sen. Jones
declined to include language that would require tracks to have written
agreements with the FGA regarding the distribution of slot machine revenue.
Lobbyists for the standard-bred
horses and jai alai players face similar obstacles with their equity language
in the Senate committees. We remain hopeful that the equity language will be part
of House-Senate negotiations over the slot machine and VLT bills during the final
days of the legislative session.
In the House this week by Jack Cory:
The House Committee on Jobs &
Entrepreneurship Chaired by Representative
Ron Regan R-Sarasota held a workshop on HB 951 by Representative Charlie Dean R-Inverness. The Bill would authorize VLT’s in all
pari-mutuels.
Representative Dean is committed
to include Purse protection in his Bill. He has supported Equal Protection
under the Law for all Pari-Mutuels in the past.
We had some great Greyhound
people attend the work shop they were Tim Cahill, Nino Garcitano,
Bobby Sidhu, Randy Finegan and Chris Snow
I made a presentation on behalf
of the Florida Greyhound Association (FGA) and the National Greyhound
Association (NGA) emphasizing your support of the VLT Bill with Purses.
This was the last scheduled
meeting of the Committee, but if the tracks would come to the table and commit to provide Purses in the VLT Bill we could work together to ask Representative
Regan to call a special Committee meeting to take up the VLT Bill.
The Legislature is scheduled to
adjourn on Friday May 4.
We will continue to work on this
important issue for you.
