From: FGA
President Phil Ruotolo
Florida
Senate report by Alisa Snow and Lena
Juarez:
VLT legislation (SB 2434 by
Geller)
On Friday, the Senate approved this bill in a
34-5 vote on third reading. Those voting against the bill were Sens. Cary
Baker, Lisa Carlton, Ronda Storms, Dan Webster and Steve Wise.
The bill would authorize VLTs statewide and
create about $1.8 billion for the state. Sen. Geller, the sponsor of the bill,
said he didn’t think the House would approve the bill. But Sen. Geller said
earlier in the week that if the state needed more revenue, the VLT bill would
provide it.
Slot machine regulation
The Senate approved SB 1038 (which includes
parts of SB 218)
which regulates slot machine gaming, sets licensing fees and expands the number
of slot machines from 1,500 to 2,000 machines at each track. The vote was 34-5
with Sens. Baker, Carlton, Storms,
Webster and Wise voting against it. The bill goes to the House for
consideration.
Cardrooms
SB 1192 by Sen. Fasano faces
a third reading in the Senate next week. It allows the tracks to operate
cardrooms for up to 12 hours a day without live racing. In order to renew the card
room license, the track must have run at least 90 percent of the full live
racing schedule. We lobbied in favor of this second provision.
The bill also allows cardrooms to
operate at tracks within 35 miles of each other, affecting racetracks in the Tampa
and Broward/Miami-Dade areas.
Florida
House Report by Jack Cory
As we enter the 9th
inning or last week of the Legislative Session the rumor mill is in full swing.
Please do not believe or pass on any rumors you hear from anyone unless you
confirm them first with Phil, Yvonne or me
directly.
The Tracks continue to talk to us
privately. No agreement has been made. Time is running out and we may not get a
VLT Bill this year unless the Tracks come to the table very early this
week.
VLT
HB 1447 by Rep. Charlie Dean is still under the
control of Representative Ronald Reagan R-Sarasota Chairman of the Jobs
& Entrepreneurship Council. Rep. Reagan
has told the Tracks he will not hear the bill without purse protection for
Greyhound Owners.
Slot Machines
HB 1047 was nearly killed on Friday. The vast
armada of Track Lobbyists stood by in shock when a conforming amendment (to make
the House Bill like the Senate Bill) failed on a voice vote. The House then
went to its electronic voting machine and the amendment passed 57 to 53 by only
a 4 vote margin. The entire debate was
based on anti expansion of gambling. The
Speaker and the Speaker Designate voted against the amendment.
The Bill then rolled over to 3rd
reading and will be voted on for final passage on Monday. The Tracks will be
working this weekend to turn this vote around. The Tracks picked a rather
insignificant issue to use as a test case on the expansion of gambling in the
House. Monday will be an important vote because it will show how many Members
of the House are truly anti expansion of Gambling.
Card Rooms
Grey2K raised its ugly head this
week by filling an amendment to HB 1377 dealing with Card Rooms. This Bill was heard in several Committees but
Grey2K is either afraid to discuss their bizarre proposal to require reporting
on the transfer of every greyhound from track to track or from farm to track,
disposition and injuries or are ashamed of their proposal. Either
way they failed again. The amendment by Rep. Bill Proctor R-St.
Augustine was withdrawn after opposition by the sponsor and Rep. Carlos
Lopez-Cantera the Chairman of the House Business Regulation Committee.
The Bill then rolled over to third reading
for Monday. It would require the Tracks to run the live racing schedule they
operated the year they applied for a license to operate card rooms. This is current law. It would permit them to operate without live
pari-mutuels the other times of the year.
Interim Study on Purse
Enhancement
Rep. Carlos Lopez-Cantera
Chairman of the House Business Regulation Committee committed this week to
conduct an interim study of the purse issue. This will be a big help in proving
the importance of purse enhancement not only to the Greyhound industry but also
to the State of Florida.
All other States that have added machine gaming
to pari-mutuel facilities have added purse enhancement to their State Statues
because they have found that the State gets more revenue from the machines when
live Pari-mutuels are being conducted.
House Web Site
You may see these Bills and Amendments on the
House web site by going to http://www.myfloridahouse.gov
