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Gambling Issue Causes NH Budget Talks To Collapse

Posted on May 29th, 2010

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Talks on a plan to eliminate all or at least a large part of a $295 million budget deficit came to nothing Friday because Senate leaders declined to sign on an agreement that did not include legalization of expanded gambling. Senate advocates insisted on including gambling revenue in the final budget deal to avert budget cuts.

The sponsor of the gambling bill, Sen. Lou D’Allesandro, D-Manchester had earlier presented an even more trimmed version of gambling expansion which now calls for only two casinos to share the slot machines now reduced to 5,000. Senate gambling proponents also offered to form a five- member Gaming Regulatory Oversight Authority to craft a potent regulatory structure as suggested by the House and recommended by the governor’s hand-picked gaming commission.

Gov. John Lynch has also openly stated that he will veto any gambling proposal that comes to his desk without a clear system of regulation in place. “We have gone the full length to give you the kind of oversight authority you asked for and gone sled length to give the state the economic recovery and job creation we need,’’ D’Allesandro said. D’Allesandro said the cut down version of his bill would now have only two locations, one paying a license fee of $50 million in 2011 to be able to operate 3,000 slot machines, the other to shell out $30 million in 2012 for 2,000 slot machines. He said the first $10 million from license fee payments would be used to fund child care for 2,046 families currently on a wait list.

Lawmakers so far have succeeded in agreeing to narrow the budget deficit to around $30 million. House leaders asked for another night to study the new proposal but did not show any indication that it would change its long-running resistance to any expanded gambling bill that comes its way.

Finally, on Friday, the House offered to pay $250,000 for a gaming commission to set up a new system to oversee existing and future gambling activities in the state, but without authority to issue casino licenses. Senate President Sylvia Larsen, D-Concord said that was not an acceptable offer. She said she plans to call for a special session next week and asked Gov. John Lynch and the Executive Council to set the session for Wednesday.

Lynch agreed, but politely chided the Senators when he said, “On Wednesday, I will ask the Executive Council to immediately call a special session of the legislature. Through this process, we nearly closed a $300 million gap. I am greatly disappointed that there wasn’t an agreement on moving forward with $270 million in solutions that had been approved by the conference committee.”

House Finance Chairwoman Marjorie Smith said she is hoping the Senate will re-examine its decision before Wednesday so that there would be no more need for a special session. She said the House would sign off on all the points agreed on by both sides that would bring down the budget deficit to $30 million.

But the Senate refuses to change its attitude. Sen. D’Allesandro said unemployment rate is still high and there is not one new job created and people are still besieged by the crisis brought on by the recession. He said only expanded gambling can boost the economy and create jobs to improve workers’ lives. In a special session, the Senate and the House can propose new legislation and make a fresh start with rules and deadlines.

It would allow previously cancelled compromise and proposals to be taken up again. In the current legislative session, an agreement reached in a legislative session should be approved by a majority vote before the current legislative deadline.