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Legislature may reconvene; Mass gambling bill not dead yet

Posted on August 7th, 2010

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Last week’s formal closure of the formal sessions saw an end to one of the most heated issues of expanded gambling in the US. A bill that would allow two slot parlors and three casinos situated in key areas all around Massachusetts have been signed both by the Senate and the House of Representatives has been returned by Governor Deval Patrick to the legislature for amendment. Governor Christie says that he will not allow any bill that would allow any slot parlors in the State. However, as a compromise, the Governor said that he will concede to allowing a single slot parlor whose license would be put on a competitive bidding process. Since the bill passed by the legislature did not satisfy the Governor’s demands, the bill remains in the drawing board. Any attempts to keep going with the proposal would need the legislature, both houses, to reconvene—something that the Senate has been opposed to doing.

Though not on the premise of amending the expanded gambling bill, it would seem that the legislature will need to reconvene. An issue on government infusion on Medicaid and education money will need to be settled. To do this, the legislature needs to reconvene and proponents of the expanded gambling bill are hoping that they may be able to squeeze into the agenda, the amendment of the gambling bill as per the Governor’s changes to it. “We worked very hard on the gambling bill, and there’s 15,000 jobs at stake, so we’d certainly like to see something passed, and at least get closer to reality” said Steven C. Panagiotakos, Senate Budget Chief.

Though the issue is on the $65 million in Federal funding, legislators believe that it would be pertinent to also run over the bills that did not make it past Saturday’s deadline. A known supporter of the expanded gambling bill, Bradley H. Jones Jr , believes that there is a real possibility for the gambling bill to be brought up during the proceedings. Gov. Deval Patrick also believes that it is pertinent to raise the issue during the session. His spokesperson, Kyle Sullivan said “The governor has been clear that he thinks the Legislature should come back into session to approve three destination resort casinos and the thousands of jobs that come with that bill’s passage,’’. And now with the Medicaid and education money issue, there is all the more reason for the legislature to come back into session. “In addition, if we receive the additional stimulus and relief funds, that is another critical piece of business they will have to act on quickly, whether in an informal session or, if that’s not possible, in a formal session.’’ Kyle Sullivan added.

Previous statements by both Senate President Therese Murray and House Speaker Robert DeLeo have agreed on the doubtfulness of the the legislature getting back in session to discuss further the gambling bill. There have been no comments however from both legislators about calling the legislation back in session to discuss the issue on federal funding. If the House of Representatives and the Senate comes back into session, however, it would not be soon. Most legislators, both from the lower and upper house, go on vacations after formal sessions close.

Currently, what is left for the gambling bill is for the lawmakers from the Senate and the House of representatives to implement the amendments forwarded by Gov. Christie. The House, however, wants to keep the two slot parlors. The House plans to pass the bill with a certain number of votes to make it veto proof. The problem would then lie on the Senate as Therese Murray claimed they do not have the necessary votes to pass a veto proof bill potentially making no progress at all from last week, if legislature were to reconvene. However, the gambling bill isn’t the only hard meat on the table as the issue on federal spending alone has made a huge gap between legislators for and against it. What will happen next is anyone’s guess. If the legislature does reconvene though, staunch supporters of the gambling bill are sure to have it back up for debate.