Legislation to legalize slots advances in Maryland Senate

Tom Stuckey

Thursday, Feb. 17, 2005 | 9:25 a.m.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- Gov. Robert Ehrlich's slot machine bill moved to within one step of passage in the Senate Wednesday, prompting Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller to predict that after two years of failure, the legislature will approve a slots bill this year.

"I'm fairly certain we're going to get something this year," Miller said. "We have to move ahead."

"Politically, the Democrats need this issue," Miller added. "We need to take it away from Gov. Ehrlich and the Republicans."

Miller's comments came after the Senate rejected several amendments offered by gambling opponents and gave preliminary approval to the governor's bill, setting it up for a final Senate vote today or Friday.

Despite Miller's optimism, there are no indications yet that any momentum is building for slots in the House Ways and Means Committee, which killed slots legislation the last two years and held a public hearing on the administration bill Wednesday.

Budget Secretary James "Chip" DiPaula and other cabinet secretaries told the House committee slot machines would provide hundreds of millions of dollars a year for schools, preserve the racing industry and provide thousands of jobs in areas where they are badly needed.

DiPaula said with slot machines located in Delaware and West Virginia and coming to Pennsylvania, it is urgent that Maryland act now to legalize slot machine gambling.

"The question is not are Marylanders going to play slot machines. It's only where," he said.

State Schools Superintendent Nancy Grasmick said slot machine revenues are needed because of "the extreme situation with respect to school construction" that Maryland faces. Ehrlich has pledged to increase state aid for construction and renovation of public schools by at least $100 million a year if his slots bill passes.

Grasmick said local school boards are asking for state aid next year of about $600 million to build new schools and repair old ones, almost four times the $155 million included in the governor's budget.

While Miller talked optimistically about chances of passing a bill this year, Ehrlich has taken a more cautious approach. Asked if the governor shares Miller's optimism, Paul Schurick, Ehrlich's press secretary, replied "No."

Slot machine opponents did not try to block the slots bill in the Senate this year, but showed up in large numbers Wednesday to make their opposition known to the House of Delegates.

At a news conference prior to the Ways and Means Committee hearing, civic leaders, ministers and legislators spoke out in opposition to the governor's bill.

"The quality of life is at stake for the state of Maryland. We do not want slots coming into the state of Maryland," said Jonathan Weaver, a minister and head of a coalition of churches mostly located in Prince George's County.

Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan said education should be the state's top priority and the state should not be dependent on gambling.

"The governor's got his priorities backwards," he said.

Miller said if slots fail, Democrats will pay the price in the 2006 election, but opponents argued that it is slots supporters who will suffer.

Phil Lee, president of the Kettering Civic Federation in Prince George's County, said residents of his county do not want slots and will be watching to see how their legislators vote.

Prince George's County has become a key battleground in the slots debate. House Speaker Michael Busch has cited opposition from Prince George's House members as a main reason why slots legislation failed the last two years. The House delegation has taken a stand against slots this year, but Miller said some county House members would vote for a slots bill if it is approved by the Ways and Means Committee and comes before the House for debate.

The opposition in Prince George's County is rooted in part in the fact that Rosecroft Raceway has been one of the tracks designated for slot machines the last two years and again in Ehrlich's bill this year. But the Senate, hoping to garner more support in the House, eliminated specific sites and proposed creation of a commission that would award licenses at up to four tracks and three off-track locations.