The special session on gambling resumed in the Maryland House of Delegates on Monday with some lawmakers looking for deals to help their districts–in exchange for support of a bill that would expand gambling in Maryland.
The House adjourned after a quorum call at around 11 a.m., so two committees could consider a stack of amendments.
A house subcommittee on gambling and the House Ways and Means Committee will vote on which amendments get to the floor when the House reconvenes at 5 p.m for a second reading of the bill. Floor amendments are also expected.
The administration’s gambling bill would expand table games at Maryland’s five existing slot parlor locations and allow development of a full-service casino in Prince George’s County.
But many lawmakers object to the sixth casino because it would insert powerful competition into an already crowded market of gambling sites.
They say the sixth casino’s location, on the Maryland side of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, would subvert agreements made with licensees of the five slot parlors in 2007–and steal a large swath of DC and Northern Virginia gamblers that would normally head north to Baltimore and Arundel Mills.
The House is almost equally split and the Baltimore City delegation could swing the vote either way based on the fate of several amendments.
Baltimore City lawmakers have drafted amendments to guarantee additional construction funds for Baltimore City Schools–and to allow the school system to include the cost of teacher pensions in Maintenance of Effort funding requirements.
The delegation also wants protections against losses for its planned casino in the Inner Harbor, which is scheduled to open in 2014.
“It is important that we have the necessary protections because we’ve been awarded a casino license in the initial five that were approved in 2007,” said Del. Keith Haynes, D-Baltimore City. “So we want to make sure there are provisions holding the city harmless from [a loss in] revenue—should a sixth casino come on line.”
Haynes told the Spy that his delegation wants to try to secure a higher percentage of revenue for the Baltimore casino planned for 2014. “We want to make sure it’s in the bill.”
Haynes said the teacher pension inclusion in Maintenance of Effort may not meet constitutional muster in the gaming bill because it may be ruled too unrelated.
“It is obviously something that we support,” Hayne’s said. “But I’m not sure whether we can include it in this particular legislative vehicle or not…it may not pass due to constitutional limitations” because it is not a related subject.
The Senate reconvenes at 7 p.m. on Tuesday when Senate President Mike Miller believes the House will pass the bill with anticipated amendments. Many lawmakers are grumbling that the “special interests looking for deals” could move the deliberations well past 7 p.m.
A conference committee will likely be formed to reconcile differences between the two chambers. The Senate passed the bill last Friday with five amendments by a vote of 28-14.
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