New gambling panel sparks dissent
UPDATED at 2:30 to clarify status of House gambling bill The quiet formation last week of a special Senate subcommittee to head a controversial casino-gaming resolution has sparked a behind-the scenes legislative fight that could affect passage of the state budget and school finances. Three senators said several colleagues have discussed the possibility of voting against the state budget, amid the questions. They would not speak publicly because those discussions were private. “I’m afraid that this gambling issue is being raised and it could hold the school children of Texas hostage so the gambling interests can get their issue passed,” said Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound. “I am fully prepared to talk about this issue for a long time … It would really be wrong to use gambling money to finance public education in this state.” Five senators confirmed today that the new panel formed last Thursday by the Senate State Affairs Committee to hear the resolution by Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, quickly triggered concerns from GOP senators about whether the move was a prelude by proponents of casinos to shoehorn the issue into legislative discussions about how to pay for Senate-proposed changes in financing public schools — expected to cost about $4 billion more than the House version. The formation of new subcommittees in the late days of legislative sessions is a rarity. The current session has just two weeks to go. State Affairs Committee Chairman Robert Duncan, R-Lubbock, said he named as chairman Sen. Robert Deuell, R-Greenville, who headed a similar panel on gaming during the last legislative session. Members named were Sens. Joan Huffman, R-Houston; Mike Jackson, R-La Porte; Troy Fraser, R-Horseshoe Bay, and Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville. Deuell said he was planning to set a hearing for Wednesday on Ellis’ Senate Joint Resolution 34, which proposes a constitutional amendment to allow casinos and slot machines by licensed operators and some Indian tribes to provide funding for property-tax relief and additional financial aid for college and university students. Lucio is a co-sponsor. The measure, if approved by voters, would create a new agency, the Texas Gaming Commission, to regulate gaming in the state. It was filed by Ellis on March 3, and was assigned to the State Affairs Committee on March 16. There has been no action on it since then. But Ellis said this afternoon he has withdrawn his request for a hearing, leaving the new panel with nothing to do. “I can see the handwriting on the wall,” Ellis said. “I don’t think this is the right time to try to advance this. I can see I don’t have the votes.” Deuell agreed the panel was unlikely to approve the resolution and send it to a vote by the full Senate. A majority of the panel opposes casinos and slots, he said. “Judge Roy Bean said, ‘I’ll give him a fair hearing and then hang him’,” Deuell said. “I told (Ellis) I’d give it a fair hearing.” But several Republican senators said privately they remained wary. House leaders have suggested in recent days that approval by voters of gaming could raise perhaps as much as $3 billion in additional revenues for the state. State Rep. Mike “Tuffy” Hamilton, R-Mauriceville, the committee chairman who moved a gambling bill out of committee days ago, said in the Houston Chronicle on Saturday that while there is no interest in gambling in the House at the moment, support could build later — perhaps in a summer special session, as members look for more non-tax revenue. Rep. Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, chairman of the House Calendars Committee that schedules bills for debate, seemed to agree, according to the Chronicle. “I think gambling is still alive because it’s a revenue measure and, as the budget process is alive, so is any revenue measure.” A watered-down gambling bill to allow slot machines at racetracks and Native American reservations moved out of the Hamilton’s House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee earlier this month. It would not permit casinos. But the bill wasn’t heard on the floor by the deadline for House bills to be debated. Several senators suggested this morning that if the school finance issue is split from the state budget, and addressed during a special session this summer, they fear that gaming could be brought in as a way to pay for the additional money needed for public schools. And they say they fear that the formation of the subcommittee, and the increased discussion of gambling in recent days, is a hint of that. “I think someone is sending something up the flag pole to see if anyone salutes,” said Senate Education Committee Chairman Florence Shapiro, R-Plano. “No one is saluting over here.” Senate Finance Committee Chairman Steve Ogden, R-Bryan, said he’s aware of the dissent among his colleagues, but does not know what effect it could have on the upcoming budget vote in the Senate. “That’s part of the black helicopter scenarios that are going around,” he said. “Since I don’t have an agreement with the House (on splitting school finance from the budget to address in a special session), I don’t know what to make of this right now. “We might pick up a few votes, might lose a few votes. It’s hard to tell.” As for Ellis, he smiled when asked about what might happen in a special session on school finance. “I don’t know about that,” he said. “It’s always good to have your bill before an objective committee.”