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Friday, January 9, 2004
Baldacci's racino bill leaves lawmakers three options
Copyright © 2004 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. | ||||||
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Also on this page: In Depth: Gambling in Maine | |||||
AUGUSTA — Lawmakers who are grappling with Gov. John Baldacci's plan to strengthen the state's regulation of slot machines at harness-racing tracks will have to weigh three competing options. Based on what supporters and opponents of racinos told a legislative committee during a four-hour hearing this week, the Legislature could enact some version of the governor's reforms, let voters decide on any new regulations or do nothing to change the racino law that voters passed in November. Baldacci contends that the voter-approved racino law does not adequately regulate the industry so the Legislature needs to strengthen state controls. But there is no consensus on what the Legislature should do, whether the Legislature should do anything, and whether the voters should get another crack at the issue. "Big-time gambling is coming to Maine and it's coming on our watch," Rep. David Lemoine, D-Old Orchard Beach, the prime sponsor of Baldacci's bill, told the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee Wednesday. Describing the governor's bill as "the first step in preparing for this new reality," Lemoine said Mainers "are looking to this committee to protect them, now that we have hundreds of slot machines headed to this state." The governor's bill would create a five-member Gambling Control Board to license and regulate the racino industry. It also would limit the number of slot machines to 3,000 statewide and 1,500 per racetrack, strengthen the power of the state police to enforce the state's rules, allow the regulatory board to suspend licenses pending hearings on alleged infractions, and require that all racino employees and vendors be licensed. Support for the governor's proposed regulations was far from unanimous. While some of the dozens of people who testified at the hearing endorsed the bill, others said it needs to be fine-tuned or rewritten. For example, Scarborough Downs believes the Legislature should give it more time to find a home for a racino, which Baldacci's bill would not do. Still others say the Legislature should do nothing, or schedule a binding referendum on any reforms that lawmakers ultimately embrace. The thinking on a follow-up referendum is that voters should have the final say on reforms because it was the voters, not legislators, who passed a law Nov. 4 allowing Scarborough Downs and the Bangor Raceway to install slot machines, with local approval. Supporters of a follow-up referendum, including some opponents of racinos, believe conditions have changed enough since November that public support for slots may be waning. To settle that once and for all, they say, the Legislature should schedule another referendum on any changes to the voter-approved racino law. But others, including some racino supporters, argue that voters knew exactly what they were doing when they passed the racino law so there is no need to second-guess them, either by changing that law in the Legislature or by forcing voters to revisit the issue at the polls. More than 200 people attended Wednesday's hearing by the Legal and Veterans Affairs Committee, which will begin working on its recommendations to the full Legislature on Wednesday. Assistant Senate Majority Leader Kenneth Gagnon, a Waterville Democrat who co-chairs the committee, believes the panel will have to hold several meetings before it can decide what to do. Even then, Gagnon predicted, the 13-member panel is unlikely to be unanimous in its recommendations.
Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at:
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