It was a battle between dogs and horses Friday in the Florida Senate, as the upper chamber passed a bill that lets pari-mutuels with gambling keep running their cardrooms without the greyhound dog races that were once their raison d'etre.
SB 1594 ultimately passed in a 25-14 vote, but not before some senators reluctantly withdrew amendments that would have included boons for the horse-racing industry.
The Senate entered into a temporary recess after the bill came up initially with late-filed amendments which were withdrawn when the Senate reconvened.
Sen. Jack Latvala, R-St. Petersburg, alleged that his fellow senators were "intimidated" into withdrawing their amendments by the Senate leadership in order to ram the bill through.
"We had a number of people involved in wanting to do amendments in this bill today and through one way or another they were intimidated out of them," said Latvala, who added that he has a horse-racing facility in his district.
The problem stemmed from the Senate's Friday schedule, with Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, alerting members early on in the day that the slate of otherwise uncontroversial bills on the calendar would be hustled through and voted upon the same day, instead of the normal process of readying a bill one day for a final vote the next day.
When the controversy over the horse-racing amendments arose when the bill came up, Haridopolos recessed the Senate so the senators could sort out the problems and move the bill quickly. He said those with amendments voluntarily withdrew them and there was no intimidation, and explained the reason for the rush was to do some house cleaning ahead of the last week of session, with the budget, a Medicaid overhaul and a controversial immigration bill to take on.
"Some people chose to file late filed amendments. I chose to introduce them. They chose to withdraw them. This has been the most open Senate with multiple committee hearings for anybody who wanted it, and today we are going to vote on this so we can focus on other issues," said Haridopolos, who grew visibly cross during Latvala's statements.
In the substantive debate over the bill, Sen. Maria Sachs, D-Delray Beach, who sponsored the bill, noted that it includes a phase-out of five years to allow the dog-racing industry to adjust to the change, and that it ends tax credits for an industry that is largely dying out.
"If a track wants to race, this bill allows them to race, it just says that the citizens of the state will not continue to pay them to race," Sachs said.
Dog racing has become less and less popular in recent years, while the cardrooms operated by the tracks have boomed. Supporters of the bill said it was just a part of the free market, which should be allowed to take its course.
"The market is sometimes a cruel force. When you have an industry that is surviving largely on the powers of the government enforcing that industry on the market, you kind of have to wonder if that's a good business model in the time of a deep recession. What they want is a continuing, ongoing government enforcement of a failing business model. I don't think that's what we want the government to do," Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville said.
The friction over the vote and the way the bill came through the Senate led even those who voted for it to warn that a bill addressing the concerns of the horse-racing industry will be addressed in the next legislative session.
"I absolutely with all my heart wanted the throroughbred amendment," said Sen. Evelyn Lynn, R-Ormond Beach.
The bill now heads to the House.
Reach Gray Rohrer at grohrer@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
