A Senate committee has scaled back its attempt to tie the governors hands in negotiating a compact that would expand the gaming rights of the Seminole Tribe of Florida.
On Wednesday, the Senate Regulated Industries Committee passed SB 622, a bill that requires the Legislature ratify the governors compact to give the tribe exclusive rights to blackjack and other casino-style card games. It would also lower taxes and license fees for some gambling activities at a number of pari-mutuel facilities. And, it would void the governors compact from last year.
The bill, which passed 6-1, is the committees second attempt to dictate a Seminole gaming compact. Its previous proposal, offered early in the session, laid out specific provisions the governor could include in the compact and it forbade him from straying from it.
But now, lawmakers are making progress on reaching a deal with the Seminoles, and the bills sponsor, Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, said the requirements in his first bill were not needed.
We have most of the issues resolved, he said.
He hopes the Legislature will be able to vote on the compact by the sixth or seventh week of session.
Gov. Charlie Crist has been betting on the Seminole deal for more than two years, only to lose out on every plan.
He signed an agreement with the Seminoles in 2007 to give them the rights to blackjack and other banked card games at all seven of their state casinos. The Florida Supreme Court struck down the deal, however, saying it was unconstitutional unless the Legislature approved it.
Crist's newest proposal, reached with the Seminoles last summer, once again puts blackjack in all of the tribe's casinos, despite the Legislatures preference to limit the games to four casinos.
The new deal was opposed by the pari-mutuels -- the owners of dog and horse tracks and Jai Alai frontons. The Seminoles are currently in private negotiations with House leaders, including Rep. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton, chairman of the House Select Committee on Seminole Indian Compact Review.
The Senate bill discussed Tuesday was a vast departure from its last incarnation, which gave four Seminole casinos in Hillsborough and Broward Counties exclusive rights to banked card games and gave the states seven casinos rights to slot machines.
The bill, sponsored by Sen. Dennis Jones, R-Seminole, would require the governor to comply with its version of the compact when making a deal.
Upon passage of the bill, the Legislature would be required to pass bills from last year that would authorize longer card room hours at pari-mutuels and allow them to switch from a weekly to a monthly license tax.
The bill would lower taxes on slot machines and lower the licensing fees for slot machines from $3.5 million to $2.5 million.
The bills would have been passed last year if a compact had been reached.
Jones said that the biggest issue on the road to a compact continues to be the Seminoles desire for exclusivity of banked card games.
Jack Cory, lobbyist for the Florida Greyhound Association said the deal was not a good one for the state's pari-mutuels. Taxes would only benefit pari-mutuels in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, where Class III slot machines have been approved.
Cory said the bill was posturing on the part of the Senate, as negotiations continue, and it was too soon to tell what kind of compact would really emerge.
Ken Plant, lobbyist for Tampa Bay Downs dog track, said the lower taxes were a boon to pari-mutuels, but he was reserving judgment.
What is a compact? If there is one, what is it going to do? he asked.
