PA approves houses slots bill

HARRISBURG - The state House of Representatives yesterday prolonged its squabble with the Senate over a bill intended to strengthen regulation and enforcement of Pennsylvania's slot-machine industry, approving changes and sending it back to the Senate.
The unanimous vote kept the bill from going to Gov. Rendell. It also continued a volley between chambers that has lasted for much of the last year over how to fix problems identified by critics of the state's two-year-old gambling law, with one chamber often dropping pet provisions written by the other.
House Majority Leader Sam Smith (R., Jefferson) said he sympathized with colleagues who were dissatisfied with the Senate's version, but warned that further revisions could scuttle passage of a final bill before the legislative session ends Nov. 30.
"There's a limit to how many times we can bounce this ball back and forth across this building," Smith said. "If we amend this bill, this bill then will be sitting in the Senate in the lame-duck session, and at that juncture, all bets are off... as to whether or not we will actually be able to get a very solid reform bill in front of this governor this session."
Senate leaders were reviewing their options and expected to announce a plan today, said Erik Arneson, chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill (R., Lebanon).
The Senate passed its version of the gambling-law revisions during a marathon session that stretched from Monday to early yesterday as members rushed to complete major business and adjourned until after the Nov. 7 election. With just two weeks remaining, legislators were eager to return to their districts to campaign in a volatile election year.
Both houses have agreed to changes that would require the state Attorney General's Office to form a gambling-crimes unit, wipe out a requirement that slot-machine manufacturers sell through an in-state distributor, and delete language in the current law that allows public officials to directly own up to 1 percent of a gambling interest.
The House did not change a provision of the Senate bill that would force casino developers to follow local zoning procedures, including in Philadelphia, and allow zoning appeals to go to the state Supreme Court. In a bill passed in March, the House had introduced a clause eliminating local zoning control for casinos in Philadelphia.
But the two chambers have disagreed over many other provisions. The version the House approved includes provisions not endorsed by the Senate, such as banning campaign contributions from applicants for horse racetrack licenses and requiring casinos to comply with local ordinances banning indoor smoking.
The House version also allows the legislature, rather than the state, to decide whether to transfer state-owned riverbed property rights to casinos.
The law, which was passed in July 2004, legalized up to 61,000 slot machines at 14 sites.