Panel okays up to 9 casinos

FRANKFORT --

With a freshly revamped roster, a House committee swiftly approved a proposal to allow up to nine casinos in Kentucky --a day after that measure failed to win enough votes from that same panel.

The House Elections, Constitutional Amendments and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee voted 7-2 to send the casino bill to the full 100-member House, although House leaders said it probably won't be called up for a vote until next week.

"We don't have the votes right now," said House Speaker Jody Richards. "And one of the reasons why we don't have the votes is you can't count until you know know what the bill's going to say. Now we know what the bill's going to say."

The version that's moving forward is the one that Richards has favored. It would change the constitution to allow nine casinos, "of which no more than five may be established by horse racing tracks."

That last phrase has drawn criticism from the horse breeding and racing industry, whose proponents have said it might leave the tracks without any casinos and permit nine free-standing casinos that would add further competition to them. The industry had been supporting a draft offered by Democratic Reps. Rob Wilkey and Larry Clark that would have set aside five casino licenses for tracks and four others for free-standing casinos.

The same constitutional amendments committee initially adopted that version in Tuesday's meeting but it failed to get enough votes to get passed to the full House.

"The horse tracks and the horse people are going to be treated the same way they would have been treated either way," Richards said, adding that his preferred version "just doesn't guarantee it in the constitution."

Richards said the bill could come up as early as next week, which gives him time to gauge support among House Democrats and potentially round up necessary Republican votes.

Changing the state's guiding document -- which must be done during a regular General Assembly session, according to section 256 of the constitution -- requires 60 votes in the House and approval of 23 of the 38 state senators before going to Kentucky voters on the fall election ballot.

"I'm going to start counting votes and try to get people to be for it. And I invite the governor to help," Richards said. "He can speak for himself, but I think he will."

Gov. Steve Beshear stopped short of endorsing the draft that passed the committee but said he was "encouraged by the quick response to my call for action to move a version of this amendment along."

"I am aware of the concerns that Kentucky's signature industry -- the horse industry -- has about this version of the amendment, and I plan to continue meeting with House leadership to find a way to address those concerns," his statement concluded.

Richards conceded that the proposal, as it stands, may "have lost one or two votes."

Rep. Carl Rollins, D-Midway, said he had planned to approve casino gambling but probably wouldn't support this version because it could leave out the horse industry.

Another House Democrat who said Richards may have lost her vote was Rep. Dottie Sims, D-Horse Cave.

Richards removed Sims from the constitutional amendments committee Tuesday after she voted against Richards' proposal that morning and in favor of the competing draft offered by Wilkey and Clark.

Richards replaced Sims with two Democrats, Reps. Tim Firkins of Louisville and John Will Stacy of West Liberty, who supported his version.

Sims, who was greeted Wednesday on the House floor with a vase of a dozen red roses sent by Clark, said she doubted she would vote for Richards' casino draft now.

The process, so far, has been steeped in controversy and drama, which has created fodder for casino opponents.

The committee, with its new roster, met Wednesday in a hastily called session after the full House adjourned. An overflow crowd of lobbyists, legislative aides and reporters scrunched into a narrow meeting room as nine of the 12 committee members convened.

Richards' favored version passed by a 7-2 vote along party lines. Wilkey and Clark, who are both on that panel, did not attend the meeting.

John-Mark Hack of the Say No to Casinos coalition called the process "democracy casino style."

He said he does not expect the tactic to win Richards many votes. "There are going to be few House members that want to get on a bus that's going off the cliff."

Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson said changing the committee make-up was a blatant move to "fix the odds in favor of the 'house.'"

But Rep. Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said the roster change and the committee's quick action to pass the measure was a way to keep the debate alive.

"This was as much a procedural vote ... to get the bill moving," he said. "Obviously the clock's ticking on the session."