ANNAPOLIS — House Democratic Caucus Chairwoman Carolyn J.B. Howard said yesterday she plans to amend a bill that would put slot machines at a horse track and slots emporiums in Prince George’s County.
“I don’t want [slots emporiums] in Prince George’s,” said Mrs. Howard, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee representing Prince George’s County. “I want [the county] out of the slots bill just in case it passes.”
The committee killed the bill last year under the direction of House Speaker Michael E. Busch, Anne Arundel Democrat, and with less than a week before the end of the 2004 legislative session, it has yet to approve the bill for a final House floor vote. The Senate already has approved the legislation.
Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.’s proposal to bring in about $800 million from slots for public education could change significantly if Mrs. Howard files the amendment and lawmakers approve it, because as many as four slots sites were planned for Prince George’s County.
Mr. Ehrlich, a Republican, had proposed that slots emporiums be placed at four racetracks, including one at Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George’s County. He also wanted emporiums at two off-track sites along Interstate 95, with at least one of those presumably in Prince George’s County.
Mrs. Howard has other plans.
“Rosecroft is right in the middle of the community, and the benefits don’t balance,” she said. “The residents of Prince George’s don’t want slots in our area.”
Mr. Ehrlich has said the slots legislation would not die if the Democrat-controlled General Assembly voted to exclude the emporiums from the county.
However, Paul E. Schurick, Mr. Ehrlich’s communications director, was surprised yesterday to hear about Mrs. Howard’s plans.
“If she and her colleagues believe Prince George’s County should be excluded, then they have an opportunity to try to get Prince George’s taken out of the bill,” he said.
Mr. Schurick also said consultants think the county is ideal for slots because it’s near I-95, the East Coast’s major north-south corridor and because it’s close to Baltimore and Washington.
Mrs. Howard’s decision comes a month after Prince George’s County Executive Jack B. Johnson, a Democrat, asked the 23 members of the county’s delegation to oppose attempts to put slots in the county.
Although Mr. Johnson asked the delegates to exclude the county from the list of sites being considered for slots emporiums, he did not ask them to vote against the legislation.
In a letter to the delegates, he suggested that putting slots closer to Charles Town and Dover Downs horse track, in Allegany and Cecil counties respectively, would “make more sense.”
The Prince George’s County Council also has voted against slots, citing a study by the Greater Prince George’s Business Roundtable that stated each emporium would bring as many as 20,000 problem gamblers who would cost taxpayers $326 million.
Mr. Ehrlich proposed bringing slot machines to Maryland to help fund the $1.3 billion court-mandated Thornton Education Act, which attempts to reduce the disparity between rich and poor public-school districts. However, his plan has changed considerably since he submitted it last year.
The original bill called for 11,500 slot machines at the Pimlico horse racing track in Baltimore, Laurel Racetrack in Anne Arundel County, Rosecroft Raceway in Prince George’s County and a proposed track in Allegany County.
The Senate passed the bill last year, but it was defeated in the House committee.
This year, House lawmakers are calling for $670 million in sales and income taxes to pay for the Thornton Act. They have tried to strike a deal with Mr. Ehrlich, but he repeatedly has said he will not support sales or income tax increases.
Mr. Ehrlich’s new plan called for an additional 4,000 slot machines at two off-track sites along Interstate 95 — including one presumably in Prince George’s County near the National Harbor, a waterfront development under construction. But the Senate revised the plan so that 15,500 slot machines would go into six sites, with as many as four sites in Prince George’s County.
Sheila Ellis Hixson, chairwoman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Montgomery Democrat, declined to comment about Mrs. Howard’s proposal.
“This is a local option,” she said. “People are allowed to do that.”
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