The House approved the casino gaming and South Shore train extension bills by large margins this week, but they may face a tough road in the Senate.
House members voted 76-19 to Wednesday to OK the gaming bill — HB1514 — which allows riverboat casinos, including the Majestic Star Casino in Gary, to move to land. Amendments on Tuesday calmed some concerns among local communities and Majestic Star.
The House restored the admission tax, which provides millions of dollars for services in municipalities, and Majestic Star won’t have to give up its second license to move on land.
Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott said similar bills have emerged from the House before, only to fall apart on the Senate side. In addition, Gov. Mike Pence has said he opposes an expansion of gaming but hasn’t elaborated on what exactly that means.
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“Hammond has a lobby team and every year there’s a bill — and often it targets gaming revenue,” McDermott said. “That tells me it’s not going anywhere.”
A bill that establishes a state funding mechanism and incentives for local communities to fund the proposed South Shore rail extension passed 96-0 Tuesday night in the House, but currently no funds are attached to the House Budget bill, according to State Rep. Hal Slager, R-Schererville.
Slager said the $9.4 million annual state appropriation was stripped out in the Ways and Means committee last week and was supposed to be put in the House Budget bill.
“They’ve always added it into the budget, but as it turned out the budget was already passed,” Slager said. “It passed without that in it, but I have the commitment of (Rep. Tim) Brown to find a spot for that and will work with the Senate.”
The bill — HB1619 — will be assigned to the Senate appropriations committee, which can amend the House budget bill. Slager plans to meet with the Senate sponsors of the bill next week.
McDermott hasn’t committed a portion of Hammond’s county economic income tax revenue toward the $571 million project. He intended to testify on the bill during last week’s committee hearing before they committee stripped the annual $9.4 million appropriation and decided not to take testimony.
“i don’t think that’s procedural,” McDermott said. “I think they realize that in the Senate that there is a lot more skepticism about the project, and they wonder why the state would put $270 million over 30 years into the project, which a lot of money.”
Slager said the bill contains language that would incentivize communities to contribute to the project by making them eligible for transit grants.
“They actually could realize more in grants than in what they contribute,” Slager said.