Source: Delaware State News
DOVER —The state Senate at 12:35 a.m. passed the original version of legislation that will allow charitable gaming to continue at veterans clubs throughout the state.
Representatives scrambled to pass the bill before the clock struck midnight Sunday, when the temporary agreement allowing slot machines at veterans organizations throughout the state was to expire.
The state’s House of Representatives by a vote of 30-2 passed Senate Bill 112 in its original form, which legally allows nationally recognized veterans and fraternal organizations to own and operate video lottery machines. The Senate on June 11 passed an amended form of the bill that added community organizations and local nonprofits to the list of clubs allowed to have machines. But the House nixed that amendment, which then sent the bill back to the Senate late Sunday.
With a vote of 19 yes and 2 not voting, the Senate passed the bill, its last act before recessing the special session.
State Rep. Earl G. Jaques, D-Glasgow, introduced the amendment Sunday evening that negated the Senate’s bill.
“The Senate amendment completely changes the view of the bill,” Rep. Jaques said, noting that there is no way to track a concrete number of organizations that would be added under the charitable gaming legislation.
Under the original bill, charitable gaming organizations, monitored by the Delaware Lottery Office, will receive 60 percent of proceeds after players are paid, leaving 40 percent to the state of which 1 percent of the state’s proceeds will be set aside to fund programs for the treatment, education and assistance of compulsive gamblers and their families.
“We have an unknown number of organizations being added, so why would we add those organizations here at the last minute?” Rep. Jaques asked.
Many Wilmington legislators raucously opposed Rep. Jaques’ measure, claiming the Senate’s amendment would help Wilmington-area veterans who do not have access to Moose lodges or veterans clubs outside of the local nonprofit organizations.
“What kind of process and politics is that?” Rep. Gerald Brady, D-Wilmington, said. “That’s not fair, and that’s not justice.”
Aid granted
After a lengthy break, the House returned to session shortly after 9:30 p.m. and quickly and unanimously approved the $44.7 million grant-in-aid bill, which outlines spending for community projects and nonprofit organizations such as the Modern Maturity Center and volunteer fire departments, among others.
Watching and waiting
State Treasurer Chipman “Chip” L. Flowers sat watch in the Senate Sunday hoping lawmakers there didn’t act on a bill that he said would hamper his office’s ability to meet daily cash flow obligations to the state’s $2 billion portfolio and threaten the transparency of the Cash Management Policy Board.
Though he acknowledged that the board needed revisions, it wasn’t through changes outlined in Senate Bill 151, sponsored by Sen. Patricia M. Blevins, D-Elsmere, and Rep. Peter C. Schwartzkopf, D-Rehoboth Beach.
Mr. Flowers spent the weekend seeking opposition to SB 151 and said Sunday night that he had 10 to 15 senators and roughly that many representatives who had expressed concern about the proposed bill.
“We are very hopeful. I think there is no problem with the treasury. We are making millions of dollars,” he said. “People want to make sure that their treasury remains independent,” with investments made in the best interest of taxpayers, not on personal interests.
“That is very important to the people of the state of Delaware. We are not risky with their money,” he said. “We need a board that’s active, responsive and not going to ask the treasurer to do something that is counter to the people of the state of Delaware.”
Senate Bill 151 would grant members of the Cash Management Policy Board the right to allocate state funds to banking institutions and exempt the portfolio from open government requirements.
The bill’s synopsis said it clarified the original intent of the board’s powers, which are to protect state investments through oversight. The act clarifies that the board is exempt from the Administrative Procedures Act, since decisions need to be made in a timely matter as a result of changing market conditions.
The Delaware State N.A.A.C.P. circulated a copy of a letter sent to Gov. Jack Markell outlining concerns with the legislation, including the impression that the timing on the final day was an effort “to sneak this legislation in at the end of the legislative session rather than have the bill placed on the floor and provide the opportunity for the bill to be aired before the legislature.”
As of 10:30 p.m. the Senate hadn’t acted on the proposed legislation.
Juvenile sex offender bill
The state House gave final legislative approval to a bill giving Family Court judges the discretion to determine whether certain juvenile offenders should be declared sex offenders subject to inclusion on the state’s sex offender registry.
The bill applies to juvenile offenders who were under age 14 when the offense was committed or who were older than 14 but did not commit certain offenses, including offenses that require registration under the federal Adam Walsh Act.
The legislation also excludes crimes in which the victim is 5 years old or younger.
The bill, which now goes to Gov. Markell, also allows for the review of certain offenders who already are on the state’s sex offender registry.
