CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Senate next gets a bill that would end transfers to the Licensed Racetrack Modernization Fund, which is financing for gambling improvements at West Virginia’s casinos, and transfer any remaining funds to the Rainy Day Fund.
On Thursday, the House approved HB 105, 64-31 with five members absent and not voting, on Day Nine of a Special Session that has no set end date.
It could free up as much as $9 million annually for the state budget going forward, according to House Finance Committee Chair Eric Nelson (R-Kanawha, 35), and as much as $14 million during the next fiscal year.
Supporters of the bill called the money “subsidies.”
Delegate Stephen Skinner (D-Jefferson, 67), though, argued that casinos are already paying much higher tax rates than other industries in West Virginia during a hyper-competitive time for gaming and that the money put into the Licensed Racetrack Modernization Fund belongs to those facilities.
“It’s not just about closing a fund, closing an account, sweeping that account. It’s about fundamentally changing the deal that this state made in four counties — to bring slots, to bring table games into racetracks,” Skinner argued Thursday on the House floor.
Skinner was among the lawmakers challenging consideration of the bill because it was not on Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s original Special Session call. His point of order was not sustained in a House vote.
House Speaker Tim Armstead (R-Kanawha, 40) said the House had introduced its own bills in Special Sessions in the past.
Delegate Patrick Lane (R-Kanawha, 38) agreed. “This issue has been decided numerous times in our history,” he said.
If approved, the bill will take effect on July 1.
The House passed a similar proposal, 62-37, during the 2016 Regular Legislative Session.
Also on Thursday morning, the House gave final approval to SB 1002, a supplemental bill with $63 million for the 2016 budget year. The largest chunk of that, $32 million, came from the Rainy Day Fund. It was the first bill finalized during the Special Session that began on May 16.