By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — The Senate on Wednesday passed the House version of the bill to allow Twin River and Newport Grand to remain open 24 hours on weekends and holidays and sent the measure to Gov. Donald Carcieri, who is likely to veto it.

Carcieri told a group of reporters Wednesday that he would probably veto the bill because he doesn’t believe the state should “steamroll” something that the host communities do not want.
Officials in both Lincoln and Newport have opposed expanded hours at the gambling facilities and Lincoln residents overwhelmingly rejected the notion in a non-binding referendum last November.
But it appears a veto would likely be short-lived. The Senate passed the original version of the bill 27-6 on Tuesday and expanded that margin to 29-6 with Wednesday’s vote. The House passed its own version of the bill 51-19. All of those margins easily exceed the three-fifths supermajority needed to override a veto.
Carcieri must sign or veto the bill within six days (Sunday excluded) or it will become law without his signature.
In other Senate action this week, the Senate Finance Committee unanimously passed a resolution stating that a Blackstone Valley Courthouse will be built in Smithfield and allocating $100,000 in the current year’s budget for preliminary site work.
The $80 million courthouse was originally tabbed for a site in Lincoln near the Community College of Rhode Island, but local opposition and concerns about traffic prompted officials to find a site in Smithfield along Route 116.
The new courthouse will contain at least a dozen courtrooms and provide parking for five hundred vehicles with an additional 18 secured spaces allocated within the courthouse for judges and magistrates. The construction will be financed through certificates of participation. Over the 20-year payback period the state will make lease payments totaling $140,655,237.62.
Gov. Donald Carcieri has questioned the need for another new courthouse — new buildings have been erected for the Kent County Court and the Traffic Tribunal in recent years — particularly in tight budget times. Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams has said the structure is necessary to relieve overcrowding at the Garrahy Judicial Complex in Providence.