Bill to expand hours, force more dog racing to be vetoed by Carcieri

By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — The state Senate passed legislation Tuesday requiring Twin River to maintain a 200-day greyhound racing schedule despite the casino’s claim that the dog races are a major money-loser that their proposed bankruptcy agreement with creditors envisions eliminating altogether. The same legislation, already passed by the House of Representatives, authorizes all-night slot machine play every day, allowing Twin River to be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Gov. Donald Carcieri has already vowed to veto the measure.
In other action with local implications, the Senate passed legislation that would replace the current “Caruolo action” process with mediation by a court-appointed special master.
Pawtucket, Woonsocket and East Providence are all currently engaged in so-called Caruolo actions, the method by which school departments sue their funding communities for additional aid if they can not make their allocations meet their expenses.
The Senate had already passed the Twin River legislation two weeks ago, but it was amended last week in the House to remove Newport Grand from the 24/7 provision.
Lincoln Sen. Ed O’Neill, an Independent, urged his colleagues to defeat the bill because he said Lincoln residents do not want the 24/7 at Twin River, either.
“The residents of Lincoln have seen many changes in terms of gambling in this rural, beautiful community, yet they have never had a chance to vote except in a non-binding referendum that was held on a Saturday where they strongly came out to defeat 24/3 (allowing the facility to open 24 hours a day on weekends and the Sundays before holidays), so they have indicated in every way possible and with every opportunity they have been given to indicate that they do want to keep Lincoln rural, that they want to contain gambling and we did not have a vote on 24/7 in terms of the local community.”
Saying that they are losing about $9 million a year on the greyhound racing, Twin River has moved to end the races for the season on Aug. 8, after the 125 racing days required by law. The law passed Tuesday on a 25-10 vote would mandate that the dogs keep running for 200 days, which is the number of racing dates that have been held annually in recent years.
In a written statement, the Rhode Island Greyhound Owners Association (RIGOA) praised legislators “for putting the livelihood of 225 Rhode Island workers and millions in state tax revenue ahead of the selfish interests of big banks. The bill now moves from the general assembly to the governor.
“The bill to extend racing days passed the general assembly with strong support,” said RIGOA spokeswoman Jennifer Bramley. “Our legislators saw the obvious choice: protect 225 jobs and millions in revenue, or protect the interests of big banks with no interest in our state. We cannot afford to put more Rhode Islanders on unemployment and the big banks do not need any more financial assistance from our taxpayers,”
Portsmouth Sen. Charles Levesque told his colleagues he hopes to “streamline the process” of Caruolo actions with the bill that allows the presiding justice of the Superior Court to appoint a special master “to do an audit with the school and the town to determine what the differences are in an acceptable fashion.”
Afterward, the special master would complete a report with recommendations to both sides in an effort to resolve the matter. If one side or the other does not accept the recommendations, they can contest the dispute in court.
But Levesque said his bill allows the court to take “judicial notice” of the special master’s report, potentially giving it additional weight in the court proceeding.
He said the bill would make Caruolo actions “less expensive, less contentious, and make fairer the Caruolo act process while ensuring everyone due process.
Levesque’s bill passed the Senate on a vote of 34-0, but its fate in the House of Representatives, when the House returns sometime in July to complete its unfinished business, is up in the air at best. The measure has not had hearings in any House committee.