Bill for Referendum on Slots Still Waits to Clear Md. House

Md. Leaders Fight To Secure Support In Special Session

Leaders of the Maryland House of Delegates struggled yesterday to find enough votes to pass a bill calling for a referendum on legalizing up to 15,000 slot machines, the most vexing issue confronting lawmakers in a nearly three-week-old special session.

The legislation, which delegates planned to resume debating today, would authorize slots at locations in Baltimore and in Allegany, Anne Arundel, Cecil and Worcester counties if voters approve the ballot measure next November. In a change from Wednesday, the bill does not provide for slots in Frederick County. The Senate passed a similar bill last week, as well as a bill needed to implement a slots program.

House Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) acknowledged to reporters last night that House leaders were "still trying to get the votes" to put slots on the ballot.

Past efforts to legalize slot machine gambling have paralyzed the General Assembly. At some points yesterday, the issue threatened to unravel the special session called by Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) to close a $1.5 billion budget shortfall and raise additional revenue for transportation and health-care priorities.

Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr. (D-Calvert), one of the legislature's biggest slots proponents, reacted angrily when it appeared that the House might pass the bill authorizing a referendum but not consider the slots implementation measure during the session. With the referendum date a year away, several delegates said there was no need to reach agreement now on all details of a slots program. Some said they could even wait to see whether a referendum passes before acting.

Miller called that prospect "a total fraud," saying that would make it "highly unlikely" that his chamber would seek to reconcile other bills passed during the session with versions approved by the House. Those bills would raise an additional $1.4 billion in annual tax revenue and direct O'Malley to cut about $500 million from next year's budget.

"I think the session can be saved if they pass nothing or they pass both bills," Miller said of the slots legislation pending in the House. He said lawmakers should not be "lying and stealing and cheating the public into thinking you're doing something when you're not."

Busch later chastised Miller for his "flowery language," saying: "I think it's unbecoming of a presiding officer."

House Majority Leader Kumar P. Barve (D-Montgomery) said that the House, which historically has been less receptive to slots proposals than the Senate, was committed to trying to pass both bills in coming days.

"We're going to do the best we can, and he needs to be flexible," Barve said of Miller. "We're two co-equal branches."

O'Malley spent much of the afternoon laboring to keep the session on track. He gave what those in attendance called an impassioned speech about reaching consensus at a closed-door meeting of House Democrats, holed up with Busch in the speaker's office and met with wavering delegates from Montgomery, who relayed their desire for additional school construction funding.

If the special session collapses, lawmakers would have to craft a balanced budget after they convene in mid-January for their annual 90-day session. Maryland's budget is balanced through June, but O'Malley is urging early action so that the state can enact increases in the sales tax and other levies starting in January that otherwise would not take effect until July. If lawmakers wait, O'Malley has said, they will have to either raise more taxes or make deeper spending cuts.