Published: June 17, 2009 08:51 am         

Bills to fix Indy sports board hits hurdle

Plan to move Gary casino also seems stalled

INDIANAPOLIS — A proposal to help a struggling Indianapolis sports board hit a legislative speed bump Tuesday, while a plan to move a Gary casino seems to have reached a dead end.

The Democrat-led House Ways and Means Committee made several changes Tuesday to Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels' plan to help the Indianapolis Capital Improvement Board, which runs the city's sports stadiums and convention center.

But Republicans on the panel objected to proposals to require hotels in a downtown Indianapolis professional sports development area to report wage data and to allow other counties to expand their pro sports development areas.

When Republicans started voting against the amended bill, Committee Chairman William Crawford withdrew the proposal, saying the legislation should have bipartisan support if it is to move forward.

"The bill seems to have become politicized," said Crawford, D-Indianapolis.

Crawford said his committee will meet again Wednesday morning to see if there is support from both Republicans and Democrats. Otherwise, he said, the panel would not advance the bill, which would raise some local taxes and make budget cuts to help the CIB close its $47 million budget gap.

Even if the bill gets stuck in the Ways and Means committee, the proposal to help the sports agency isn't dead. The Republican-led Senate is expected to deal with only one bill during the special session — the budget — and will likely insert a fix into that legislation.

A plan to move a Gary casino, however, seems unlikely to be resurrected.

Rep. Charlie Brown, D-Gary, did not offer an amendment to the CIB bill that would have moved one of Gary's two riverboat casinos to help finance a trauma hospital in northwest Indiana.

Brown said creating a new state budget is the primary focus of the special legislative session, and he doesn't want that focus changed if Republicans complain about backdoor attempts to expand gambling.

"In recent days, it has become apparent that they want to raise this specter to draw attention away from their efforts to cut funding for schools and their failure to do anything to get Hoosiers back to work," Brown said. "I will not give them any smoke and I am keeping my mirrors at home, where they can do the most good."

Brown said the issue is still important and that he will ask the governor to help find funding to pay for the hospital project.

Lawmakers didn't consider any amendments dealing with gambling Tuesday, but gaming lobbyists could push for legislation as the special session continues.

Fort Wayne's mayor has suggested a citywide referendum to gauge the interest in a possible casino. Indiana's two horse racing tracks that have slot machines say they need financial help because they borrowed too much money to pay state licensing fees for the slots. And officials say the French Lick casino has felt the pinch of competition since the horse tracks got slot machines.

Senate President Pro Tem David Long, R-Fort Wayne, has said that gambling issues will be off the table in his chamber during the special session, and should instead be sent to a study committee for review this summer.

The House Ways and Means Committee advanced a bill Tuesday that would require an independent performance audit of the Family and Social Services Administration's welfare privatization program. That bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where leaders have said they will only consider the budget bill.