LANSING – Michigan Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema (R-Wyoming) will not allow a Senate vote on a bill creating slot machines at the state’s horse racetracks until after voters decide in November whether to require a public vote on all proposed new or expanded forms of gambling dealing a further blow to state budget negotiations.
Sikkema’s comments, coming a day after Gongwer News Service first reported that Democratic legislative leaders had pulled their support of the so-called racino bill (HB 4610) until after the November vote, dealt a further blow to the proposal. Sikkema has opposed the creation of racinos, but his opposition to allowing a vote represents a major stumbling block for supporters.
Democratic leaders and Sikkema say the November 2 vote on whether to require voter approval of all gambling expansion puts the viability of racinos in doubt. If a racino law was enacted now and the ballot proposal passes, then the racino bill would assuredly become entangled in a lawsuit.
Sikkema has not said there would never be a vote on HB 4610, just that there would not be a vote taken before the November election, his spokesperson said.
The growing high-level opposition to acting on racinos now threatens to stall further already-bogged-down budget negotiations. House Speaker Rick Johnson (R-LeRoy), who has stridently supported racinos, has said he would not hold up the entire budget over the racino bill. But other House Republicans might.
Of Sikkema’s refusal to allow a vote on racinos until November, Johnson spokesperson Keith Ledbetter said: “It’s easy to say that theoretically, but what happens if there’s not enough support for casinos without a racino deal?”
Sikkema, Johnson and top appropriations committee members met to discuss the 2004-05 budget on Wednesday, and while not much progress was made, staff members continue to work out budget details.
