Last Thursday the Georgia Senate Regulated Industries Committee cancelled a second hearing on Senate Bill 79, which would allow a casino resort in Atlanta and another in a smaller city. State Senator Brandon Beach, the bill’s sponsor, asked for the hearing to be rescheduled for Monday, February 27. “I have asked to be on the agenda Monday. That will give me more time to shore up the votes. It’s real close right now. I think if we can get this into the chamber, more people are for it. We have to get it out of committee,” Beach said. He stated he believes he has the 29 votes necessary to pass the full Senate if the bill passes committee.
However, a committee member who asked not to be identified said Chairman Rick Jeffares polled the committee and the “opposition was overwhelming” so the hearing was cancelled. The bill is “sounding pretty dead,” the senator said.
Committee member state Senator Ed Harbison said if the bill comes to a vote, he would vote to move it to the full Senate. “I feel it is my obligation to give the people the chance to vote on this,” he said. State Rep. Josh McKoon, also a committee member, said, “If I had to vote right now, it would be a no. I don’t think that I am the only no vote.”
The legislation would allow the construction of two casinos in Georgia, one in a county with a population of 900.000 or more, and a second in a county of 250,000. The casinos would be taxed at 20 percent, with about 30 percent of the tax revenue going to the HOPE scholarship program, another 30 percent to a needs-based college scholarship, 15 percent to rural trauma care and 15 percent to rural healthcare. Beach said the use of the remaining 10 percent still is under discussion.
An Atlanta Journal Constitution poll taken in January indicated 56 percent of registered voters support legalizing casinos and 38 percent oppose it.
