Florida Senate panel hears decoupling bill Tuesday afternoon

The controversial decoupling bill that would allow Gulfstream Park to separate it racing and slot-machine licenses gets its first test in the Florida Senate next week when the first of three committees will hear it.

Senate bill 408 goes in front of the regulated-industries committee Tuesday at 4 p.m. EDT in Tallahassee. The agenda for the two-hour meeting also has six unrelated bills and 14 executive nominees up for consideration by the seven Republicans and two Democrats on the committee.

Sponsored by Danny Burgess, a Tampa Bay-area Republican, the Senate version of the decoupling proposal is identical to the stripped-down version that set off a seismic reaction when it was unveiled nearly three months ago in a news release from the Stronach Group’s 1/ST Racing. By the time House bill 108 got through subcommittee and committee hearings this winter, it had been grown from four to 38 pages. A similar expansion of the Senate bill also is expected.

Led by the Stronach Group, proponents of the bill say that the current arrangement preventing Gulfstream Park from growing its slot machines independent of racing is a shackle that is bad business. Trying to appease racing interests, they say the newly written version of the House bill guarantees at least five more years of racing in South Florida.

Opponents in the Thoroughbred industry believe that is little more than a time bomb that could destroy racing and the jobs it fills in South Florida. They also point out that the very existence of Gulfstream’s slot machines were a result of the marriage of racing and gaming, and that there cannot be a divorce of the two without both sides being made whole in the process.

The decoupling plan, which also would allow Tampa Bay Downs to split a less lucrative card room from its racing license, has had overwhelming support in the House from majority Republicans and unanimous opposition from minority Democrats.

House bill 105 was approved 12-4 by a subcommittee in February and 15-7 by the commerce committee March 17. It has been assigned for a floor vote that has not been scheduled.

Senate bill 408 must be approved by the regulated-industries, appropriations and rules committees before it would face a floor vote. Opponents of the bill have expressed confidence it can be killed in the Senate.