McALLEN, Aug. 13 - The next regular legislative session will likely be the one that sees legislation passed allowing for a major expansion of gambling in Texas.
That’s the view of state Rep. Aaron Peña, D-Edinburg, who discussed the issue at a legislative gala hosted by the McAllen Hispanic Chamber of Commerce at the McAllen Country Club on Wednesday evening.
“Next session is the session. I’m not saying there will be a casino on the Island but typically when gambling efforts are tried they are when the economic situation is bad,” Peña told the audience. “We have a perfect storm next session. We are going to be in a shortfall. We are going to be looking for revenues.”
Peña did not say he was for or against gambling. He just painted a picture of where the state might be budget wise in 2011 and what the remedies could be for a financial shortfall. The Island he referred to is South Padre Island.
“We are probably going to see a shortfall. The current estimates are anywhere from $10 billion to $15 billion. It is going to be difficult,” Peña said. The last time state lawmakers were faced with a major budget crunch they slashed services, Peña said, referring to the 2003 session.
“There was a lot of fighting going on in the House because of that,” he said. “We don’t want to cut services. We are concerned about those fragile members of community that need to be taken care of,” he said, referring to the position of the Rio Grande Valley’s legislative delegation.
The legislature could raise taxes to pay for a $10 billion to $15 billion budget shortfall but Peña said he does not expect that to happen. He also said the economy is turning around, slowly.
During the 81st legislative session there were a dozen or so bills or resolutions heard by Senate and House committees that would have expanded gaming in the Lone Star State. Several of the proposed pieces of legislation sought to give voters a say on the issue. There was no movement, however.
Peña told the Chamber audience that he detects a difference in attitudes towards gambling in different parts of the state. “North of Nueces a lot of people are against gambling, for religious reasons. But in the Valley, for some reason, I can run into the most staunchly conservative (person) and they will come up to me and say, when are we going to get gambling?” he said.
Peña asked a rhetoric question of the audience and then answered it himself. “You don’t want me to say yes to that tax money, right? Right, and so we are going to have to find additional revenues, we don’t want to cut services. So, you will probably see the strongest effort to pass some form of gambling next session,” he predicted. There were cheers from the audience when he said it, led by McAllen Hispanic Chamber President and CEO Cynthia Sakulenzki, who is known to visit Las Vegas from time to time. “We want to keep you home, Cynthia, so we will see what happens,” Peña said.
Peña was one of four Valley lawmakers to speak at the gala. The others were state Sen. Eddie Lucio, D-Brownsville, and state Reps. Veronica Gonzales, D-McAllen, and Armando “Mando” Martinez, D-Weslaco. The only other reference to gambling came from Lucio, who told the audience he was asked about the possibility of an expansion in the industry that evening at the table he was sitting at. Lucio said he does not gamble but believes the people of Texas should be allowed to decide if they want it.
During the 81st legislative session, the Guardian covered a report by Texans for Public Justice, a campaign-finance watchdog group, which showed that border-area lawmakers received more than a quarter million dollars in campaign contributions from the gambling industry in 2008.
The majority of the contributions to the border Democrats came from Texans for Economic Development (TED) PAC, a political action committee representing the horseracing industry.
In all, $7.6 million was dolled out from the gambling lobby to candidates during the state’s 2008 elections.
State Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, led border lawmakers by receiving $66,650 from TED PAC, while Rep. Joe Moody, D-El Paso, came in second with $53,500, also from TED PAC.
State Sens. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, D-McAllen, and Carlos Uresti, D-San Antonio, rounded out the top five with $47,650, $42,750 and $42,611, respectively.
The senators also received monies from TED PAC, though part of Zaffirini’s contribution came from Johnson and Johnson, an Austin-based lobby firm with interests in greyhound race tracks, according to the report. Uresti also benefited from contributions given by the Kickapoo tribe.
Rep. Peña was given about $37,000 from TED PAC. Asked what he thought the contributors wanted in response, Peña told the Guardian at the time: “I assume they wanted me to win.”
Peña added that his voting record has always been consistent in that he only votes for gambling bills that involve American Indian tribes and what he deems as their sovereign right to house gambling operations on their own land.
“I am not against gambling, I’ve been to the casinos that the Tiguas (in El Paso) had, I go to Las Vegas and I go to Lake Tahoe, I just don’t want it to be everywhere and I don’t want it to be proximate,” he said.
Peña added that like the lottery, whose revenue fluctuates, he didn’t think gambling monies would be a consistent source of income for the state.
“That being said, we live in a democracy,” he said, adding that it’s ultimately up to Texans to decide.
Though looked at by some as staunch opponents of expanded gaming in Texas, top Republicans faired well from their gaming-interest contributors during 2008 reporting periods.
Gov. Rick Perry received almost $800,000 while Dewhurst and Abbot received approximately $850,000 and $151,000 respectively. State Comptroller Susan Combs received more than $158,000. In fact, statewide, Republicans received 58 percent, or about $4.4 million, from the gaming industry during 2007 and 2008.
Flores’ $66,650 was the most a Democratic candidate received, according to Texans for Public Justice’s report. It said the Palmview Democrat sponsored a provision that increased racetrack ownership caps from two to three per owner as the former chair of the House Licensing Committee.
The McAllen-based LaMantia family was one of the beneficiaries of the provision, according to the report. The family wants to build racetracks in McAllen and Laredo.
The Guardian will run a series of stories in the coming days on the issues raised at the McAllen Hispanic Chamber of Commerce's legislative gala. The Guardian was the only news outlet in South Texas to cover the 81st legislative session from the state Capitol in Austin.