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Florida Gov’t Weekly Roundup: Gambling, Guns And A Little Bit Of Quiet

The temperatures might be slow to drop to a wintry chill in Tallahassee, but the flow of news from state government is already falling to holiday levels as the calendar moves deeper into December.

It didn’t help, perhaps, that much of the political oxygen this week was sucked up by the national news cyclone that is Donald Trump. The real-estate-tycoon-turned-presidential-candidate’s call to temporarily ban Muslims from immigrating to or visiting the United States ginned up a wave of outrage and controversy that made everything else pale by comparison.

But there were also real reasons why the news cycle slowed down this week. Lawmakers who have spent too much of 2015 in the Capitol had largely returned home for the last time before January. The legal fight over Florida’s state Senate districts took a week off. And most of the “news” generated by Gov. Rick Scott’s office concerned legislators, local officials or economic development figures who had endorsed his overhaul of Enterprise Florida.

There were a few tidbits of news, though, and one legitimate story. Scott’s office announced Monday evening that he had inked a long-awaited gaming compact with the Seminole Tribe, a deal that could allow the state to rake in $3.1 billion over seven years. Also, a key group of law-enforcement officials endorsed a version of legislation allowing Floridians to openly carry guns in public, potentially breaking the logjam on one of the more controversial issues for next year’s legislation session.

Another holiday staple, though, went by the boards, as the three-ring circus comprised of holiday displays at the Capitol looked like it wouldn’t perform in Tallahassee this year.

CASHING IN ON SEMINOLE GAMING

It wasn’t exactly a surprise that the governor and the Seminoles reached a deal on gaming. An agreement over card games had expired, and rumors had been floating around the Capitol that a deal was close. Settle-up day was coming, but the terms of the pact started to at least give some picture of the future of gambling in Florida.

Under the agreement, the Seminoles would pay the state $3.1 billion over seven years in exchange for adding craps and roulette to its current casino operations.

The deal is believed to be the largest tribal revenue-sharing agreement in the country, and is triple the current $1 billion the Seminoles have paid to the state over the past five years for the exclusive rights to operate “banked” card games, including blackjack.

Under the deal, the tribe would be allowed to have blackjack, craps and roulette at all of its existing seven facilities, but would give up its monopoly on blackjack and would cede its stronghold on slots.

Under an agreement reached in 2010, slot machines anywhere but at the existing pari-mutuels in Broward and Miami-Dade counties or on other tribal lands would invalidate the compact and lose the state big bucks. Giving blackjack or other banked table games to the Broward and Miami-Dade racinos would reduce the tribe’s payments to the state, and the racinos have not offered the games.

The new deal would allow the Miami-Dade and Broward racinos to add blackjack. And the agreement would allow up to 750 slot machines and 750 “instant racing” machines — which appear like slots but operate differently — to be phased in over three years at the Palm Beach Kennel Club and at a new facility in Miami.

“With a $3 billion guarantee along with a cap on the tribe’s gaming, it is my hope that this compact can be the foundation of a stable and predictable gaming environment for the state of Florida,” Scott said in letter Monday night to House Speaker Steve Crisafulli and Senate President Andy Gardiner. The “cap” refers to a limit on the number of slot machines the tribe could have at its casinos.

But it was already looking like sending the deal to lawmakers could be a roll of the dice. The agreement received a tepid response from some legislative leaders, virtually guaranteeing that the proposal could require major changes to win enough support for passage.

Crisafulli on Tuesday said legislative approval, required for the pact to take effect, would be a “heavy lift.” Gardiner told reporters “there are no guarantees” that lawmakers will sign off on the deal. And those weren’t even the harshest assessments being handed out the day after.

“I suspect that this compact is DOA,” said Sen. Jack Latvala, R-Clearwater. “Because there are so many issues in it that different people are going to find problems with.”

Key issues that could bog down passage of the compact — which would also allow lottery tickets to be sold at gas pumps — include allowing the Palm Beach County dog track to add slots, considered a snub to five other counties where voters have given slots a thumbs-up.

HOLSTERING OBJECTIONS TO OPEN CARRY

Even with the lobbying muscle of the National Rifle Association — one of the most successful groups in the Capitol — there’s no certainty that a proposal allowing people with concealed-weapons licenses to openly carry firearms will pass next year. But a major roadblock was removed Thursday, when the Florida Police Chiefs Association said its board of directors had voted to back the controversial measure — with a caveat.

The association’s board signaled its support as long as changes designed to protect law-enforcement officers are included.

“The police chiefs understand that momentum is building,” association spokeswoman Sandi Poreda said. “And because of their concerns for police officers’ safety, they wanted to go ahead and reach out to the bill sponsors and work on these amendments, which they believe will better protect officers.”

If the measure passes, 1.45 million Floridians with concealed-weapons permits would be able to openly carry guns. Opponents — including a number of Florida sheriffs — warn that people who openly display guns could get hurt as a result, either by criminals or law enforcement.

By a vote of 15-7, the police chiefs association’s board of directors — who represent law-enforcement agencies in different districts of the state — agreed to support the open-carry bill when the amendments are adopted.

In a “Red Alert” email Wednesday to association members, Executive Director Amy Mercer cautioned that the police chiefs’ group “reserves the right to oppose the bill in the future, particularly if our amendments are changed or removed or if other amendments are added that are found not to be in the best interest of the FPCA and our members.”

The amendments, in part, would ensure that people who threateningly brandish guns aren’t protected by the law and would require a holster for purposes of openly carrying a firearm.

A QUIETER HOLIDAY AT THE CAPITOL

Last year, noisy clashes over who could and couldn’t mark the holidays with displays on the first floor of the Capitol led to a smorgasbord of symbols, both religious and irreverent. But don’t expect a repeat this year.

A Nativity scene put up by a Christian group won’t make an appearance. Neither will a more-subversive display by the New York-based Satanic Temple.

But a menorah has already been displayed. And, this being Florida, an element of the bizarre could still be on tap: an irreverent disco ball-topped, multi-colored gay pride festivus pole — built of beer cans.

Pam Olsen, president of the Florida Prayer Network, announced that her group’s decision not to set up a Nativity scene is an attempt to bring some needed civility to the country struggling with issues such as mass shootings and growing racial tensions.

“America is in desperate need of God’s help! We need to love God, love one another again, have hope and peace in our hearts, to act kindly and be civil to one another — this is the message of the Nativity!” Olsen said in an open letter late last week. “After much prayer, I truly want the message of Christ, The Son of God, born in a manger so long ago in Bethlehem, to be heard very clearly at this difficult time, instead of the dissension in the Capitol rotunda — this is not the year for that kind of debate in our rotunda.”

The Satanic Temple said its decision to stay away from the Capitol this year could change if any other group asks to put a Christian display.

But an application was submitted and approved for a festivus pole display by Chaz Stevens, a political blogger from Deerfield Beach.

“Our Gay Pride Festivus Pole is a jubilant, may I say happy and gay, celebration of (the Supreme Court of the United States) recent ruling regarding same sex marriage,” said Stevens, who describes himself as a white heterosexual ally of the gay community. “Also, at the same time, we’re raising awareness to the problem of young LGBTQ men and women who are bullied and harassed.”

STORY OF THE WEEK: Gov. Rick Scott signed a gambling compact with the Seminole Tribe, but the agreement was already drawing criticisms from lawmakers who must approve it.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: “I was freaking out. To have gotten this far and not be able to get it because you miss a deadline, that would have been huge. I’m ready for a glass of wine.”— Jorge Chamizo, a lobbyist for Lake Mary-based Knox Nursery, after the business’ owner used a helicopter and landed at a golf course to squeak in minutes before a 5 p.m. deadline Wednesday to prove he had nailed down a requisite $5 million bond for being one of the state’s purveyors of non-euphoric medical marijuana.

by Brandon Larrabee, The News Service of Florida