Vince keeps up with the pre-filing, this time giving us a look at State Sen. Rodney Ellis' SJR8, which would do the following:
First and foremost, the bureaucratic part. SJR 8 will abolish the Texas Racing Commission and the Texas Lottery Commission and merge all of that into a new agency, the Texas Gaming Commission.The new TGC will consist of one member appointed each by the governor, the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the house, the AG and the Comptroller.
Then, we get down to the meat of the bill. The law the bill creates will authorize 12 “casino-anchored destination attraction development projects.”
Seven of those may be in urban areas allocated by population. Two will be on the islands in the Gulf of Mexico “that are tourist destinations with at least 1,000 guest rooms available for visitors in hotels, motels, or condominiums existing on January 1, 2007.”
The three remaining projects will be at locations the commission determines, in areas where they can “achieve targeted economic development or permanent new job creation” or which are, “selected for other considerations determined appropriate by the commission.”
That last priovision sounds a lot like it may be targeted to Indian casinos.