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Jim RosicaMarch 4, 2016

Just as it always does in recent years, a legislative effort to revisit the state’s gambling laws bloated and sank in the waning days of this year’s Legislative Session. After months of negotiations a proposed new “Compact” – a gambling agreement between the state and the Seminole Tribe of Florida – failed Friday when the […]

Jim RosicaMarch 4, 2016

It’s the Florida Senate’s fault that the Seminole Compact wasn’t passed this session, two House leaders said Friday afternoon. They rejected claims there weren’t enough votes in the House, saying instead there was no point in moving a bill that wasn’t going to be considered across the Capitol Rotunda. (For Friday’s background, click here.) The […]

Jim RosicaMarch 4, 2016

The Florida House of Representatives “temporarily postponed” consideration of this year’s troubled gambling legislation, suggesting last-minute whip counts showed a lack of votes to pass the bills. Friday’s move signals that any possibility of legislative approval of the state’s new gambling agreement, or Compact, with the Seminole Tribe of Florida is dead for the session, which […]

Jim RosicaMarch 3, 2016

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The House’s lead negotiator on the Seminole Compact has filed another strike-all onto the troubled gambling legislation. State Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, the Miami Republican who chairs the House Regulatory Affairs Committee, filed his amendment Thursday, the day before the House is scheduled to begin its consideration of gambling legislation for 2016. Diaz was in the […]

Jim RosicaMarch 2, 2016

You can’t keep a good bill – or a bad bill, depending on your viewpoint – down in the Florida Legislature. Wednesday night, the House of Representatives quietly put its rewrite of the Seminole Compact and a proposed constitutional amendment on voter control of gambling on the agenda for Friday’s floor session. The legislation is on the […]

Jim RosicaMarch 2, 2016

If lawmakers fail to act on the Seminole Compact, the Tribe will pursue its own nuclear option, laying off 3,700 workers statewide at its casinos, Gov. Rick Scott said Wednesday. The governor spoke to reporters after a meeting of the Florida Cabinet. “My responsibility was to work to get a Compact done,” he said. “My […]

Jim RosicaMarch 1, 2016

Their lips were saying “not dead yet” but House leadership otherwise made clear that the Seminole Compact and gambling legislation are goners for this Legislative Session. “I’m not ready to declare it dead yet,” said state Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, the Miami Republican who shepherded the bills through the process this year. Diaz spoke after […]

Jim RosicaMarch 1, 2016

Echoing a Seminole Tribe attorney earlier in the day, Senate budget chief Tom Lee opened the possibility that provisions added to the Seminole Compact to placate the state’s pari-mutuels were a “ransom” that tanked the legislation. Lee, the Brandon Republican who chairs the Appropriations Committee, spoke to reporters after his panel finished its Tuesday meeting. As the […]

Jim RosicaMarch 1, 2016

If the Seminole Compact and related legislation don’t pass this session, lawmakers will have no one to blame but themselves, the tribe’s Tallahassee-based attorney said Tuesday. Barry Richard, who represents the Seminole Tribe of Florida, blamed the apparent Tuesday morning collapse of the 2016 gambling bills on lawmakers bending over backward to appease the state’s dog […]

Jim RosicaMarch 1, 2016

Tom Lee, chairman of the Senate’s Appropriations Committee, on Tuesday said the chamber’s gambling bills wouldn’t be heard at the panel’s meeting. Lee, a Brandon Republican, made the announcement as the meeting was about to begin, but didn’t get into details. With committees generally unable to meet after Tuesday, the 50th day of the Legislative Session, […]

Tag: Seminole Compact
Golf ball and golf club in bag on green grass

Sunshine State gambling #fails: A short history

House lays Seminole Compact failure at feet of Senate

Seminole Compact dies (again) in Legislature

Jose Felix Diaz files more changes to Seminole Compact

House throwing a “Hail Mary” with Seminole Compact?

Rick Scott says legislative inaction on Compact will cost jobs

House all but declares defeat on Seminole Compact, gambling legislation

Gambling concessions to pari-mutuels same as “ransom,” Tom Lee says

Effort to appease pari-mutuels is killing Seminole Compact

Senate gambling legislation appears dead for 2016 Session