POSTS FROM STOP PREDATORY GAMBLING NEW MEXICO
Some of you probably know me, or know of me, as chairman of Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico (SPGNM). We had a name change several years ago from the New Mexico Coalition Against Gambling. I am also chairman of Stop Predatory Gambling Foundation, the only national anti-gambling organization in the U.S. I also shared the microphone from time to time on KKIM radio with Pastor Marvin Capehart.
I will do my best to keep you current with legislative actions regarding gambling, executive actions by the governor, and the New Mexico Gaming Control Board.
The most important news out of the recent legislative session was the battle over SB 265, the bill the tracks were pushing that would have used tax-payer money to fund live horse races. SB 265 moved way too easily through two Senate committees, the Senate floor, and one House committee before coming to the floor of the House about an hour before the session was over. Fortunately, we had some allies from both sides of the aisle that we had worked with that had a plan to take it down. There were those willing to filibuster the bill, but a quicker death was administered with a proposed amendment to the bill that would have restricted the subsidies to the Sun Ray track, the track in the worse economic distress. If the amendment had passed, the bill would have been sent back to the Senate for concurrence, a task that would have been impossible in the remaining time. When it became obvious that debate on the amendment was going to eat up precious time, with about 35 bills remaining to be heard–especially the main tax bill for the session, the House leadership “rolled” the bill, meaning they passed over it, and it never came up again.
It was disgusting to see how many legislators were willing to use your tax dollars to subsidize the millionaire track owners’ live horse races. We greatly appreciate those legislators that were willing to get in its way in the waning minutes of the legislative session.
If you want to see some of the other fights we have been engaged in, take a look at the Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico website .
Dr. Guy C. Clark, chairman,
Stop Predatory Gambling New Mexico
