House committee supports Petersburg casino referendum; money panel now has to look at it
RICHMOND — Chalk up another legislative victory for the Petersburg casino referendum issue, and this one might be the most important one to date.
Tuesday night, the House General Laws Committee voted 11-6 to approve Del. Kim Taylor's bill that would allow Petersburg voters to decide in November if legalized gambling will come to town. The vote fell mostly along party lines, with one Democrat joining Republicans in support, and one Republican voting with Democrats to oppose it.
Notable among the committee votes was that four delegates — all Democrats — abstained on the legislation. Two of them were from metro Richmond, which has been battling Petersburg for the right to host central Virginia's only casino.
Dels. Dawn Adams of Richmond and Schuyler VanValkenburg of Henrico County joined Del. Cia Price of Newport News and Clinton Jenkins of Suffolk in abstaining. Earlier during a subcommittee hearing, VanValkenburg unsuccessully pushed for an amendment that would have pulled both Petersburg and Richmond out of the casino business, and leaving the four other cities designated three years ago as host cities alone.
VanValkenburg had suggested the state "take a pause" on growing the casino industry and see how sites in Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth fare over the next couple of years. Of those four, Portsmouth and Bristol casinos are up and running, and the other two are in the process of being built.
Richmond, the fifth city chosen in the 2019 legislation to host a casino, rejected its referendum 14 months ago by less than 1,500 votes. City leaders and its casino vendor, Urban One, were pushing for a do-over on the vote citing misinformation about the original referendum, but ultimately, the House committee rejected that request.
More:House subcommittee recommends passage of Petersburg casino referendum bill
Supporting the bill were Republicans Jay Leftwich of Chesapeake, Barry Knight of Virginia Beach, Carrie Coyner and Roxann Robinson of Chesterfield County, Buddy Fowler of Hanover County, Emily Brewer of Isle of Wight County, Will Wampler of Abingdon, Jeffrey Campbell of Marion and Wendell Walker of Lynchburg; and Democrat Kathleen Murphy of McLean. Opposing it were Democrats Betsy Carr of Richmond, David Bulova of Fairfax, Paul Krizek of Alexandria, and Danica Roem and Luke Torian of Prince William County; and Republican Chris Runion of Rockingham County.
Krizek and Torian had also voted against it in the subcommittee meeting six hours earlier.
Next up for Taylor's bill is the House Appropriations Committee, which has to review it because the legislation comes with a fiscal impact statement. Nine General Laws Committee members sit on that panel, and five of them, including its chairman Knight, favor the measure. If it clears Appropriations, then the bill goes to the House floor for a vote.
The Senate version of the casino referendum is expected to be heard by the Senate General Laws & Technology Committee Wednesday afternoon. Last week, the panel's gaming subcommittee voted 7-2 to recommend it be approved.
More:Senate subcommittee sides with Petersburg on casino referendum legislation
Should it make it out of the committee as expected, the bill would have to be reviewed and approved by the Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee before going to the Senate floor.
Bill Atkinson (he/him/his) is an award-winning journalist who covers breaking news, government and politics. Reach him at batkinson@progress-index.com or on Twitter at @BAtkinson_PI.
This article originally appeared on The Progress-Index: Virginia House committee recommends passage of Petersburg casino bill
