Nov. 26, 2007 — Two bills requiring quarterly and annual profit-and-loss statements for horse and auto racing on St. Thomas and St. Croix were passed by the Senate Committee on Housing, Sports and Veterans Affairs Monday evening in Frederiksted.
The two bills will next be considered by the Rules and Judiciary Committee. If approved there, the full Senate will vote on them. Sen. Celestino White, chair of the Housing committee, said that would likely occur at the next scheduled meeting of the Committee of the Whole, set for Dec. 6 and 7.
Sen. Neville James succinctly expressed the sentiments of many of the senators.
"These two bills are no-brainers," James said in support. "We call for transparency, and this speaks to just that. As a matter of fact, it calls to question why such measures were not in place before. But better now than never."
Questions about whether Housing, Parks and Recreation is the ideal vehicle for such reports came from St. Claire N. Williams, the department's commissioner, and Wayne Biggs, chairman of the St. Croix Racing Commission. Neither the new bills nor existing law requires the horse and car racing commissions in each district to submit profit-and-loss statements to Housing, Parks and Recreation, Williams said.
"This would be necessary in order for the department to compile the required information," he said.
Housing, Parks and Recreation has detailed profit-and-loss information only on races it is currently running at St. Thomas's Clinton Phipps racetrack, Williams said. It can provide this information for the time being, but that, too, will change.
"This is only a temporary situation, to keep horse racing alive in the district of St. Thomas and St. John, until a permanent promoter is found," he said.
Both district's horse-racing associations are already compiling and forwarding profit-and-loss information, Williams said. The automobile associations have been largely inactive for a number of years, unable to form a quorum to meet, but could, with some support, take on the same duties, he said.
"I believe that if the horse-racing and automobile-racing commissions function as they should, these reports should be submitted to the respective racing commissions and forwarded to wherever the Legislature would want them to be submitted," Williams said.
Biggs concurred.
"We believe the statements should be prepared monthly in the district in which the race is held," he said. "The district commission should be required to prepare and submit it. … We believe only when Housing Parks and Recreation is acting as a race promoter should they be required to submit a separate profit-and-loss statement."
Amendments would be drafted addressing the concerns raised by Biggs and Williams, and debated in the Committee on Rules and Judiciary, White said.
An amendment was approved to the horse-racing bill giving the horse-racing commissions power to grant temporary permits for racing, simulcasting races and betting on horse racing. The commissions would only be able to grant such permits when there is no race franchise in effect, as is currently the case on St. Thomas. White said it also gives clearer legal authority for the existing simulcasting of races on St. Thomas.
"In my opinion, the legal authority is not there," White said. "Federal law is one thing, but the local law has to be triggered. And the local law is clear right now as we speak that the department (of Housing, Parks and Recreation) is without authority to do all that has happened. They were grandfathered-in, in good faith."
Former Senator Adelbert Bryan had challenged the existing situation regarding simulcasting of races, White said. So White introduced the bill to clarify the state of the law.
Richards was the sole "no" vote on the amendment. After the hearing, Richards said he believes the government should find and license appropriate franchise operators instead of creating a second way to license race operators.
Once the one bill was amended, both bills passed without dissent. Voting yes were Sens. Neville James, Carmen Wesselhoft, Alvin Williams, Celestino White and Usie Richards. Sens. Shawn-Michael Malone and Louis Hill were absent.
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