Massachusetts gambling bill has the votes to pass the Senate

With 10 months to go before lawmakers adjourn for the 2012 campaign cycle, Murray said she intends to stick to a schedule of up to two formal sessions per week, permitting gambling critics to air their grievances and employ delay tactics that could force debate to last until mid-October.

Senate customs permit critics of legislation to table debate for three consecutive sessions before being ruled out of order. Senators have also filed 182 amendments to the legislation, a hefty total that could require hours of debate.

In an interview in her Statehouse office, Murray stressed that "we are not stifling any dissent here," and she took issue with critics who have ripped the process through which she, Speaker Robert DeLeo and Governor Deval Patrick resolved their differences from a year ago to craft a new gambling bill behind closed doors.

"The majority of the membership, not a supermajority, but the majority of the membership feels it's a job-creation piece and feels strongly that we have to do something. This is just adding to the mix for jobs. These are jobs with benefits. They're jobs with protections," Murray said.

Senate Democrats huddled in Murray's office for more than two hours yesterday to discuss amendments, some of which the Senate president said she expected to be withdrawn after members received clarifications on what was already included in the bill.

"I'm sure we'll take some amendments as we go through," she added, pointing to a proposal by Senator Jamie Eldridge, which would restrict political donations to municipal officials. The bill currently only restricts donations to elected state officials.

Murray described a "split on philosophy" between those who view gambling as an economic engine and other who are morally opposed, but she said that the addition of eight new members wouldn't drastically change the outcome from a year earlier, when an expanded gambling bill passed the Senate 25-15. Asked if she had a headcount of support in the Senate for this year's bill, Murray said, "Do you think I'd move this ahead if I didn't?"

A gambling bill that included two slot parlors for the state racetracks passed the Senate 25-15 on July 31, 2010, the last day of the Legislature's formal session. The proposal died when Gov. Patrick returned the bill to the Legislature, rejecting what he called "no-bid licenses" for racetrack owners. Murray maintained at that time that she did not have the votes to suspend legislative rules and come back into formal session to take address the governor's actions.

This time, however, Murray said time is on the Legislature's side. "The calendar is not significant any longer, so the delays aren't as important this time," she said.

Opponents have already indicated that they intend to utilize the Senate rules that allow them to table a bill up to three times before being ruled out of order. The Senate has planned sessions for Monday and Tuesday next week before the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah, and Murray said she did not plan to deviate from the Senate's typical schedule of Tuesday and Thursday sessions moving forward.