House Speaker Appoints Joint Committee for Casino Bill

House Speaker Terie Norelli (D-Portsmouth) has announced a joint committee of House Finance and Ways & Means to deal with Senate Bill 152, also known as the expanded gambling bill.

According to a release from Norelli's office, House Finance Committee Chairwoman Mary Jane Wallner (D-Concord) will also serve as chairwoman for the joint committee. Current House Ways & Means Chairwoman Susan Almy (D-Lebanon) will serve as vice chairwoman.

Appointed as co-ranking members were Neal Kurk (R-Weare) and Norman Major (R-Plaistow).

Senate Bill 152 calls for up to 150 table games and no more than 5,000 video lottery/slot machines at one casino location in the state.

Norelli also issued a statement on the announcement of the joint committee:

I am confident that by assembling the expertise and wisdom of these two committees we will ensure the proposed bill will be given the level of scrutiny needed for an undertaking of this magnitude. The people of New Hampshire deserve that level of consideration for a decision that could impact our state for decades to come. From the beginning, I have promised that the House will have a full and robust debate on the issue of expanded gambling, and I believe this committee allows the best opportunity to achieve that with a thorough and transparent process.”

The combination of these two committees provides an extension of time to address both the revenue and appropriations aspects of the bill, rather than having each committee handle the bill separately.  The Joint Committee has the expertise to best handle the subject of gambling and the depth to form appropriate subcommittees to address defined aspects of the bill in a precise manner, similar to the manner in which the Divisions of the Finance Committee handle the biennial budget. 

The combined committee will include 45 members, 25 Democrats and 20 Republicans.  The schedule of activity will be announced by the Joint Committee later this week.

While it is not commonplace, Speaker Norelli has assigned bills to a joint committee before. In 2008, she assigned HB 1643 and HB 1645, two important bills reforming the retirement system to a Joint Committee of Executive Departments & Administration and Finance.