Mississippi Senate votes on rules to control harbors and Coast casino sites. What’s next?
The Tidelands bill that clarifies where casinos can be built on the Coast and control of local harbors unanimously passed Thursday in the Senate.
The bill has another 30 days until a final vote, said Sen. Scott DeLano, R-Biloxi.
Two amendments were added to the committee version of Senate Bill 2780 before Thursday’s vote.
The first, offered by David Blount, D-Hinds County, chairman of the Senate Gaming Committee, makes clear that a Tidelands lease will be required between the municipalities on the Coast and the secretary of state.
“There’s been a lot of conversations involving local government on the Gulf Coast to protect their authority to manage ports and harbors down there,” Blount said.
Gulfport Mayor Billy Hewes, who served as president pro tempore of the Mississippi Senate for five years, and Biloxi Mayor Andrew “FoFo” Gilich were among Coast officials who were at the Capitol over the last two weeks to discuss their concerns with the Coast delegation.
Blount said he and Secretary of State Michael Watson “are not interested in micromanaging” the local harbors. While decisions about harbor management and revenues are best managed by locals on the Coast, he said, the amendment further clarifies a lease with the secretary of state is required.
Under the bill, the secretary of state can’t restrict the public uses of the property, he said, provided it is for the higher public purpose.
Bill regulates Coast casino sites
The amendment also requires all casino developers to get a tidelands lease directly from the state and not the municipality, as happened when the Mississippi Gaming Commission in December gave site approval to RW Development for a casino in Biloxi.
“We’ve done this right with a free-market approach that encourages investment in the creation of jobs on the Coast. And we want to maintain that,” Blount said.
“What I’ve learned is that all of this is subject to change by the (gaming) commission,” Blount said.
“It shouldn’t matter who’s on the commission, who’s in the Legislature, who’s the secretary of state,” Blount said, but that Mississippi has a “consistent environment” for the casino industry.
“This bill has generated a lot of concern back on the Coast,” said Mike Thompson, chairman of the Senate Ports & Marine Resources Committee. In offering the second amendment, he said, “We want to make sure that nothing in this bill precludes those government authorities from having exclusive control over their ports and harbors.”
Thompson’s amendment for a reverse repealer would provide more time to make adjustments to the bill as it moves through the process over the next month by forcing it to conference.
What’s next?
The House version — HB 1659 — already passed Feb. 29 by a vote of 113-6.
“We have been in contact and working with the House since January regarding this bill and the decision has been made by the Coast delegation that the Senate would take lead on this issue,” said Sen. Scott DeLano, R-Biloxi.
The bill now goes back to the House for reconciliation with the Senate version.
“Would you agree that this reverse repealer is just another example to be able to tell people back home that we’re continuing to work on this?” DeLano asked Thompson. DeLano said he anticipates working off of the Senate Bill with regards to the “sensitive tidelands issues” as it moves back to the house.
The deadline for passage of a bill is still a month away. If needed, a conference committee of house and senate members would work to reconcile any differences in the house and senate versions of the bill before it goes to a full vote.
Blunt said the intent is to allow the maximum time for people on the Coast to have input and understand what this bill does and doesn’t do.
