Casino gambling legislation hot topic for Columbus-area lawmakers as session begins

When the Georgia General Assembly session starts on Monday, one of the issues in front of the state’s lawmakers will be whether to allow voters to decide on casino gambling.

It will be a statewide issue, but it will have keen local interest because Columbus could be a potential site, depending on how the legislation plays out over the next three months under the Gold Dome.

Columbus entrepreneur Robert Wright Jr. said two months ago he would like to bring a $200 million resort casino to south Columbus if the state of Georgia legalizes gambling. The Columbus Council voted in November to ask the local delegation to let voters consider a statewide referendum that, if passed, would legalize casino gambling.

“There is no question casinos will be a big issue,” said Rep. Richard Smith, R-Columbus. “I know a bunch of companies have hired a bunch of lobbyists.”

Smith has a guarded approach to the legislation and the discussion.

“There are two questions that have to be answered here,” Smith said. “First: ‘Do we want casinos in Georgia to begin with?’ Then, if that passes, we have to ask, ‘What model do we want?’”

There would be a number of options available, Smith said. First, the General Assembly must consider if the state needs casinos. If that is answered in the affirmative, then there are many more questions to be answered.

“One, do we want the mega-casino in Atlanta? (Or) do we want one in Atlanta and another one over the coast to get the I-95 and Jacksonville traffic? Or do we want four, five, six of them scattered around the state?” Smith said. “The latter would be the only way you could have a casino in Columbus.”

Rep. John Pezold, R-Columbus, said he will consider it in a calculated way.

“The Libertarian in me says, ‘I don’t care what people do with their own money, but I do have concerns about the impact it will have on local entertainment, the Springer, the RiverCenter and the (Columbus) Symphony,” Pezold said. “If it takes anything away from them because they are so heavily invested in the community, that would be problematic.”

Carolyn Hugley, D-Columbus, is concerned about where the revenue created by casino gambling would flow.

“I want to have the HOPE Scholarship available on need, not just merit,” Hugley said. “HOPE has become primarily middle and upper income students. We need to take a fresh look at HOPE and expand the opportunities with the additional money that casino gambling could bring.”

As the new session begins, Columbus will be sending an experienced delegation that has not changed in four years. The Columbus delegation will include Smith, Pezold and Hugley, as well as Rep. Calvin Smyre, D-Columbus, Rep. Debbie Buckner, D-Junction City, Sen. Josh McKoon , R-Columbus, and Sen. Ed Harbison, D-Columbus.

The Ledger-Enquirer recently asked our lawmakers what their priorities were in the session, which will run 40 legislative days and end in late March or early April. Here are some of the responses:

▪  Hugley: “I am working on standard compensation for those who have been wrongly convicted. We do not have a structure for handling that in Georgia. It is case by case and determined by whoever is in the General Assembly at that time. Many other states, and the federal government, have protocol for dealing with it.”

▪  Buckner: “I am working on a lot of things, but I will specifically be working on the GATE (Georgia Agricultural Tax Exempt) card. There were some changes made to it and we want to make sure the only people using it are real farmers. It there are some glitches and it needs tweaking, we will tweak it.”

▪  Pezold: “Preventing bad legislation always is tops on my list. ... In the odd years, we tend to grow government at a record pace, then make amends and hope people forget about it in the election years.”

▪  Harbison: “I will continue to focus on military veterans issues as I have in the past. I will continue to work to represent all the citizens of our district, but I like helping to solve issues relating to veterans.”

▪  McKoon: “A Superior Court judge in Fulton County has ruled that illegal aliens can receive instate tuition to Georgia’s colleges and universities as long as they are ‘lawfully present’ in the state. On Monday, I will introduce legislation to change that to ‘lawful status.’ That decision has made thousands of illegal aliens eligible for in-state tuition, which is subsidized by Georgia taxpayers.”

▪  Smyre: “No. 1, funding of higher education and technical colleges including funding for Columbus State University and Columbus Tech. Also, as a strong supporter of transportation, I will be focusing mainly on regional public transit solutions in the area of funding models and governance.” He also lists restoration of education funding, expanding career opportunities in the film industry and Medicaid expansion as key issues.

▪  Smith: “Obviously, the budget is the most important thing and drives everything else, and the budget is the only thing we have to do by law.”

This story was originally published January 7, 2017 at 5:23 PM with the headline "Casino gambling legislation hot topic for Columbus-area lawmakers as session begins."