view raw text
Florida Rotation Dates Bill Suffers Setback House Committee Votes Against Sending Measure to Calendar TALLAHASSEE, Fla., May 15.— The proposed bill which would rotate Floridas horse racing dates suffered a severe setback Friday morning when the House committee on public amusements rejected the measure. The committee voted, 6-5, against sending the bill to the calendar with a recommendation for its passage. The Senate had okayed the proposal by a 23-15 vote last week. Now, it requires a two-thirds vote to get the bill up for debate in the House over the committees rejection. Past experience shows that very few proposals can muster such a two-thirds majority, once a committee acts unfavorably. The rotation bill would allow Tropical Park, Gulfstream and Hialeah to take turns at picking the choice 40-day racing period in the middle of the racing season. Now, Hialeah gets the plush period annually because of a law passed by the 1947 legislature, which grants the track owning the biggest mutuel play its choice of racing dates. Gulfstream, second biggest producer of revenue, has selected the final 40-day period, which leaves Tropical the rather dismal opening 40 days. Attorney General Richard Ervin stepped into the racing picture Thursday when he ruled the state racing commission may, if the tracks apply for the right to hold two charity racing days each, put the additional six days at either end of the regular racing season. In effect, that would permit the commission to open the season six days early, to the disadvantage of Tropical Park, or close It six days later, to the disadvantage of Gulfstream. Or it would split the extra days between the beginning and the end of the season. Under Florida racing laws, each track is authorized by law to hold an extra day of racing each year with all proceeds going to charity and another extra day with proceeds going to university scholarship funds.
