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CHARLESTON -- A bill to eliminate the West Virginia Greyhound Breeder's fund was added to the Senate Finance Committee's Thursday afternoon agenda with a four-hour's notice.
By 3 p.m., the bill was just as quickly pulled from the agenda.
"In further hindsight on this for my part, I don't believe that I've done the right thing by adding this to the agenda and giving basically four-hour's notice for the people to be able to participate on this bill," said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Craig Blair, R-Berkeley. "I'm sorry for having you all in here today. It's on me."
Senate Bill 285 would eliminate the nearly $15 million transfer from table games and video lottery machines to the state Greyhound Breeder's Fund. Instead, that money would go to the Excess Lottery Revenue Fund. It also eliminates requirements for casinos to have greyhound racing to remain open.
The bill was introduced Jan. 10 by Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, and sent to the Senate Finance Committee. While committee agendas are subject to change, most agendas are finalized the night before or first thing in the morning. SB 285 sat for 28 days before being added at 11 a.m. to the Senate Judiciary Committee's 3 p.m. agenda.
The last-minute addition to the committee's agenda caused supporters and opponents alike to scramble, packing the committee room prior to its 3 p.m. start. Blair opened up the meeting by telling the attendees that he decided not to run SB 285 after all.
"Credibility for what we do around here means everything, whether you're a legislator or whether you're a lobbyist or anybody else," Blair said. "I'm afraid if I ran this bill right now, I would lose credibility. I do not want to do that to myself. I do not want to do that to the members of this committee."
Blair said the bill will return to the committee agenda 3 p.m. Monday.
"If you're a stakeholder and you want to come in and make your case and bring me up to speed and my staff up to speed on your perspectives, I welcome it," Blair said.
SB 285 would affect Wheeling Island Casino in Ohio County and Mardi Gras Casino near Charleston. The bill's supporters include GREY2K, an animal rights organization dedicated to ending greyhound racing. Opponents include the West Virginia Kennel Owners Fund.
The bill is a second attempt by a majority of Senate Republicans to end or phase out greyhound racing. The Legislature passed Senate Bill 437 during the 2017 session.
That bill was vetoed by Gov. Jim Justice in a ceremony at Wheeling Island over concerns about the impact on jobs in the Wheeling area.
According to the West Virginia Racing Commission, Wheeling Island and Mardi Gras saw a 13 percent drop in live in-person wagers on races between 2014 and 2018. Wheeling Island brought in $10.1 million in 2018 from in-person wagers for races at the track, a 9 percent drop from 2014, when the track brought in $11.2 million from live wagers. For Mardi Gras, live wagers dropped from $4.1 million in 2014 to $3.12 million in 2018, a 24 percent drop.
The state's share of the greyhound handle dropped by 10 percent over five years, from $1 million in 2014 to $927,707 in 2018. That money goes to the West Virginia Racing Commission, which provides regulatory oversight of both horse and greyhound racing.
A 2014 study by West Virginia University and funded by the horse and greyhound industry found that Wheeling Island's economic impact in Ohio County was $3.7 million annually with the greyhound industry directly employing nearly 1,000 people.
The bill also would require $1 million of remaining money in the Breeder's Fund to be used by the Racing Commission for greyhound adoption education and placements. The commission also would be required to use $3 million for job training for displaced workers at the state's two greyhound tracks and related businesses.