After the House leadership moved a controversial bill for the development of a Casino and Entertainment Complex at Tysons Corner between House Committees, lawmakers made a decision on Wednesday.
Senate Majority Scott Surovell’s Senate Act 982 added Fairfax County, Virginia to the list for localities that are eligible to build a casino. Supporters claim the casino would create jobs and generate revenue for both the county and the Commonwealth.
The bill, which passed the Senate by a vote of 24-16, is still in the House Appropriations Subcommittee.
Surovell (D-Fairfax) said that after the vote on Wednesday, “we’re going keep talking about it.”
It’s not uncommon for the House leadership to move legislation between committees. However, this happened just a day after Del. Paul Krizek (D-Fairfax) was supposed to be the one to tackle the bill within the gaming subcommittee that he chairs.
The Mercury confirmed that during a weekend public event in Alexandria, he had said he was against the casino bill.
Krizek is a member of House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce Agriculture and Natural Resources, which heard the bill Wednesday. He said that it was “hurting” to not support the bill, considering Surovell’s efforts to prioritise Northern Virginia’s economy. He said that the state needs to have specific gaming regulations because of the increase in interest.
Krizek, who spoke on Wednesday, said: “I believe we need a strong regulatory structure to oversee Virginia’s growing gaming industry.”
Krizek hopes to use the budget amendment to create the Virginia Gaming Commission. This independent agency will act as a regulator for all legal gambling except the Virginia Lottery.
He said that the commission was “essential for streamlining the oversight and enforcement [of all gambling activities] in Virginia and we need to start this process first.”
At its last session, the subcommittee listened to testimony from supporters on the possibility of jobs, job safety and increased revenue. Opponents claimed the bill was lacking community support, and that only two locations in Tysons Corner were eligible for development.
After a professor changed his mind, lawmakers have also questioned legislation. Records suggested that there was a financial connection between Comstock Holding Companies, the developer of the proposed casino project and George Mason University. Virginia politics revealed reported on the relationship first.
Terry Clower, a professor at George Mason University, described in 2023 the legislation passed by Sen. David Marsden (D-Fairfax) as “a measure of economic desperation”. Clower is the director of the Center for Regional Analysis, Schar School of Public Policy.
Clower, however, voiced his support of the legislation in a forum organized by the Fairfax County NAACP, last January, after records revealed Comstock’s offer to pay for the university to do a study about casino development.
Clower said on Jan. 7 that he thought it was the best option for moving forward.
According to a Mercury letter, Sen. Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax), who spoke against Clower at the subcommittee’s hearing on Wednesday, expressed concern that Clower had failed to disclose any financial relationship between the developer’s proposed and the Schar School of Public Policy.
Boysko wrote that “the disclosure of this financial relation, and, more importantly, communications regarding the use of developer’s data in the report, has raised serious concerns about the objectivity” of the analysis presented to lawmakers.
She continued, “Certainly as a taxpayer funded Institution of Higher Education our residents expect transparency and objectivity.” Regardless of the opinion about Senate Bill 982, public disclosure of the financial relationship via the recent FOIA has raised many questions.
