Pimlico Race Course’s future and other issues on lawmakers’ final to-do list

The fate of a plan to revive Maryland’s thoroughbred racing industry by having the state take ownership of Pimlico Race Course hangs in the balance as state lawmakers embark on the 90th and final day of their annual session Monday.

The House of Delegates has approved a bill needed to make the plan work, but Senate President Bill Ferguson predicted that the final decision in his chamber could go down to the wire.

The plan has been pitched as the best — and possibly last — option for keeping the struggling industry afloat, but it has a big price tag and significant opposition.

The horse racing bill is perhaps the highest profile of hundreds of bills that are unresolved in the final hours of the General Assembly session. Lawmakers will be in and out of voting sessions all day, but anything not approved by the time confetti falls at midnight is defeated and done for the year.

Lawmakers have cleared the decks of some of the other thorny issues before them, having settled on a series of changes to the juvenile justice system and compromising on a budget that includes targeted tax and fee increases.

The Pimlico Race Course bill has been a year in the making, but it didn’t officially arrive on lawmakers’ desks until mid-March, and some have expressed reservations about signing off on a deal worth hundreds of millions of dollars in the last moments of the session.

Greg Cross, a Baltimore lawyer who leads a state authority that came up with the plan, has said it’s now or never.

“If we don’t do this now, we’re at an end. There won’t be another agreement. There won’t be a path forward,” Cross told a panel of senators Friday. “This is the last chance.”

Under the deal, the Stronach Group that owns Pimlico would transfer the track to the state, which would renovate it and create a nonprofit entity to run year-round races.

Stronach’s Laurel Park would temporarily host racing, including the Preakness Stakes for at least one year, during construction at Pimlico. After that, racing would end at Laurel. The state would also open a training center at a to-be-determined location.

No general taxpayer funds would be used to pay back $400 million worth of bonds for the work, but the plan still isn’t sitting well with some lawmakers.

Some oppose part of the funding plan that involves taking a subsidy for Stronach-owned Rosecroft Raceway, a harness racing track in Prince George’s County, and redirecting it to bond repayments instead.

Ferguson, a Baltimore Democrat, told reporters Friday that the racing bill is one that lawmakers would “navigate through the weekend.” Lawmakers were in session in Annapolis on Saturday, but no votes were taken — leaving the fate unknown as the final day of session begins.

As senators wrapped up their work for the day on Saturday afternoon, Sen. Guy Guzzone, who leads the committee reviewing the bill, said things could become clearer by Monday morning.

“We’re working through lots of issues,” the Howard County Democrat said.

Port of Baltimore aid and other issues

Maryland lawmakers also need to put the finishing touches on a bill to offer financial help to workers and businesses affected by the near-total shutdown of the Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore, along with offering scholarships to children of road workers killed on the job.

The legislation is known as the PORT Act: Protecting Opportunities and Regional Trade Act. Lawmakers began drawing up the idea of the bill in the hours after a ship crashed into the Francis Scott Key Bridge early on March 26, sending it toppling into the water and killing six workers who were on the bridge.

Gov. Wes Moore’s team and lawmakers have tweaked the bill as it has moved through the legislative process. They’ve expressed confidence that they’ll get the details ironed out and the bill sent to the governor’s desk.

“I’m proud of the work the House has accomplished this session. One of our top priorities for Sine Die is to pass the PORT Act to assist all who have been impacted by the collapse of the Key Bridge,” House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones said in a statement Saturday.

“Our members have important bills that still need to get across the finish line, so I’m looking forward to a productive last day,” said Jones, a Baltimore County Democrat.

Lawmakers could also make a final decision on the NyKayla Strawder Memorial Act, which would require services for children under 13 suspected of committing a crime of violence resulting in someone’s death — a measure named for a Baltimore teen fatally shot by a 9-year-old boy.

Still winding their way through the State House halls are several gun-related bills. One would add an extra tax on guns, ammunition and accessories to fund the state’s trauma system. Lawmakers may be running out of time to move the bill this year, bill sponsor Del. Bernice Mireku-North, a Prince George’s County Democrat, warned on Friday.

Final steps for Moore priorities

Lawmakers also will be working on several of the Democratic governor’s proposals.

Most of his bills have gone through the approval process, including measures creating a center in the state health department to study gun violence, improving a victim compensation program, allowing state government workers more time off for military service and creating a new grant program named for the late Baltimore tech entrepreneur Pava LaPere.

But a few of Moore’s bills need more steps through the law-making machine, including the ENOUGH Act, which will send millions of dollars to targeted neighborhoods in an effort to reduce child poverty, and bills addressing the housing crisis.

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