Lawmakers Forgot 'Emergency Law,' Perhaps Costing 100s Of Jobs

BEACON HILL, MA — A bill protecting horse racing's legality apparently got lost in the shuffle as state lawmakers rushed to push through legislation before breaking for the year. Now hundreds are waiting to hear what that means for their jobs.

A state law allowing for live and simulcast horse racing was set to expire July 31. Bill H.4809, which would have extended such protections into next year, was left on the cutting room floor even as lawmakers on Beacon Hill worked into the early hours Wednesday, WGBH reported.

"Whereas, The deferred operation of this act would tend to defeat its purpose, which is to further regulate simulcasting, therefore it is hereby declared to be an emergency law, necessary for the immediate preservation of the public convenience," the bill's emergency preamble says.

With the legislative session now over for the year, many lawmakers will turn their attention to re-election efforts.

This means upcoming races at tracks like Plainridge and Suffolk Downs may have to be postponed or canceled. Plainridge was set to have its first race of August Thursday. Suffolk Downs was set to race this weekend.

"It looks like hundreds of peoples’ jobs fell victim to the clock here," Suffolk Downs COO Chip Tuttle told WGBH.

Tuttle told WGBH a last-second fix at Thursday's informal session is all that might keep nearly 300 workers from being out of a job.

>>>Related: Massachusetts Really Loves Charlie Baker

Some more notes about lawmakers' rush job:

• The weekend of Aug. 11 and 12 will be set aside as a sales tax holiday under the bill, to allow shoppers to make most purchases without having to pay the state's 6.25 percent sales tax.
• Lawmakers agreed to a opioid abuse prevention bill strongly desired by Gov. Charlie Baker that would expand access to the overdose reversing drug Narcan and roll out medication assisted addiction treatment in some correction institutions.
• They passed a $1.15 billion jobs bill that included a previously elusive agreement to restrict businesses' use of non-compete agreements in employee contracts.
• Lawmakers left unfinished bills to ban the use of conversion therapy to change the sexual orientation and gender identity of minors, to allow residents to list their gender as "X" on a driver's license, and to respond to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that dealt a blow to public sector unions.
• Baker got much of what he wanted Tuesday night, with the major exception being a zoning reform bill to clear the path for more housing construction.

Photo by Mike Carraggi, Patch

Materials from the State House News were used in this report