(Seguin) — Seguin’s representative in Austin is hoping to bring casinos and sports gambling to the Lone Star State.
State Representative John Kuempel announced on Wednesday that he has officially filed House Joint Resolution, or HJR 133 during this year’s Texas Legislative Session. Kuempel, the sole author for the legislation in the House, says HJR 133 works to open the doors to thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in new state revenue.
“I think it’s a decision of the economic development and a decision to keep Texas’ dollars in the state of Texas when we all know that we are hemorrhaging money to neighboring states. Financially, it means three to four billion dollars that stay at home. Financially, it means about 70,000 permanent jobs. Financially, it means about 20,000 construction jobs that are being created,” said Kuempel.
Although the Republican from Seguin reports plenty of benefit in opening doors to casinos, he says any victory on making Texas a gambling state, will be left in the hands of voters this coming November.
“Most importantly, this is a constitutional amendment so what we are doing and what we write is still going to be left up to the voters of Texas. So, if this passes, it will be on a constitutional amendment ballot in November and we are giving Texans the right to vote and constitutionally in the polls, we see that 90 percent of Texans want the right to vote on it whether it be no or yes and I think that’s a pretty fair democracy,” said Kuempel.
Kuempel says the projected dollars alone warrant a favorable outcome with this bill. He says there are plenty of Texas entities that stand to benefit.
“So, we are trying to keep our footprint as manageable and as small as we can. Along with this bill, we are creating the Texas Gaming Commission but also, you have the earmarked money for public safety, law enforcement and even including resources to fight human trafficking,” said Kuempel.
This issue has been coming up for years. When asked why he was filing this now — Kuempel says the timing just seemed right.
“It’s not necessarily (about) the budget shortfall because we are actually pretty healthy. I think the pulse was just right. Edmund (Kuempel) tried this years ago and it didn’t work out and I don’t know if it’s just a hereditary thing or what it may be but let’s give it a run and there’s investors from out of state that want to break into the Texas market,” said Kuempel.
While he believes it will be an uphill battle, Kuempel is optimistic that it will receive the two-thirds vote if not more by lawmakers in both chambers. Again, if approved, the issue will go before voters. Kuempel, currently serves as the vice-chair of the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee which overseas the regulation of industries including current gaming options.