A need for clarification
On July 7, 2009 Councilman Walter Neary wrote in his BLOG about the vote the council had taken the night before. ‘Concerned’ that they could be ( in Neary’s words ) “stretching the definition of an emergency moratorium a bit far”, the council considered a proposal to let these 11 years of on-again-off-again moratoriums expire, presumably because the moratoriums are only recently acknowledged by the council as ineffective, & even illegal. In the place of – & in spite of – these moratoriums that have allowed casinos to increase from 1 to 6 over the last decade, the suggestion was to ‘grandfather’ in those that currently exist (5) but allow no more. Neary wrote “State law appears to prohibit cities from regulating casinos.” However, contrary to Neary’s interpretation, state law does not ‘appear’ to prohibit cities from regulating casinos. Rather state law does not allow cities to regulate casinos. Period. There is no ambiguity about this matter. At all.
“The Washington State Gambling Act grants the Gambling Commission exclusive authority to license & regulate gambling activities. . . . local jurisdiction’s authority over gambling activity is limited to absolutely prohibiting a gambling activity & imposing restrictions such as parking requirements that apply to other commercial activities. In 2003 the State Court of Appeals invalidated a city ordinance that banned certain new gambling facilities but allowed existing ones to continue to operate for five years. The Court ruled that the ‘phasing-out’ provision amounted to a regulation of gambling activity & was preempted by the Act.” – HB 2162 Background, 2/17/09; Commerce and Labor Committee.
To our own city council’s credit, the night of July 7, they over-ruled Neary’s vote and tossed the proposal into the wastebasket where it belongs – recognizing no-doubt the illegality of the measure they were considering. But that doesn’t mean they won’t search through the garbage to retrieve & revive this again.