The Rhode Island Greyhound Owners Association soon after issued a statement criticizing the governor's veto, saying that the owners were "disappointed with Governor Carcieri for prioritizing big banks over Rhode Island jobs."

The owners of the bankrupt slot parlor had served notice of their intent to suspend the live races .Aug. 8 after conducting the minimum of 125 annual racing days required by current law. Legislative relief from their obligation to run the races, at a steep loss, was also one of the conditions of the Chapter 11 restructuring plan filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court District last week.

The House and Senate approved the bill nonetheless,despite warnings from Gary Sasse, the director of the state Department of Administration, that the state could lose upward of $25 million in needed gambling revenue if legislators interfere with the restructuring plan that Twin River owners, a subsidiary of BLB Investors, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court last week.

Under that plan, Twin River would turn over the keys to the greyhound track and slot parlor to its lenders, who would be free to bring in a new operator within 120 days, unless an alternate agreement was reached. The agreement hinged, in part, on the state's approval of round-the-clock gambling, which promises to raise an additional $3 million to $4 million in state revenue, and the legislature's agreement to relieve Twin River of the obligation to run greyhound racing.

In his message, Carcieri said he vetoed the legislation because dog racing at Twin River has become increasingly "unprofitable,'' the $9 million operating subsidy the owners currently pay the dog-owners "contributes to Twin River's crippling debt,'' and "most of that money inures to the benefit of out-of-state kennel and dog owners and not Rhode Islanders.''

This entry was first posted at 5:01 p.m. and updated at 5:31 p.m.

But he indicated his over-riding concern at this point is the potential loss of millions of state dollars if the bankruptcy proceeding drags on unnecessarily, in part, because the legislation forcing Twin River to conduct the dog races is "viewed by the bankruptcy court as having been enacted to do an 'end run' around the pending bankruptcy proceedings.''

Repeating the warning his director of administration gave lawmakers last week, he wrote: "To the extent that the enactment of the legislation were to interfere with the completion of the restructuring agreement, the legislation could actually result in the BLB bankruptcy filing becoming a protracted, free fall proceeding - as opposed to a consensual one.''

"If that occurs, the state could incur millions of dollars in expenses to protect the state's interest in what no doubt will be a protracted bankruptcy proceeding,'' he wrote.
The owners blame their financial arrangement with the dog owners' association for some of their money troubles, since the racing only nets them $1.75 million, not nearly enough to cover the $2.5-million expense or the $9-million subsidy they are committed to paying the greyhound owners by contract.

But lobbyists for the mostly out-of-state dog owners and their union backers at the State House won the lawmakers over with arguments that the elimination of greyhound racing would result in the loss of 225 jobs and $7.5 million in direct and indirect state revenue, including sales and income taxes paid by the workers out of their wages and millions of dollars in slot play by gamblers lured to the track by the dog races.

Carcieri's veto will not, however, interrupt 24-hour gambling at Twin River. While the law allowing overnight gambling expired on June 30, the Rhode Island Lottery advised Twin River, by letter, that it was exercising its own power "to continue to extend hours of operation to 3:00 a.m. during the week and 24 hours on Friday and Saturday, as well as State and Federally-recognized holidays.''

It also advised Newport Grand, which has not opted to stay open all-night on weekends or at any other time, that it was free to continue to remain open until 1 a.m. Sunday through Thursday, and 2 a.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and state and federally recognized-holidays.

(This entry was first posted at 5:01 p.m.)

The resolution creating the five-member commission was introduced Tuesday by Senate Finance Chairman Daniel DaPonte, D-East Providence, and Senate Majority Leader Daniel Connors, D-Cumberland, and approved by the full Senate the same day, before the Senators joined their colleagues in the House in taking a break, of indeterminate length, with scores of high-profile bills still hanging in limbo.

The resolution notes that there are numerous municipal pensions systems that are not members of the state retirement system but nonetheless "an integral part of the state's annual budget expenditure as well as the state's economy as a whole.''

"As such, the General Assembly finds that in order to provide the citizens of the State of Rhode Island with the highest level of financial accountability while protecting the public employee's right to accrued pension benefits, it is necessary to conduct a comprehensive review and study of municipal pensions.''

The commission would be comprised of five including the Senate majority leader, his Republican counterpart, the Senate Finance Committee chairman and two other Senators appointed by Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, though they can each designate members of the public to take their place.

The study will encompass the same array of issues covered by a House study commission over the last year and a half: "funding, investments and management, eligibility, age of retirement, benefits, contributions, vesting, disqualification, review of any and all statutes, rules or regulations pertinent to municipal pensions.''

The panel has until June 30, 2010 to report its findings and recommendations.

During the General Assembly's aborted rush to adjournment Friday, the Senate approved a resolution - introduced earlier the same day - to create a nine-member special commission to study a swath of issues surrounding marijuana. Among them: "The experience of individuals and families sentenced for violating marijuana laws...The experience of states and European countries, such as California, Massachusetts and the Netherlands, which have decriminalized the sale and use of marijuana.''

The sponsors of the eleventh-hour legislation include Sens. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston; Leo Blais, R-Coventry; Rhoda Perry, D-Providence; Charles Levesque, D-Portsmouth, and Susan Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown.

In a brief interview Wednesday, Miller said the legislation was sparked by the referendum-driven move to decriminalize marijuana in Massachusetts, and what he perceives as "a national trend towards decriminalization.''

Asked why he waited until what was to be the last day of the session to introduce the measure, Miller said he and his fellow sponsors felt it was "very important'' for this study to be "defined as an issue'' completely separate and apart from the passage - over Governor Carcieri's veto - of legislation allowing the creation of state-regulated dispensaries to sell marijuana for medicinal use.

Miller said it also "took that long for it to be taken seriously.''

The bill poses a number of specific questions for study, among them:
"Whether and to what extent Rhode Island youth have access to marijuana despite current laws prohibiting its use...Whether adults' use of marijuana has decreased since marijuana became illegal in Rhode Island in 1918...Whether the current system of marijuana prohibition has created violence in the state of Rhode Island against users or among those who sell marijuana...Whether the proceeds from the sales of marijuana are funding organized crime, including drug cartels...Whether those who sell marijuana on the criminal market may also sell other drugs, thus increasing the chances that youth will use other illegal substances?''

The legislation also questions the "dangers associated with marijuana resulting from it being sold on the criminal market, including if it is ever contaminated or laced with other drugs.''

The panel has until January 31, 2010 to report its findings and recommendations to the Senate, though it would stay alive through January 31, 2014.

A bar owner who says he does not use illegal drugs or even drink liquor more than a few times a year, Miller said he is not hoping or expecting any specific outcome. "I am more open-minded that that,'' he said. "I am hoping to react to the best research and data we can get out of looking at it.''

A year ago, Republican Governor Carcieri vetoed a joint House and Senate call for a study of the wisdom of creating state-regulated marijuana dispensaries. But "since this was only a Senate resolution, it does not come to the governor for his approval,'' Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe said.

In February, one of the co-sponsors, pharmacist Leo Blais, proposed a bill titled - "The Sensible State Marijuana Policy Act'' - that would have decriminalized the possession of an ounce of less of marijuana, reducing it to a civil offense for which anyone age 18 or older would face a $100 fine and forfeiture of the marijuana. The bill never made it out of the senate Judiciary Committee.

As of Wednesday, no person or group had formally applied for the license to run the first of the three marijuana dispensaries allowed by the so-called "compassion centers'' bill.

Both the House and Senate have each passed, for the second year in a row, their own versions (S39 and H5007) of a bill to eliminate mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug crimes. But no one version of the measure has yet cleared both chambers, in this year when the House and Senate went on hiatus, with no certain return date, and no final action on a bevy of high-profile bills.

July 4, as most of us know by now, falls on a Saturday.

The federal government will be closed on Friday, July 3. But we're told that Rhode Island's state employees will recognize the birth of the nation on Monday, July 6.

That means most federal offices will be closed Friday (there will be mail, however), but most state offices -- including the Division of Motor Vehicles -- will be closed Monday, according to Governor Carcieri spokeswoman Amy Kempe.

Why the difference?

State law is very specific on this one. If July 4 falls on a weekend, "then state employees will celebrate the holiday on the following Monday," according to general law 25-1-1.

If he had the option, the governor said, he would not have signed the plan, which boosts overall government spending by $900 million, or 13 percent, for the coming year, relying heavily on federal stimulus funds to plug the state's largest budget hole in decades.

Carcieri signed the budget bill, for the fiscal year that begins Wednesday, in the privacy of his office. His staff waited hours to issue a statement.

"My signing this budget is not an endorsement of it in its entirety. I had intended to allow this budget to become law without my signature, however it was delivered to my office too late to do so," Carcieri said in a letter to House Speaker William J. Murphy. "I am signing for this reason: over $40 million of state funding, plus hundreds of millions in federal ... funds are at risk if the budget does not become law before July 1."

Indeed, looming deadlines linked to savings proposals eliminated much of the political jockeying that usually accompanies budget feuds between the Republican governor and the Democrat-dominated General Assembly, which crafted the final version of the budget.

"Unfortunately, the General Assembly chose a short-sighted scheme with narrow political goals that addresses some but defers more far-reaching, difficult choices for yet another year," Carcieri said in a statement, blasting an unspecified cut of $57.6 million across all state departments and $5 million from consultant contracts.

In a brief interview, the governor warned that staffing cuts or furloughs are possible.

"To come up with another $70 million is going to be very painful, frankly, on state employees," he said. "That means we're going to have a very difficult time living with the contractual agreements we have."So we're already starting discussions with labor because we're going to have to either reduce the work force further with something that winds up being compensation reductions. We're not going to find $70 million without some fairly serious stuff.

But the governor noted that the tax-and-spend plan could have been worse for Rhode Island's taxpayers.

On the same day that Massachusetts Governor Patrick signed a budget that raises the Bay State's sales tax by 25 percent, Carcieri signed a budget that avoids raising sales or income taxes.

Lawmakers rejected Carcieri's push to cut the state's corporate income tax, but left untouched a tax break for high earners known as the alternative flat tax. The most significant tax changes include the gas tax bump -- which diverts millions of dollars to the beleaguered Rhode Island Public Transit Authority --- and the elimination of preferential treatment of capital gains.

"I'm pleased to learn that the governor has signed the budget. We did not increase broad-based taxes and we further reduced spending from the governor's March proposal, which at the end of the day was $125 million out of balance," said House Finance Committee Chairman Steven M. Costantino, generally considered the architect of the legislature's budget. "I note that the governor finds the spending cuts to be a challenge and I hope the administration is up to it."

There was little reaction across Smith Hill following Carcieri's move, which was expected as the state closes a $590-million budget hole, a gap equal to almost 20 percent of state-only spending.

There are a handful of increased fees, including one for dock permits and another for the expungement of criminal records. But the budget largely avoided threatened cuts to programs for thousands of seniors, poor and disabled Rhode Islanders.

Cities and towns will lose $55 million -- all that remained of the general revenue sharing program -- and their school districts will lose $26 million from the $690 million provided in the enacted budget for fiscal 2009. That includes the elimination of $5.8 million for professional development, and a $20.3 million reduction equal to projected pension savings.

The outcome would have been far worse without federal stimulus dollars.

The budget cuts $33.9 million in state funds from local education, but replaces it with $35.6 million in federal stimulus dollars that won't be available for more than another year. State officials have expressed concern about "an exit strategy" once the funds dry up.

On pensions, despite threats of lawsuits by public employees unions, the budget adopts age 62 as the new "target" age for retirement for state workers and teachers. It is a hugely complicated formula, but simply put: the farther away from retirement the employee is, the higher the age requirement.

Carcieri said the budget doesn't go far enough.

"It was an opportunity missed," he said. "I'm not proud of it because I think it's just going to leave us continuing to struggle."

Reacting to a ruling Monday by the state Supreme Court , Carcieri urged the assembly to pass a resolution to place a constitutional amendment on the November 2010 ballot to strengthen the Ethics Commission.

Carcieri said the amendment is needed "to regain confidence and trust of the people of Rhode Island."

"I believe the intention of the voters was to hold all elected officials, including members of the House and Senate, to the same high level of ethical standards," Carcieri said in a statement.

But House Speaker William J. Murphy was cool to the idea. In a brief interview Tuesday, Murphy, a West Warwick Democrat, said: "I don't care what state you are talking about, you are always going to have one or two people who are going to do the wrong thing. That's human life. But the bottom line is: I can tell you that my members who are in the House of Representatives are here for the right reason, and I am just a little cautious to make a regulation for one person.''

In its historic and long-awaited decision, the Supreme Court ruled that Rhode Island legislators can be prosecuted for ethics violations involving their political activities, questionable acts on behalf of constituents or businessmen -- but not, for their official legislative votes or actions.

The decision marked a victory for former Senate President William V. Irons, who had been accused of voting on legislation in a way beneficial to pharmacy giant CVS while collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in insurance commissions from Blue Cross on a health-insurance policy for CVS employees in Rhode Island.

In December 2004, the state Ethics Commission found probable cause to believe Irons broke state ethics laws by voting on pharmacy freedom-of-choice legislation in which he had a substantial conflict of interest,'' and that he "used his public office to obtain financial gain from CVS, his business associate.''

The Supreme Court rooted its decision in the so-called speech-in-debate clause in the Rhode Island Constitution that says no legislators "shall be questioned in any other place" regarding their official votes or actions. The intent of the clause, the majority said, is not to protect legislators from being prosecuted for acting to benefit themselves, but to protect the public by allowing elected officials to carry out their duties without fear of prosecution.

With the Ethics Commission paralyzed and unable to even render advisory opinions last spring, state Rep. David Segal, D-Providence, introduced a bill bill that would extend the ethics code to state legislators, "notwithstanding'' the speech-in-debate clause.

But the bill had not made any progress -- and had not even had a hearing -- when the House went on hiatus in Saturday's early morning hours. And Murphy in an impromptu interview outside his office on Tuesday signaled little interest in moving it forward.

While the court's day-old decision is "a hot topic for today,'' he said "bottom line: every constitution in all 50 states has a speech-in-debate clause, so I mean this is something we will analyze over the summer recess...and I do believe you need an Ethics Commission. You absolutely need an Ethics Commission, but I think, in certain times, the Ethics Commission has gone so far that we've now discouraged people from running for [the] General Assembly.''

The original version of this story was posted at 3:30 p.m.

Asked if there should nevertheless be a law making it clear that lawmakers should not sell their public votes for private gain, Murphy said: "You would hope that everybody that serves in the General Assembly has an internal moral compass where they know that they have to do the right thing so I mean, I think that that was kind of a loaded question...Anybody serving here should be serving here for the right reasons.''

Senate leaders have not yet responded to questions about where they stand on legislation giving voters another chance to extend the Ethics Code to the official actions of legislators.

.

Bill sponsor Sen. James Doyle, D-Pawtucket, simply told the chamber "it's a good bill" and urged passage. The vote was 33 to 0 and came without floor debate.

A registered sex offender would have to register with the local law enforcement within 24 hours of the 14th day in the state.

The bill requires House passage. The House may return into session later in the summer, as may the Senate. It's unclear the extent of legislative topics the chambers would take up later in the summer.

The vote was 25 to 10.

The House approved the bill Friday, despite strong warnings a day earlier by Gary Sasse, the director of the state Department of Administration, that the state could lose upward of $25 million in gambling revenue if legislators interfere with the restructuring plan.

Under its bankruptcy plan, Twin River would turn over ownership of the 62-year-old track and slot parlor to its lenders, who would be free to bring in a new operator, within 120 days, unless an alternate agreement was reached. The agreement hinges, in part, on the legislature agreeing to relieve Twin River of its current obligation to run at least 125 days of greyhound racing each year, which has been a losing proposition.

The owners blame their financial arrangement with the dog owners' association for some of their money troubles, since the racing nets them only $1.75 million, not nearly enough to cover the $2.5 million expense or the $9.7 million subsidy they are committed to paying the greyhound owners by a contract.

Lobbyists for the greyhound owners assert that elimination of the races would cost 225 jobs and at least $7.5 million in direct and indirect state revenue, including sales and income taxes paid by the workers out of their wages and millions of dollars in slot-play by gamblers lured to the track by the dog races.

But Sasse, in a letter to key lawmakers last week, wrote: "To the extent that the enactment of the legislation were to interfere with the completion of the restructuring agreement, the legislation could actually result in the BLB bankruptcy filing becoming a protracted, free-fall proceeding - as opposed to a consensual one - which could result in the state incurring millions of dollars in related expenses, as well as an estimated decrease of 10 percent or more in revenues to the state from the facility."

Governor Carcieri has left no doubt he will veto the legislation.

Here is the vote tally:

Voting yes

Bates, R-Barrington
Ciccone, D-Providence
Connors, D-Cumberland
Crowley, D-Central Falls
DaPonte, D-East Providence
DeVall, D-East Providence
Doyle, D-Pawtucket
Felag, D-Warren
Fogarty, D-Glocester
Gallo, D-Cranston
Goodwin, D-Providence
Jabour, D-Providence
Lanzi, D-Cranston
Levesque, D-Portsmouth
Lynch, D-Warwick
Maselli, D-Johnston
McBurney, D-Pawtucket
McCaffrey, D-Warwick
Miller, D-Cranston
Perry, D-Providence
Picard, D-Woonsocket
Pichardo, D-Providence
Ruggerio, D-Providence
Sosnowski, D-South Kingstown
Tassoni, D-Smithfield

Voting no
Algiere, R-Westerly
Blais, R-Coventry
Cote, D-Woonsocket
DiPalma, D-Middletown
Lenihan, D-East Greenwich
Maher, R-Exeter
Metts, D-Providence
O'Neill, I-Lincoln
Pinga, D-West Warwick
Sheehan, D-North Kingstown

Not voting
Paiva Weed, D-Newport
Raptakis, D-Coventry
Walaska, D-Warwick

SOURCE: Senate roll call

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Governor Carcieri said Tuesday afternoon he's signed the $7.8-billion state budget behind closed doors in his office.

The spending plan becomes law Wednesday, the beginning of the new fiscal year.

The Senate had approved the budget Friday.

Check back for more on this developing story.

On her way in and out of the meeting, Harrah's Senior Vice President Jan Jones said she was here to get a better understanding of the lay of the land now that Twin River's owners have filed for bankruptcy, under terms that will soon require them to surrender ownership of the Lincoln track and slot parlor to their lenders.

Asked if Harrah's is interested in buying the facility or simply bidding for the management contract, Jones said: "We are actually looking at all different options.'' Acknowledging that the exact nature of what will be made available is up to the lenders, "there certainly is resource to invest,'' she said.

Murphy met in his State House office with Jones, Harrah's lawyer David Satz and lobbyist and one-time Celtics basketball star Kevin Stacom. In an interview after the meeting, Murphy said he invited the team to his office after reading that they were headed to Rhode Island to scope out the opportunities for Harrah's at Twin River.

"It is not something we need to get involved in right now, and when I say we, I mean as the House of Representatives," Murphy said. "But they have expressed an interest in the facility in Lincoln...[and] put it this way: whatever shakes out in bankruptcy court, whatever happens, I would feel very comfortable if Harrah's came in and were either to be the management company to run the facility, or if Harrah's, at some point became ... the purchaser of the facility.''

Asked if the Harrah's delegation mentioned a role for their former casino partners here, the Narragansett Indians, Murphy said: "We did not get into specifics.''

Coincidentally, greyhound racing is about to fold in New Hampshire.

After beating back efforts to ban dog racing in New Hampshire for years, the business is about to voluntarily fold on its own. Officials with the state's two remaining tracks at Seabrook and Belmont told the New Hampshire Racing and Charitable Gaming Commission they planned to end live racing this summer. A third dog track in Hinsdale closed in November after the longtime owner filed for bankruptcy

Rockingham Park in Salem will keep its commitment to have live harness racing this summer.

A companion bill to the state budget that New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is likely to sign Tuesday gives all track owners the option of having live racing or existing solely to take bets on races run at other tracks.

Lobbyists hired to work for the benefit of both tracks did not oppose this change. Betting from simulcast racing generates much more money than do bets on live competition. The Seabrook and Belmont sites also make much more money on gambling from Texas Hold 'Em and other poker tournaments and split the profits with co-sponsoring charitable groups, according to the Nashua Telegraph.

Harrah's Entertainment, Inc. describes itself as "the world's largest provider of branded casino entertainment '' on four continents, operating primarily under the Harrah's, Caesars and Horseshoe brand names. Harrah's also owns the London Clubs International family of casinos and the World Series of Poker. On January 28, 2008, Harrah's Entertainment was acquired by affiliates of private-equity firms TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- The Internet giant Amazon.com has severed ties with all Rhode Island businesses, a move intended to shield the massive online retailer from the General Assembly's push to begin taxing some online sales as soon as Wednesday.

An Amazon spokeswoman declined to say how many businesses -- local book dealers and other retailers -- are affected, but confirmed that notification letters were distributed to "many local associates" early Monday morning.

Amazon issued a warning letter to legislative leaders Friday suggesting that it would take immediate action unless the state backed off its "tax collection scheme."

"The government in Rhode Island is attempting to go about tax collection in what we feel is an unconstitutional manner," company spokeswoman Patty Smith said Monday.

The "Amazon tax" -- expected to become law as part of the Rhode Island's state budget on July 1 -- has been proposed in a handful of cash-strapped states, despite a legal challenge in New York. It would essentially force Rhode Islanders to pay a 7-percent sales tax for Internet purchases through out-of-state companies, such as Amazon.com, that have formal business relationships in the Ocean State.

Amazon now has terminated business relationships with just two states: Rhode Island and North Carolina.

"We are writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account has been closed as of June 29, 2009," reads the e-mail Amazon distributed early Monday. "This is a direct result of the unconstitutional tax collection scheme passed by the Rhode Island General Assembly with a veto-proof majority. As a result, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com after June 29."

To lead his fundraising efforts, Lynch has tapped Democratic fundraising consultant Scott Gale, the president of the Fundraising Management Group who has "worked for more than 200 candidates in 45 different states,'' according to Lynch political spokesman Adam Roach.

Polling will be conducted by Anna Greenberg of GQRR (Greenberg, Quinlan, Rosner Research), a company whose past clients include: President Bill Clinton, and Vice Presidents Al Gore and Walter Mondale.

Eric Adelstein and Ann Liston from the Chicago-based media firm Adelstein Liston will lead Lynch's media and communications team. Adelstein Liston worked on Lynch's re-election for attorney general, "helping him win with 59% of the Rhode Island vote'' against Republican J. William W. Harsch.

Said Lynch in a statement issued Monday afternoon: "I'm pleased to have assembled my team. They represent the best of the best in Democratic politics. They are experienced, smart and tough. But most of all, they are winners."

Lynch's announcement comes almost one year to the day before the filing deadline for candidates in the governor's race.

On Wednesday, the Democrat, who represents Federal Hill, launched "Lombardi for Providence," a slick political Web site that doesn't outright say the six-term councilman is seeking to challenge incumbent Democrat David N. Cicilline in 2010, but it comes close.

"It's a Web site to keep me in touch with the people of Providence," Lombardi said on Friday. "People tell me that they are looking for change and that I represent change and I am honored by that."

Lombardi, a 57-year-old former council president, served about four months as mayor in 2002 following the resignation of Mayor Vincent A. Cianci Jr. On his site's front page, he says that the experience "profoundly and permanently" changed him.

Lombardi said that the Web site shows that he's "very serious" about considering a run for mayor. He said he has formed an exploratory committee to conduct citywide polls and focus groups. He has tapped North Providence resident Armen S. Janigian as his campaign manager and has raised $48,354 to date. "I'm exploring all the options," Lombardi said.

-- Philip Marcelo

Almost exactly one year from today -- June 30, 2010 -- will be a big week in Rhode Island political circles. That's the deadline for candidates for governor to file declaration papers.
By then the field will have long since shaped up -- some have suggested that the 2010 gubernatorial field has been shaping up since Governor Carcieri won his second term 2006 -- but nonetheless, that's the big day.

Chris Barnett, at the secretary of state's office, reminds Political Scene that the deadline also applies to candidates running for other general offices, as well as federal state and local seats.

-- Cynthia Needham

It was not immediately clear what the Senate's Tuesday agenda might encompass, and whether it would include the latest version of the Twin River gambling bill that the House sent over during its aborted rush to adjournment on Friday night.

That bill, in its current form, would allow 24-hour gambling seven days a week and also require the bankrupt owners of the Lincoln track and slot parlor, who had announced plans to suspend the greyhound races in August, to run a full season instead: 200 days.

Governor Carcieri has vowed to veto the bill.

The canceled Monday Senate calendar had anticipated action at that time on a flurry of appointments to state boards, including the appointment of lawyers James T. Murphy, Matthew T. Oliverio and Patricia Rocha to the Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline.

-- Katherine Gregg