State representatives want slot proposal on table

COLUMBUS (AP) -- Days after helping defeat the measure, three state representatives have tried to resurrect a proposal to let voters pick whether to put slot machines at racetracks.
Reps. Claudette Woodard of Cleveland Heights, Annie Key of Cleveland and Barbara Sykes of Akron on Tuesday used a procedural maneuver to ask the House to reconsider last week's vote on the proposal. The three said they hoped the move would give the House more time to study the complex issue.
Backers of the proposal hope to ask voters to amend the state constitution to allow the machines at state-licensed racetracks.
But the House fell three votes short of the three-fifths majority needed to put the slots plan on the November ballot Thursday, during the last session before a summer recess.
The proposal would have divided the state's share of slots' profits for scholarships, preschool education and school grants.
To qualify for the ballot, the measure must clear the House and Senate by Aug. 4.
Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder's office indicated the proposal won't make the deadline.
"We have no plans to come back before Aug. 4," said Householder spokesman Dwight Crum. Crum said the House doesn't plan to reconvene until September.
State Rep. Bill Seitz, the resolution's sponsor, said he worked throughout the holiday weekend with state Sen. Lou Blessing to get three 'no' voters to agree to reconsider. Both are Cincinnati Republicans.