New York senate committee gives online poker bill blink-and-you-missed-it approval

A New York Senate committee approved an online poker bill on Tuesday, but no one would blame you if you didn’t notice.

The state Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee scheduled a 9:30am hearing to consider Sen. John Bonacic’s S5302-B online poker bill, but anyone who didn’t have the livestream cued up at the precise hour would have missed the whole affair, which lasted less than four minutes despite addressing six separate pieces of legislation.

While the committee voted 9-0 in favor of advancing S5302-B, the vote didn’t take place before the cameras. Instead, chairman Bonacic merely asked if there were any questions, and upon receiving no questions, announced that S5302-B was now referred to the Senate Finance committee.

Bonacic subsequently issued a statement saying his poker bill had taken “a necessary step forward today with its vote out of the Racing committee.” Bonacic said he anticipates having “ongoing discussions with my colleagues in both Houses” regarding his bill, although he could have dropped the ‘ongoing’ bit, since the Schoolhouse Rock ‘how a bill becomes a law’ episode takes longer to watch than public discussion of S5302-B.