By JIM BARON

PROVIDENCE — Legislation that would allow Twin River and Newport Grand to remain open 24 hours a day on weekends and holidays was once again scheduled for a vote in both the House and Senate on Wednesday and for at least the third time, each chamber kicked the controversial can down the road for one more day.

The issue generated a small frisson of excitement Wednesday when East Providence Sen. Paul Moura broke with usual Senate decorum and objected to his version of the bill being moved to Thursday’s calendar. That small act of parliamentary protest was slapped down immediately with a 31-1 vote overriding Moura’s objection.
Moura said he went public with his dissent because he is upset about “the petty nonsense that goes on up here over a few hundred thousand dollars. We are losing $300,000 a week,” the amount he estimates the state would realize from its share of the gambling revenue at the two facilities.
Moura worried that “in the grand scheme of things,” the state is losing much needed revenues and there could be more layoffs at the financially troubled Twin River, missed a loan payment in March and has had to work out interim agreements with its creditors while contractors who did work on the recent renovations at the dog track have filed liens with the town of Lincoln to make sure they would get paid.
“I am trying to maximize our revenue potential at facilities we have a major partnership with,” he said.
“The House Finance Committee just passed a supplemental budget that concurs with the governor’s proposal of cutting cities and towns $10 million from a commitment that was made in the prior year.
Noting that he has been proposing extending the hours at the slot parlors since last year, Moura said, “If we had acted upon this, maybe we wouldn’t have had to cut the cities and towns. Everyone can walk around this building talking about no tax increases, but every time you cut cities and towns, that is a property tax increase. We most certainly are raising taxes.”
House Speaker William Murphy and Senate President Joseph Montalbano said in separate interviews this week that they are close to an agreement to funnel additional funds to the host communities of Lincoln and Newport, but have not finalized one yet. Murphy also said for the first time that the legislation could have “trial period” of perhaps a year after which the General Assembly could take another vote on the matter.
Montalbano, whose district contains part of Lincoln, is insisting that the town get a larger share of the revenue from the Twin River video slot machines to compensate it for the additional burdens on police and public safety and traffic resulting from the expanded hours.
“It’s not soup yet,” Montalbano said of the ongoing discussions between the leaders of the two chambers. “There is no agreement. Short of an agreement, I don’t think anything is going to pass, but I am not operating out of any motivation other than that the town of Lincoln as a host community should be compensated for the additional burdens on the town.”
“I think we have to be fair to the host communities,” Murphy said Tuesday, “since the early 90s (the gambling parlors in)  Newport and Lincoln have been good corporate citizens and if there is going to be a change I do think the two host communities deserve a bigger share.
Asked if the additional revenue to Lincoln and Newport would come from the state’s 60-plus percent share of the revenues, or from the portion of the take that goes to the owners of the two facilities, Murphy said, “that is something that has not been finalized, the bottom line is both host communities, if we are to expand gambling, should get a bigger share.”
Murphy said both chambers wanted to have an agreement on the final language of the bill before either side passed its version. The House version is sponsored by Pawtucket Rep. William San Bento. “We didn’t want to play ping-pong with this important issue,” Murphy told reporters.
But the two men are still haggling over the exact dollar amount that will be inserted into the twin bills to benefit the two municipalities.
Moura, who formerly held a high rank in the House hierarchy, said that chamber should have acceded to Montalbano’s request out of “courtesy” because the Senate President has supported House leaders in the past.
The governor’s office has said Carcieri could not approve the legislation unless it had the support of both host communities. While some Lincoln officials have said they might be amenable to the additional hours if the town received additional funds from the slot machine revenues, Newport officials and citizens remain outright hostile to the notion of all-night hours.
Lobbyists for the two facilities say the 24-hour operation could begin as soon as six weeks after the legislation passes.
Numerous amendments have been prepared in the House of Representatives on what has come to be called the “24/3” bill, so if the vote does take place today, the debate could last several hours.