State Sen. Cathy Osten, D-Sprague, and other members of southeastern Connecticut's legislative delegation submitted a bill Tuesday that would eliminate the need for federal approval of the proposed East Windsor casino.

Osten said she’s hopeful that prompt passage of the bill in the upcoming legislative session and its subsequent signing by Gov.-elect Ned Lamont will enable the Mashantucket Pequot and Mohegan tribes to move forward with the project “before we lose another construction cycle.”

The legislature convenes Jan. 9, the day Lamont’s term begins.

The East Windsor project, authorized by a 2017 law that required the U.S. Department of the Interior to sign off on the tribes’ amended gaming agreements with the state, has been stymied by Interior’s failure to act. Though Interior eventually deemed the Mohegans’ amendment “effective,” it has yet to act on the Mashantuckets’ amendment.

“This is something that the General Assembly already has approved,” Osten said of the East Windsor project, “and that has been held up by actions of the federal government, hampering growth in the state of Connecticut.”

While a spokesman for the tribes, respective owners of Foxwoods Resort Casino and Mohegan Sun, hailed the delegation’s move, MGM Resorts International, which has long sought to block the East Windsor project, said the proposed legislation could jeopardize the tribes’ existing agreements with the state.

"This bill would make right something that should have been done long ago in D.C.," Andrew Doba, the tribes’ spokesman, wrote in an email. "The tribes want nothing more than to continue their partnership with the state. We're grateful to the delegation for their ongoing support and look forward to working with them in the coming session."

The tribes have stated that they will continue to share their existing casinos’ slot-machine revenues with the state once the East Windsor casino opens. They would share with the state all gaming revenue generated by the East Windsor casino.

“The proposed bill shows a lack of understanding of the significant risk to Connecticut that would result under Federal law,” MGM Resorts said in a statement.

State Attorney General George Jepsen has opined in the past that the state’s existing revenue-sharing agreements with the tribes could be put at risk if the state authorized the tribes to proceed with a third casino without securing federal approval.

After a U.S. District Court judge dismissed a lawsuit in which the state and the Mashantuckets sought to compel Interior to act, the state and the tribe moved to amend the suit. A decision is pending.

MGM Resorts, whose nearly $1 billion MGM Springfield casino opened in August just north of the Connecticut border, was allowed to intervene in the suit on the side of Interior.

Co-sponsors of the new bill include Sens. Tim Larson, D-East Hartford; Steve Cassano, D-Manchester; Paul Formica, R-East Lyme; and Heather Somers, R-Groton, and Reps. Kevin Ryan, D-Montville; Emmett Riley, D-Norwich; Christine Conley, D-Groton; Joe de la Cruz, D-Groton; Linda Orange, D-Colchester; Chris Soto, D-New London; Kathleen McCarty, R-Waterford; Holly Cheeseman, R-East Lyme; Mike France, R-Ledyard; and Doug Dubitsky, R-Chaplin.

Osten said she’s planning to introduce additional legislation that would legalize online gaming and sports betting at the casinos and possibly elsewhere in the state as well as the extension of liquor-serving hours at the casinos. She said the legislature could deal with such matters early in the session.

Other gaming issues, including MGM Resorts' push for an open-bidding process for a Bridgeport casino, also could resurface next year.

b.hallenbeck@theday.com