HARRISBURG -- A political odd couple, if ever there was one, has teamed up in an effort to make major changes to Pennsylvania's 4-year-old slots law.

State Sen. Jane Orie, a fiscally conservative Republican from Allegheny County who voted against the slot machine law in 2004, has joined retiring Sen. Vincent Fumo, a liberal Democrat from South Philadelphia who was a principal author of the law.

They will propose banning new members of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board from having any outside income and casino lobbyists from making campaign contributions to state officials. They will push to have those and other changes voted on when the Legislature returns in mid-September.

Ms. Orie acknowledged yesterday that she and Mr. Fumo, who is retiring Nov. 30 after 30 years in the Senate, "disagreed on the overall public policy merits of legalizing slots, but we agree now that the experience of the past several years compels us to make changes. Public confidence in the gaming control board has been shaken recently and we must restore the complete integrity of the process in the public eye."

Mr. Fumo still advocates slots casinos but said that over the past two years, problems have arisen with one existing casino, Mount Airy in the Poconos, and two under development, the partially-built Pittsburgh casino owned by Don Barden and a proposed Valley View Downs casino in Lawrence County, both of which are having financial problems. Mount Airy is operational but owner Louis DeNaples has been charged with perjury and the casino is being run by a board-appointed overseer.

Those problems "have highlighted several unintentional deficiencies of the existing law," Mr. Fumo said. "We created a new industry in this state and adopted the best practices that we could find from other states, but the law was not perfect and we can improve upon it."

To take effect this year, changes to the gaming law would have to be approved by late October, because senators have already said they're not returning after the Nov. 4 election for their customary three-week "lame duck" session. The issue could also come up in the new session that starts in January.

Ms. Orie and Mr. Fumo want to make these changes:

• Banning new gaming board members from having any outside income. Six of the seven board members earn $145,000 a year and Chairwoman Mary D. Colins, a former Philadelphia judge, makes $150,000.

"Let's recognize that these are salaries that reflect the full-time nature of the job," said Christopher Craig, staff counsel for Mr. Fumo.

Currently, board member Raymond Angeli also is president of Lackawanna College, and member James Ginty is a senior vice president of Right Management Consultants of Philadelphia. Gary Sojka is a former biology professor and former president at Bucknell University. Jeffrey Coy is a former state representative. Kenneth McCabe is an ex-FBI agent, and Sanford Rivers is a former Carnegie Mellon University official.

• Narrowing the scope of "confidential information" about slots license applicants that can be withheld from the public. Ms. Orie and Mr. Fumo contend the board is currently withholding information that isn't confidential. They would limit such withholding to specific items, including applicants' Social Security and nonpublished telephone numbers, trade secrets and security information about their companies, patent information, architectural and engineering plans of a proposed casino, and competitive marketing plans.

• Reinserting Commonwealth Court into the judicial appeals process for casino-related lawsuits. Under the 2004 law, all lawsuits automatically go directly to the state Supreme Court.

• Prohibiting casino lobbyists, in addition to casino licensees and operators, from making campaign contributions to politicians.

• Requiring a two-thirds vote in the Senate to confirm all future gaming board members; no confirmation is now required.

• Prohibiting a gaming board member from taking a casino-related job for two years after leaving the board, instead of the current one year.

• Preventing a slots license applicant from borrowing the entire $50 million needed to pay the state a one-time license fee.

• Requiring casino license holders to reveal "the true identity of the controlling interest in a gaming facility," rather than using confusing corporate names or family trusts.

Gaming board spokesman Doug Harbach said the board "doesn't comment on pending legislation."

Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for Gov. Ed Rendell, a supporter of casinos, said the governor thinks "the gaming board has done its job well, but will consider any suggested improvements if they reach his desk. Criticism with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight is a disservice to the work the board has done."