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Government By John L. Micek
CALL HARRISBURG BUREAU
December 8, 2009
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HARRISBURG - The state House is expected to begin voting today on long-awaited legislation allowing poker, blackjack, roulette and other table games at Pennsylvania's slot-machine casinos.
The authorization of table games remains the last, uncompleted piece of this year's $27.8 billion state budget.
A copy of an omnibus amendment obtained by The Morning Call calls for allowing stand-alone casinos such as Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem and casinos at horse tracks to add up to 250 tables. Smaller so-called resort casinos would be allowed up to 50 tables. The bill also authorizes two more resort licenses.
House Democratic leaders began discussing the plan with lawmakers Monday afternoon with an eye toward a marathon session today. Democrats need a two-thirds' vote to suspend House rules and amend the measure into an already approved Senate bill.
Bob Caton, a spokesman for the House speaker, said Democratic leaders were confident they'd be able to put together the votes they need. The House has 104 Democrats and 99 Republicans.
Negotiations over the bill have dragged on since early October, with lawmakers in the House and Senate struggling to reach agreement on such key issues as the tax rates for the games; the size of up-front license fees and reforms to Pennsylvania's slots law.
The measure obtained Monday imposes an initial tax rate of 16 percent (14 percent to the state and 2 percent split between municipal and county governments) until June 1, 2011. After that, the tax rate would decrease to 14 percent (12 percent state and 2 percent local) of daily gross revenue.
That initial tax rate matches the demand set by Gov. Ed Rendell, who has said it's needed to raise an expected $200 million for the state this year and $122 million more next year.
In addition, stand-alone casino operators and those at horse tracks would be expected to pay a $16.5 million licensing fee, while resort casino owners would have to pony up $7.5 million. Rendell had been pushing for a $15 million license fee.
Those fees would jump to $25 million and $11.2 million, respectively, for applications submitted after June 1, 2010.
Rendell's spokesman, Gary Tuma, said the administration supports the House amendment.
Republicans who control the Senate have not agreed to the language, said Erik Arneson, a spokesman for the Senate majority leader.
Advocates for the casino industry have warned that a tax rate set too high would make it too expensive for them to offer the games, which are more labor-intensive than slot machines.
Revenue from the games would initially flow into the state's General Fund budget.
Once the balance in the state's Rainy Day Fund savings account reaches $750 million, the table games money would be channeled into existing property tax relief efforts, Caton said.
Rep. Craig Dally, R-Northampton, said he is concerned about the local distribution of slot machine money, which in some cases differs from region to region. In Luzerne County, for instance, the money would be used to underwrite economic development projects that some deride as little more than government-funded pork.
''If you look at the distribution of the money, it's all over the place,'' Dally said.
Democrats and Rendell have held up funding for Pennsylvania's state-related universities, museums and other institutions -- collectively known as the ''non-preferred'' appropriations -- arguing that the budget won't balance until table games are approved. Republicans have accused the Democrats of dragging their feet.
The House language also makes some long-sought reforms to Pennsylvania's five-year-old slot machine law.
It would authorize the Pennsylvania State Police to conduct background investigations for state casino regulators' most sensitive positions: executive director of the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board, head of the gaming board's Bureau of Investigations and Enforcement, the gaming board's chief counsel and the director of the board's Office of Enforcement Counsel.
Casino operators also would be barred from installing a table game or slot machine that allows players to electronically transfer funds from their debit or credit cards.
Rep. Doug Reichley, R-Lehigh, who has led a House Republican effort to change the existing slots law, said he was disappointed the bill did not include language long sought by Republicans that would transfer the gaming board's investigations arm to the attorney general's office.
john.micek@mcall.com
717 783-7305
Copyright © 2009, The Morning Call
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