Kentucky House Approves Slots Bill, Attaches Education Expenditures For Projected Revenue But Senators Suggest Bill Is Dead On Arrival (DOA).
Read more here, or the excerpts:
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The House budget committee Thursday approved legislation that would allow slot machines at race tracks.
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The vote was 19-9, and the bill now goes to the full House.
Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, the committee chairman, said the House probably will consider it Friday morning.
But it may be all for naught.
Sen. Charlie Borders, chairman of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee, said he expects the bill, if it clears the House, to come through his committee, where he said it has little chance of passage.
"I don't know whether it's going to pass the House but if it comes over here, we'll be ready and we'll handle it accordingly," Borders said in an interview.
He added that there seems to be little sentiment for passing the slots bill in the Senate and particularly in his committee. He said members don't like the fact that the House is tying more than $1 billion in funding for colleges and universities to slots in an effort to pass the legislation.
"That's not a good way to make public policy," he said. In fact, Borders said some members of his committee find the process in the House to be "distasteful."
Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, also has criticized the bill on those grounds.
The bill will contain the authorization for video-lottery terminals at tracks under the administration of the Kentucky Lottery Corp. But it will not contain any details of how the revenue to the state from slot machines will be spent.
Those details — including lists of school houses and university buildings the House wants to build — will be included in a bill amending the state budget. Rand said he expects his committee will consider the budget bill Friday afternoon.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he expects the full House to vote on the budget bill Monday.
Editor's comment: it appears that Democrats won't be able to reward the NEA (and school buildings construction unions) with slots proceeds, if Senate Republicans have their say.
FRANKFORT, Ky. — The House budget committee Thursday approved legislation that would allow slot machines at race tracks.
Advertisement
The vote was 19-9, and the bill now goes to the full House.
Rep. Rick Rand, D-Bedford, the committee chairman, said the House probably will consider it Friday morning.
But it may be all for naught.
Sen. Charlie Borders, chairman of the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee, said he expects the bill, if it clears the House, to come through his committee, where he said it has little chance of passage.
"I don't know whether it's going to pass the House but if it comes over here, we'll be ready and we'll handle it accordingly," Borders said in an interview.
He added that there seems to be little sentiment for passing the slots bill in the Senate and particularly in his committee. He said members don't like the fact that the House is tying more than $1 billion in funding for colleges and universities to slots in an effort to pass the legislation.
"That's not a good way to make public policy," he said. In fact, Borders said some members of his committee find the process in the House to be "distasteful."
Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, also has criticized the bill on those grounds.
The bill will contain the authorization for video-lottery terminals at tracks under the administration of the Kentucky Lottery Corp. But it will not contain any details of how the revenue to the state from slot machines will be spent.
Those details — including lists of school houses and university buildings the House wants to build — will be included in a bill amending the state budget. Rand said he expects his committee will consider the budget bill Friday afternoon.
House Speaker Greg Stumbo said he expects the full House to vote on the budget bill Monday.
Editor's comment: it appears that Democrats won't be able to reward the NEA (and school buildings construction unions) with slots proceeds, if Senate Republicans have their say.
Labels: Democratism, Kentucky politics, Republicanism
posted by KYJurisDoctor at 6:30 PM
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