slots – Sandy Rosenberg

Will your idea become a law?

You work for months, sometimes years.

And this is the week when you find out if your idea will become a law.

Only good news so far.

My bipartisan bill to criminalize the same conduct by both sides during a referendum petition-signing process has passed the House several times over the years but always died in a Senate committee.

Not this time. It’s on the Senate floor – the vote for final passage scheduled for tomorrow.

I’ll wait until later to try to learn how and why it got there.

The slots revenue allocated for certain neighborhoods near Pimlico Race Track over the last two fiscal years remains unspent because of the City government’s abysmal handling of these funds.

My legislation to require the City to establish a specified schedule for the distribution and expenditure of these grants is now on the House floor. Assuming it passes, it will be a challenge to get Senate approval before the session ends at midnight next Monday.

I was assured by two Senators that their committee will add technical amendments to my bill creating tech internships, matching students and start-ups. “That’s good news,” I responded.

Things are going so well for the O’Malley-Brown Administration’s pre-kindergarten expansion bill it wasn’t even discussed in the Sun’s preview of the last week in Annapolis.

When I read Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s op-ed on the subject today, his four points read very much like my bill of last year and the Administration’s this year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/rahm-emanuel-on-early-education-both-parties-need-to-grow-up/2014/03/31/c7d9e1f0-b6a4-11e3-8cc3-d4bf596577eb_story.html

Slots and Sausage

August 15, 2012 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

When the Governor, the Senate President, and the Speaker of the House support a bill, it will pass.

I learned that a long time ago.

Consequently, when Speaker Busch decided to support expanded gaming at a special session, I chose to work on amending the legislation, instead of opposing it, despite my concerns about the state’s growing reliance on slots and table games for revenue.

The Speaker’s support became apparent to me last month when he, the Governor, and the Mayor met with Baltimore City delegates at City Hall.

After the formal meeting ended, Delegate Nathaniel Oaks and I agreed that this was an opportune time to secure additional funding for redevelopment in the neighborhoods surrounding Pimlico Race Track.

Under existing law, slots money will benefit these communities for 15 years. We suggested to a member of Governor O’Malley’s staff that this be increased to 25 years.

Senate Bill 1, as introduced by the Governor and enacted by the General Assembly, makes it 20 years.

When I first saw “Fiscal Year 2032” in the bill, I said to myself, “I don’t think that even I will still be in the House of Delegates then.”

I also sought to guarantee that additional gaming money in the Education Trust Fund would result in additional spending on public education. The legislature’s focus instead was on protecting the Anne Arundel and Baltimore City licensees from the impact of the new Prince George’s facility on their bottom line. I drafted an amendment but did not offer it.

We did, however, authorize spending on early childhood education from the Fund. Senator Bill Ferguson had this added to the legislation in his chamber. I worked with him as we preserved that language during my committee’s review of the Senate bill.

Last Friday, I wrote Senator Ferguson, “We will need to lobby gov to include money for pre-k expansion in his budget next year.”

He replied, “I thought that was our plan all along. Isn’t everything we do fully planned out? :)”

We now have a tentative date for a meeting with the State Superintendent of Schools.

Another provision in the bill will benefit the 41^st District.

The Maryland Jockey Club must submit a preliminary capital improvement plan for Pimlico Race Track to the Racing Commission by February 1, 2013. It will include planned capital improvements, a preliminary project schedule, and an estimate of funding to be requested from the State.

This will give the surrounding communities an opportunity to meet with Pimlico officials about their plans.

I voted for the slots bill in 2007 because I had concluded that the political will did not exist to raise revenue by making our income tax more progressive. That remains the case today.

I welcome your thoughts.

—-

Here’s how one piece of the sausage got made.

The only question about the increase in funding for the Pimlico neighborhoods came from a Republican member of the Ways and Means Committee at a hearing last Friday.

An unfriendly amendment from a member of the minority party won’t get many Democratic votes, I reassured myself.

However, at Tuesday morning’s Democratic caucus, Delegate Dave Rudolph complained that money generated at the Perryville casino in his district was benefiting Baltimore City instead.

Our floor session was scheduled for 2:00. Not surprisingly, the Speaker was not present, busy elsewhere pursuing crucial votes.

For the next 2 ¼ hours, I buttonholed my colleagues on the House floor and made the case for the benefits to the Pimlico neighborhoods from this revenue.

In the early evening, I was given Del. Rudolph’s amendment. It would create a $6 million annual cap on the allocation – a very significant reduction.

Then he offered a compromise: no cap but no revenue from the three smaller gaming sites. I responded, “No change until the Baltimore City casino is up and running. That revenue will compensate for the loss from the other sites.”

Then I sought the support of Delegate Oaks, my other colleagues from the 40^th and 41^st districts, the Speaker, my committee chair, and the City delegation.

The compromise was adopted by the House as a friendly amendment.

August 2 – Maximizing our return for education

August 2, 2012 | by delsandy | featured, Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

People don’t believe us.

At neighborhood meetings, when my 41^st District colleagues and I discuss how the money from slots will be spent, our constituents don’t believe us.

Blame it on the advertising for the referendum when the lottery was authorized 40+ years ago, which said that the money would be used for education, or a general distrust of government. It’s there.

Which brings us to next week’s special session of the General Assembly.

Add table games and make some other changes, but leave a decision on a sixth site to a later time when there’s more data on the operation of the five original sites, advises the Sun editorial board.

That bill won’t pass the Senate.

Only a bill authorizing a new license in Prince George’s County will.

Those are the political realities.

So where will my efforts be focused?

Speaker Busch has said that we should maximize the return from slots to the Education Trust Fund.

That fund receives 48.5% of the money from the tax on gambling at the five – or six, licensed facilities. It’s the biggest piece of the pie chart of how that revenue is distributed.

The money can be used for public education – operating and capital costs for kindergarten through 12^th grade, and capital costs for community colleges and higher ed.

My goal: when gambling revenues in the Education Trust Fund increase, so should the state’s overall spending on education.

A seat at the table and in the classroom

June 5, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Maryland citizens, teachers, and students deserve a seat at the table when the General Assembly decides whether to expand gambling. More gambling must equal more dollars for our schools.

Senator Bill Ferguson and I believe that this additional money should be used for pre-kindegarten classes so that kids come to elementary school ready to learn.

We wrote the following in response to a Baltimore Sun editorial, “Gambling’s most taxing issue.”

Dear Editors:

Public school students would be the big loser if the tax rate is reduced for the owners of slots licenses.

Under current law, the tax rate on slots is 67%. Nearly half of the state’s revenue (48.5%) goes directly to the Education Trust Fund. Those dollars can be used only for education. With five fully operating sites, $513.3 million is projected for the Fund in Fiscal Year 2015.

However, that tax rate would be reduced by a third, to 42.5%, under a proposal by the developers of a sixth site at National Harbor in Price Georges County.

Instead of shrinking the allocation for education, we should expand it.

Academically enriched pre-kindergarten programs set students on a successful path of lifelong learning. Recent studies have highlighted both the short-term and long-term positive impacts that pre-k programs have on students’ academic outcomes and students’ preparedness for a 21st century skills-based economy.

If we authorize table games and target 10% of that revenue to pre-k, we would enable students of all socioeconomic backgrounds to enter schools on a more equitable path to opportunity.

—

I will be blogging from Israel daily, starting Thursday, at delsandy.com.

A Thousand Fathers and Responsible Orphans

April 19, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I’m reminded of what President Kennedy said after the Bay of Pigs.

“Victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan,” the President said, accepting responsibility for the mission’s failure.

In the public’s mind, we are all at fault for our failure to fund the budget during the 90 days of the legislation session. No branch of government or single elected official is the responsible orphan.

The post-session finger pointing is to set the political stage for the agenda at a special session.

Will slots legislation be considered when we reconvene or put off until next January?

—

I love the legislative process, but even I need a reminder about the impact of the bills we pass upon people’s lives.

Matt Gonter testified for my bill imposing a 25% penalty on people who improperly obtained a homestead property tax credit.

Matt is a private citizen who has been working to identify people who have wrongly taken this benefit.

I invited him to the bill signing.

“I can’t wait to attend,” he responded on Facebook.

I wrote in return, “Your enthusiasm about the bill signing and what we were able to accomplish is a great reminder to a 30-year veteran such as myself that the decisions we make in Annapolis can affect people’s lives in a very positive way.”

Matt suggested that I invite a friend of his who has also worked on this issue.

I did, but this person declined, saying that others had contributed much more than he.

In my response, I wrote, “Victory has a thousand fathers, defeat is an orphan.”

Lobbying in the home stretch

April 2, 2012April 4, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

I’ve been lobbied at the race track before.

This time, however, it was about the slots bill, not a “can’t miss” horse running in the next race.

I had already made my wagers on the 10th race Saturday when I had a brief conversation with a representative of the horse breeders.

The lobbying continued this afternoon.

I met with two registered lobbyists for different players in the racing industry one after the other.

1 and 1A, I called them.

—

No action has been taken on one of my bills.

I asked the lobbyist for the Cabinet department that supports my legislation if his Secretary could call the committee chair on behalf of my legislation.

“Will do,” was the reply. “We also have bills in that committee.”

Show me the money

March 17, 2012March 21, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

One-arm bandits have been replaced by computer chips.

Whatever the technology, slots machines still generate a lot of money – for the owner of the slots facility and the government.

If you thought this issue was decided by the referendum four years ago, it may return to the ballot this November – or it may not.

Representatives of Caesars, the sole applicant for the Baltimore City site, testified before the City’s House delegation Friday morning.

I asked if this group was also interested in the license for a proposed facility at National Harbor in Prince Georges County. My concern: Caesars could abandon the City or downgrade its business there.

When a reporter asked me afterwards if I was satisfied with the response, I said, “Trust but verify.”

In the afternoon, a bill to authorize the Prince Georges site was heard by the Ways and Means Committee.

I rephrased my question from the morning and received a better answer.

What remains to be decided: What effect would authorizing a new slots parlor have on business at the existing sites?

If we increase each licensee’s share of the money bet and reduce the state’s portion but authorize table games, would there be more or less money for K-12 education and economic and community development in the neighborhoods adjacent to the slots parlors and Pimlico Race Track?

We may not have an answer until the closing hours of the 90-day session.

Explaining and extinguishing

January 26, 2012January 26, 2012 | by delsandy | Sandy's 2012 Legislative Diary | No Comments

Lottery proceeds were never designated for education.

Lots of people think that they were, but that’s not the case.

So our constituents were skeptical when my 41^st District colleagues and I told them four years ago that a portion of slots proceeds would be used to implement the Park Heights Master plan and to further economic and community development in other neighborhoods within one mile of Pimlico Race Track.

That was before a sharp drop in the projected revenues going to these communities. Many residents assumed that the money had been improperly sent elsewhere.

The General Assembly’s budget staff makes these estimates, but they couldn’t leave Annapolis to attend a community meeting on the subject last night.

So I was the designated explainer.

I began by identifying the cause of the shortfall: the decision not to open a temporary slots facility at Arundel Mills.

Then I shared the blame. “When that was announced, my colleagues and I should have asked for revised estimates, instead of waiting for staff to do so.”

I concluded by discussing the provisions in the law that determine how much money goes to communities, slots players, and education. This time there is an explicit allocation for schools – 48.5% of the money that is not returned to the slots players.

“You put out the fire” about the loss of money, one person said to me afterwards.

January 9 – At home

January 9, 2012January 10, 2012 | by delsandy | Uncategorized | No Comments

My workday began and ended in Baltimore.

That won’t happen again until April because the legislative session starts in two days.

Education reform was the topic of my meeting at the Canton Starbucks. Senator Bill Ferguson and I discussed with a reporter our bills to repay the college and graduate school debt of our most highly rated teachers if they agree to remain in the classroom and to fund pre-kindergarten classes for four-year olds so that they can enter school ready to learn.

My after-dinner meeting at the CHAI offices dealt with the use of slots revenues in the neighborhoods above Northern Parkway. A weak economy and the decision not to open a temporary facility in Anne Arundel County will significantly decrease the money allocated to these communities this fiscal year.

Tomorrow begins with a 9 a.m. press conference on repeal of the death penalty – in Annapolis.

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Tag: slots