Politics PA

HARRISBURG – Lawmakers return to work today with a seemingly simple goal: delivering a table-games bill to the governor’s desk by Friday.

Legislative leaders said late yesterday that a deal was at hand. But swirling around the Capitol are ill winds that could topple any gambling deal and trigger another rocky year in Harrisburg: courtroom action in the so-called Bonusgate scandal, a still-gloomy economic outlook, and dissension in the House Democratic caucus.

Gov. Rendell last month issued an ultimatum to the General Assembly: give him a gambling bill by week’s end, to balance the state budget, or he will carry out his threat to lay off 1,000 state workers.

Rendell hopes that legalizing poker, blackjack, and other table games at Pennsylvania slot-machine parlors will infuse state coffers with a projected $250 million in license fees and taxes – and plug a hole that otherwise would need to be covered by layoffs and other cutbacks.

The governor has directed cabinet secretaries to begin identifying workers who would be laid off if the General Assembly does not send him a table-games bill by Friday.

“I sincerely hope furloughs do not become necessary, but as I said last month, at this late date, I must create a plan to balance the budget if we cannot generate the revenue we anticipated,” Rendell said yesterday.

To amplify his point, he released projected layoff numbers: 299 of 15,436 jobs in the Department of Corrections; 333 of 17,244 in Public Welfare; 112 of 5,772 state police jobs. Those agencies would take the lion’s share of cuts, Rendell said.

Legislative leaders held a conference call yesterday to discuss a proposed table-games deal, but it was unclear whether the broad outlines of a general agreement would succumb once again to disputes over the details.

Spokesmen for the majority caucuses in the two chambers – House Democrats and Senate Republicans – voiced optimism about the governor’s deadline. House Democratic spokesman Brett Marcy said leaders believed legislation could be approved as early as tomorrow.

“We have reached a consensus on the gaming bill that we will be sharing with members when they return” today, Marcy said.

In addition to setting license fees and taxes, the current bill would allow new applicants to pursue the remaining resort casino license.

The measure would also give Philadelphia officials the authority to distribute the city’s local share of revenues from two planned casinos and add another resort license in 2017.

The table-games proposal was a key piece of the $27.8 billion budget deal struck by legislative leaders and Rendell in October after a 101-day impasse. But nearly three months later, lawmakers have not quite nailed down that piece.

Read the full Inquirer article here

Related Posts

1. Deal seen nearer on casino issue
2. At last, a table games deal
3. Rendell: Table games bill possible by end of the week
4. Rendell signs gambling bill, wants Pennsylvania table games on the fast track
5. Pa. House set to resume talks on adding table games

Tags: table games

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 at 6:55 am and is filed under Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.