"The Massachusetts Senate's decision to approve a casino gambling bill Thursday is a coup for supporters who say the industry would bring jobs and an influx of cash....
And though a mix of people from the Boston area interviewed yesterday in the Public Garden said they supported the legislation, most agreed on one thing: They had little intention of spending their time -- or money -- there....
Neither do I.
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Here's something that will give you the fever:
"Casino bill may aid rich schools" October 21, 2011|By Noah Bierman, Globe Staff
Schools in some of the state’s wealthiest communities, including Wellesley, Lexington, and Dover, would get millions of dollars in casino money while some of the poorest districts, including Boston, Brockton, and Holyoke, would get nothing under a measure that passed the state Senate last week.
It's just like playing the lottery!
Increased school funding is one of several promises lawmakers have made in selling the casino bill to the public as an opportunity to improve quality of life in Massachusetts with a new source of money.
They think the crime-bringing casinos are going to raise quality of life? That la$t bit out$hines common sense.
Both the House and Senate versions of the casino legislation would devote 14 percent of all casino taxes to schools. The House bill would distribute that money statewide, based on a formula Massachusetts uses in doling out money to cities and towns.
But a Senate amendment that was overwhelmingly approved last week would put a priority on distributing the casino money to 165 of the state’s 400 school districts that are considered underfunded, based on a plan the state passed five years ago to help suburban districts. Prior to 2006, many of those communities received very little state support for education.
“Even in the Wellesleys and Westons of this world, they will argue that they’re still losing pieces of their state aid that they should have,’’ said Glenn Koocher, executive director the Massachusetts Association of School Committees.
Though not all of those 165 districts are wealthy, many are, including Belmont, Concord, and Brookline. Some needy communities such as Revere and middle-class communities such as Framingham would also get money. But many of the high-need urban districts - including Springfield, Fall River, and Lawrence - would get nothing.
Representative Martha M. Walz, a Democrat from Boston’s Back Bay neighborhood and a former Education Committee chairwoman, said the state has more pressing education priorities, including special education and early education and care.
“Giving funding to communities that are not our neediest would not be my priority,’’ she said.
The school funding measure is one of several differences between House and Senate versions of a casino bill that passed each chamber over the last five weeks. The sides are expected to begin hashing out their differences in a closed-door conference committee over the next several weeks.
Other differences include a Senate measure to allow bars and restaurants around Massachusetts to reinstate happy hour in order to compete with casinos that would be allowed to dispense free drinks to attract bettors.
Were do you think those legislators are going after a grueling day on the hill?
Related: State Senate Toasts Casinos
What were they, drunk?
The House version also includes a measure that would put the state on a path to considering Internet poker, a piece that is not included in the Senate bill....
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"Casino, pension bills get priority; Legislature tries to wrap up matters before break" by Noah Bierman | Globe Staff, November 14, 2011
The epic struggle to pass a casino bill that meets with Governor Deval Patrick’s approval appears all but certain to end this week, as state lawmakers prepare to hatch a final deal before settling into recess Wednesday....
Several state officials said they expect to remove a controversial provision - approved in the Senate, but not in the House - that could end a legal ban on happy hours at bars and restaurants across the state. Instead, the final bill will likely clarify that free alcohol be only allowed on the casino floor for patrons actively involved in gambling, according to one state official.
Gambling opponents say they expect the casino bill to become law, and are now shifting their focus to local communities, which would need to consider casino plans in referendums before any developer could obtain a license to build one.
Opponents were encouraged by two developments last week. An anticasino candidate won the mayor’s race in Holyoke, a city with a struggling economy that has been looked at as a potential casino site. And Maine voters rejected a statewide referendum that would have allowed a casino and two slot facilities.
Oh, I am SO PROUD of MAINE VOTERS!!!
Related: Casino Comparisons: The Maine Message
Massachusetts didn't get it.
“I definitely see a change in momentum,’’ said Kathleen Conley Norbut, an antigambling activist in Massachusetts.
Let it ride!
She said opponents are beginning to make plans for a statewide referendum in hopes of overturning the casino legislation.
Oh, I'LL PLACE a BET on THAT!
But Patrick and lawmakers say they remain committed, calling casinos important to employing more workers and to helping the state pay for more services.
No evidence of that, but you know....
“If done correctly expanded gaming creates an opportunity for jobs and economic development,’’ said Brendan Ryan, Patrick’s communications director. “One of the key principles that the governor has brought to this discussion is that local communities have a say.’’
Labor unions say they are desperate to get people back to work.
“I’m not a big fan of gambling,’’ said Steven A. Tolman, a former state senator who retired last month to become president of the AFL-CIO. “It’s the jobs I’m interested in.’’
It is disgusting to see labor grovel like this. Even a drowning man will reach for an anchor.
Labor unions hold a far different view of another Beacon Hill priority expected to be finished this week: a pension overhaul. The bill would reduce benefits for future public employees by, for example, raising the retirement age before partial and full pensions kick in.
The overhaul is designed to save the state $5 billion during the next 30 years, but is opposed by many public employee unions who say the reductions are unfair to future workers.
Related: Unions Surrender Rights in Massachusetts
I thought Democrats were friends of unions.
The reduction in benefits follows a bill passed during Patrick’s last term that eliminated some practices that many critics saw as abuses of the pension system.
“That’s an undertold legacy of this governor and these last two legislative sessions,’’ Ryan said.
Senate minority leader Bruce E. Tarr, a Gloucester Republican, said the state needs to do much more to reduce the cost of future worker benefits. The bill expected to be completed this week is “a story of incremental accomplishment and forward progress,’’ he said.
Several other major issues may have to wait until January, when lawmakers are expected to consider fundamental changes in the way Massachusetts residents pay for health care.
What?
But the list of top bills for next year could grow, depending on how things go this week. A measure that passed the Senate last week that would overhaul state criminal sentencing and parole laws will probably not reach the House until January, said Representative Brian S. Dempsey, a Haverhill Democrat who leads the House budget-writing committee and is negotiating the final details as part of a six-member committee.
The bill would ban parole for criminals who are convicted three times for violent felonies.
Dempsey said the bill may be too complicated to finish this week, even though there is a lot of interest.
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Related: House-Senate panel reaches compromise on Mass. casino bill
So much for complications, etc.
Next Day Update:
"Final approval on casinos may come today; Late trim in local aid a concern to Patrick" by Noah Bierman and Mark Arsenault Globe Staff / November 16, 2011
Governor Deval Patrick said he was surprised by and worried about a last-minute change that would take more than $10 million a year that had been devoted to local aid in some earlier versions of the bill and rechannel it to the horse racing industry.
He have to be kidding me.
Critics questioned why House and Senate negotiators who crafted the final bill behind closed doors added a provision late Monday night that increased the amount of casino revenue devoted to “the horse racing development fund.’’
The House and Senate had both voted to provide a portion of the slot parlor revenue to the fund, which would be devoted to increasing the size of horse racing purses, hiring industry employees, adding breeding farms, and offering other assistance, including health and pension benefits for horse racing workers.
As they TAKE YOURS AWAY and MAKE YOU PAY MORE!!!
But negotiators added more money from gambling revenue, tapping both up-front licensing money and some money from annual casino profits.
Some of that money had initially been directed for aid to cities and towns in the Senate version of the bill and to community preservation efforts in the House version.
Yeah, why would you want taxpayer dollars going there!?
The casino bill had been described as a boon to local governments and property tax payers. But the share of casino tax revenue devoted to local aid dropped from 25 percent when the bill was released in September to 20 percent in the version approved yesterday.
Backers of that provision counter that local communities would also benefit from money dedicated to schools, transportation, and other programs.
It's always the SAME OLD SHIT-SHOVELING SALES JOB!
See: Slot Machines Shorted Floridians
A Big Fat Front-Page Lie
That won't get in the way of the agenda.
They said the horse racing industry has a natural link to casinos, and the benefits to farms and agriculture would help provide jobs and open space....
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Did they address the money going to the rich schools? Globe never got back to us on that.
