You would not have to gamble with rain, sleet or snow in Pennsylvania under a bill moving through the Legislature Tuesday.
The Senate Appropriations committee voted 24-2 on a bill that would permit gamblers to wager online, or buy traditional lottery tickets and play legalized fantasy sports from the comfort of their homes or the bustle of an airport. The bill also seeks to address a recent state Supreme Court decision that struck down a casino host fee that funnels $142 million a year to local municipalities, including Allentown and Bethlehem. And, it would hit casinos with a new tax and take away law-enforcement grants.
The bill will be voted on Wednesday by the full Senate and then move to the House, where its fate is unknown. Earlier this year, the House passed a broader gambling expansion bill that allowed private clubs, bars and restaurants to set up video slot machines. The Senate rejected that in its bill.
Here’s what the Senate bill would do and how much each proposal is estimated to generate in the 2017-18 fiscal year that starts July 1, according to an analysis by the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Pa. delegation, officials respond to Trump’s proposed budget cuts
President Donald Trump’s first budget proposes deep cuts to a number of safety net programs, from housing to food assistance to programs for disabled people, while increasing defense and law enforcement spending.
The plan, released Tuesday, would reduce spending on a number of government aid programs, such as Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income and disabled individuals; it also proposes cuts to the food stamp program by tightening eligibility, and would make cuts to Supplemental Security Income, a program for people with disabilities.
It also calls for cutting funding to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and its housing programs for the poor, as well as the elimination of the Choice Neighborhoods Initiative, which is funding a $30 million project in Larimer, and a $500,000 planning grant in the Hill District and Bedford Dwellings public housing complex.
The plan boosts defense and border security funding, including money for a border wall that “we are absolutely dead serious about,” said Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney.
Patriot News: Pennsylvania’s 5-year debate over federal ID requirements gets a plan
The state Senate passed an amended “Real ID” bill Tuesday that’s expected to hit Gov. Tom Wolf’s desk tomorrow and keep Pennsylvanians free this summer to fly to DisneyWorld or to enter federal courthouses and military bases.
The state House earlier this month crafted a bill giving Pennsylvanians the option of choosing either a drivers’ license that’s Real ID-compliant, or a standard-issue driver’s license/photo identification card.
The final language, which the Senate inserted in a Rules Committee vote earlier Tuesday, retained that two-tier concept, and specifies that the state cannot mandate Real ID cards for all residents.
The bill also plainly states, as a matter of legislative intent, that persons opting for the Real ID cards should bear the cost of the enhanced identification card system.
ABC-27: ‘Educational Apartheid’ in Pennsylvania must end, activists say
Schools in Pennsylvania are separate but not equal.
Or more accurately, according to study after study, the way schools are funded in the commonwealth in inequitable.
“We are experiencing here in Pennsylvania educational apartheid,” said Reverend Gregory Holston, Executive Director of POWER, an advocacy group based in Philadelphia.
Pennsylvania, according to the US Department of Education, is the worst in the US when it comes to funding differences between the HAVE districts and the HAVE NOTS.
“We are the worst,” said Senator Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia). “And not the worst by a little bit, but the worst by a lot.”
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