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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Dante Santoni |
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House moves to complete state budget
HARRISBURG, Oct. 7 – The state House on Wednesday approved legislation that will nearly finalize Pennsylvania's 2009-10 state budget, according to Rep. Dante Santoni, D-Berks.
Santoni said the House passed and sent to the Senate the $27.79 billion General Fund budget (H.B. 1416), which details state spending items including public education, child care subsidies and health care for vulnerable residents. The House also passed and sent to the governor a bill (H.B. 1531) that would raise the revenues necessary to fund the state budget. The Senate approved that bill on Tuesday.
"My goal from the beginning of budget discussions was that this year's budget reflect the fundamental principles of protecting children, senior citizens, veterans an our most vulnerable citizens while also investing in our future through education," Santoni said. "This budget accomplishes those goals as best we can given our $3.2 billion deficit and as more and more people seek state services as a result of the national recession.
"This plan allows us to raise the sustainable revenue necessary to fund education and protect programs for the elderly without raising broad-based taxes, while spending hundreds of millions of dollars less than we did in last year's budget. Investing in education at the state level also is critical to keeping local property taxes down."
Santoni said the plan approved by the House does not include a Senate Republican proposal to tax admission to arts and cultural activities or to tax volunteer fire departments, veterans' groups and other nonprofit organizations that raise money through small games of chance. He opposed taxing those groups.
Santoni, who is chairman of the House Gaming Oversight Committee, said legislation that would legalize table games to support the budget is still being worked out. Still under discussion is the percentage of daily table game revenue each facility would be required to pay to the state. Santoni said he supports having casino operators pay 34 percent or less of their daily revenues to better reflect industry standards.
"We continue to have conversations with our Senate counterparts on the appropriate revenue shares for an industry that is just beginning to take off in our state. We must be careful and realistic so we do not make it unattractive to these businesses that have the option of setting up shop and providing jobs in other states."
Santoni said adding table games to the state's current slot operations has the potential to create more than 16,000 new jobs and provide $1 billion in economic output annually. According to industry experts, casinos on average hire 700 people for every 65 table games in play, he said.
"Pennsylvania slots casinos have created thousands of jobs, revitalized our horse racing industry and continue to deliver hundreds of millions of dollars for property tax relief across the state," Santoni said. "Table games are the natural progression of this industry."
Santoni said he believes state lawmakers will be able to pass and send to the governor all components of the budget package by this weekend.
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