LEGISLATIVE MUSINGS
………When I arrived at the Legislature some years ago as a freshman legislator, my fellow delegate, the late Sam Love, gave me some sage advice. “We can work against each other and nobody wins….not us and not our district. Or, we can work together, help each other and have each other’s back and we all win, especially our District.” Made sense to me and Sam and I worked together. In fact, there would not be video lottery funds to fight over, had we not worked together. Working together and communicating does not seem to be happening in Hancock County’s two districts.
…….HB 3012, with Del. Mark Zatezalo as the lead sponsor, added Weirton to the municipalities that receive money from the distribution of 1 percent of the Racetrack Video Lottery revenue. If you remember, Zatezalo sponsored the bill that took 1 percent from the 2 percent distribution and gave it to municipalities located wholly in the county in which the racetrack was located. That left Weirton (which ironically was in Zatezalo’s district) out of the distribution since Weirton is also located in Brooke County. This bill corrects that but then distributes the money on a per capita basis.
………In the meantime over in the Senate, SB 513, sponsored by Sen. Ryan Weld (R-1st) sponsored a similar build which kept the 1% for the municipalities intact, only distributing that 1% on a per capita basis. The bill is on the agenda for Government Organization tomorrow morning and I expect it to pass and pass through the Senate this week. Weirton is clearly the winner on video lottery funds under both bills; Chester with just over 2,000 people will see a significant reduction and New Cumberland with under 1,000 residents would be the real loser.
……..The SB 513 will then travel to the House, where I expect an attempt to amend out the “per capita” will be made, if not in Committee on the floor of the House. Del. Pat McGeehan, while one of the four co-sponsors of Zatezalo’s bill has told residents of Chester and New Cumberland he is not in favor of the “per capita” proviso and as majority leader of the House he is in a position to hold the bill on the House inactive calendar if agreement is not reached.
