Posted: | October 2, 2013 04:13 PM |
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From: | Representative Rosita C. Youngblood |
To: | All House members |
Subject: | Requiring Philadelphia's Local Share Assessment from licensed gaming to fund education |
In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation that would provide additional funding to the Philadelphia School District by better utilizing local casino revenues. Specifically, the legislation would amend the section of the state's Gaming Act that deals with the local share assessment for Philadelphia's casinos. The bill would require all revenues collected under this local assessment to be allocated to the Philadelphia School District. Under current law, Philadelphia's casinos are required to pay a 4 percent local assessment to the city. Right now, only the first $5 million of this local share assessment is allocated to the school district, with the remaining money going to the city's General Fund. It is estimated Philadelphia will receive almost $10 million from the gaming local share assessment this year. And with a second Philadelphia casino on the horizon, it is estimated the city could see nearly $20 million a year from this revenue moving forward. My proposal would simply require that all revenues generated under Philadelphia's local share assessment go to our financially strapped school district. This would be a dedicated funding stream that could help our schools and boost the education of our children. It is important to note that this proposal would change the local share assessment allocation for Philadelphia only, and would not impact the allocation of funding for any other city or county local share assessment, or the state revenues collected for property and wage tax relief. I hope you will join me in cosponsoring this legislation. Thank you in advance for your consideration. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact my Harrisburg office at 717-772-5404. |
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View Attachment |
Introduced as HB1798