Three Halves Don’t Make a Whole

Lawmakers have their work cut out for them this legislative session, as they have three big issues sitting on their plate and none of them are going away. With the legislative session ending this week, they need to wrap up three important issues, and a stalemate on any one of them could really gum up the works.

They have three issues that they have to solve, and they are all connected to each other. They have to figure out the budget, they have to figure out property tax reform, and they have to decide on legalization of slot machines at their horse tracks. The only one that will cause the state’s legislation to stay is not passing a state budget. The property tax and slot machine issues will not keep the legislature there, but because they are intertwined one will influence the others.

Many think that if the slot machines are legalized that the property tax plan will be paid for. If the tax plan is paid for then the budget will most likely pass. But if slot machines are not legalized then they could be looking at real problems. With negotiations just starting, it is likely that they will not have received a conclusion by the end of the week.

Experts say however, if the slot machine bill is not passed then the property tax bill is going to have its own problems. They say that the money that would come from the slot machine revenue would help pass the other two. Republican leaders say that they will pass the slot machines if, and only if, the majority of the state’s revenue goes to property tax relief.


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