From the Indianapolis Star:
Indiana’s motorsports business would be helped by an old-fashioned form of horse-power to accelerate a legislative effort to get state aid: Horse racing.
Under changes being debated to two measures — Senate Bill 91, which helps the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and Senate Bill 528, which helps casinos and racinos keep up with out-of-state competition — money from Indiana’s two horse-track racinos would be tapped to give loans to the speedway and other motorsports businesses.
The unlikely meshing had some lawmakers scratching their heads, and a few downright angry.
“I think it’s the most egregious example of government overreach I’ve ever seen in my seven years here,” said Rep. Sean Eberhart, a Shelbyville Republican whose district includes the Indiana Grand Casino at the Indiana Downs racetrack.
“Show me another example of where we’re forcing one private industry to subsidize another private industry,” Eberhart said. “That’s exactly what we’re doing here.”
And, he argued, if the state wants to tap money generated by the racinos, it should instead give the racinos the ability offer live table games — an option that the House Public Policy Committee earlier stripped from SB 528. That, he said, would generate additional revenue that could be used for whatever business loans and grants the state wants to dole out.
The House Ways and Means Committee, where the unusual proposal was unveiled Monday morning, will continue the debate this morning, with a vote on the two bills expected.
But no one expects the debate to end there. No matter what the committee decides, additional changes will be debated in the full House with a final version hammered out between the House and Senate before the April 29 deadline for the legislature to adjourn.
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http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013304080048
