Bills to help the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indiana casinos both cope with competition for the public’s entertainment dollars were approved this morning by the key fiscal committee of the Indiana House.
The proposals — Senate Bill 91, which sets up a loan system for the Speedway and the motorsports industry, and Senate Bill 528, which lets casinos save some on taxes — now go to the full House for likely amendments and votes.
Under changes made in the House Ways and Means Committee, the bills became interwoven as the House decided to tap revenue from the two horse-track racinos to make the loans to the Speedway and other motorsports businesses. An additional change was made today, though, that let the two racinos, in Anderson and Shelbyville, keep $3 million that would have gone into anti-smoking programs.
The linkage between motorsports and gambling has alarmed Sen. Mike Young, the Indianapolis Republican who authored SB 91 and whose district includes the Speedway.
Young said he has never voted for a gambling bill, and was concerned about funding the Speedway improvements with gambling dollars.
“I don’t want to be the author of a bill that takes gambling money and uses it for something,” Young said.
He said the House had “a good idea” to try to fund the Speedway improvements, which include new lights and upgraded grandstands, but that he is now looking for other revenue avenues.
Rep. Tim Brown, the Crawfordsville Republican who is chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, assured lawmakers that the shift in tobacco funds would not lessen state funding for smoking-cessation programs. If necessary, money would be moved from the general fund for that, he said.
But Brown also said that this is not the endpoint for either SB 91 or SB 528. Both bills are expected to go through more changes when the House and Senate negotiate differences on bills before the session ends April 29.
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