A Mystery that Defies Common Sense
Depending on who you talk to, Democratic leaders in the state Legislature either bent – or broke – the rules to pass the lottery.
I’m no authority on Parliamentary Procedure, but the issue seems to be whether the lottery bill was a revenue bill that should have been voted on twice on two separate days, rather than twice on one day (which is what democratic legislators did).
As a result, several organizations opposing the lottery have filed a lawsuit and if they win we’re shed of ‘powerball’ and ‘scratch cards,’ at least, until the legislature rushes back to town.
What is more interesting is the Circuit Courts ruling in the case.
The court declared – two to one – that the Lottery Bill, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars in income to the state, is not a revenue bill.
The court used a lot of legal wrangling about ‘pledging the states credit’ and the difference in revenues and taxes to thread a legal needle. But how could hundreds of millions of dollars paid into the states coffers not be revenue?
It’s a mystery that defies common sense.
A Mystery that Defies Common Sense
Depending on who you talk to, Democratic leaders in the state Legislature either bent – or broke – the rules to pass the lottery.
I’m no authority on Parliamentary Procedure, but the issue seems to be whether the lottery bill was a revenue bill that should have been voted on twice on two separate days, rather than twice on one day (which is what democratic legislators did).
As a result, several organizations opposing the lottery have filed a lawsuit and if they win we’re shed of ‘powerball’ and ‘scratch cards,’ at least, until the legislature rushes back to town.
What is more interesting is the Circuit Courts ruling in the case.
The court declared – two to one – that the Lottery Bill, which generates hundreds of millions of dollars in income to the state, is not a revenue bill.
The court used a lot of legal wrangling about ‘pledging the states credit’ and the difference in revenues and taxes to thread a legal needle. But how could hundreds of millions of dollars paid into the states coffers not be revenue?
It’s a mystery that defies common sense.