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HELP STOP SLOTS IN MARYLAND 

From the Desk of Rev. Byron P. Brought
Calvary UMC, Annapolis

Sept. 20, 2007

Colleagues:

This is a critical time for those of us who oppose the introduction of slots in Maryland. Here is the current situation:

The Governor and Senate President Miller are trying to call a special session of the General Assembly in early November, to railroad through a $2.1B revenue package which includes:

1. Tax increases (1 cent increase in sales tax, additional services such as haircuts to be subject to sales tax, increase in vehicle title tax, and $1 increase in cigarette tax; and
2. Slots. The slots part of the proposal has not been made entirely public.

The danger in this is that a special session will not include the normal hearings and input from citizens that the regular session will provide. The bigger danger is approval of a non-specific slots proposal, without knowing where and how many parlors will be established.

Mike Busch, Speaker of the House, opposes both a special session and slots, but there is tremendous pressure on him to cave.

I urgently ask you to quickly send e-mails or make phone calls to express opposition to a special session and your strong opposition to slots in any form in any location.

A link to find contact information for your delegates:

www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/hse.htm

You might also e-mail or call Mike Busch:

.md.us or 410-841-3578 and encourage him to hang tough in his opposition to slots.

In the near future, Stop Slots will be holding press conferences and rallies in four locations around the state: Ocean City, Baltimore, Western Maryland, and either Prince George's or Montgomery County. I will take the liberty to inform you of those dates and locations when they are available.

Please forward this information to sympathetic parishoners and neighbors. And please contact your delegates immediately.

From the Desk of Aaron Meisner,
Chairman, StopSlotsMaryland

As we have been discussing, a special session is a serious problem for us and one that must be averted. The good news is that there are tons of reasons to oppose. We MUST MUST MUST get those calls flowing in to Delegates. Here are some ideas for conversations with lawmakers:

1) If you are going to raise my taxes by two billion dollars, I'd really rather be able to participate in the process. A special session will create a highly pressurized situation where nobody will have an opportunity to testify, or to consider the ramifications of each component. While I understand that the state would like to start collecting money in January, we have had this dysfunctional tax code for fifty years. Another eight weeks isn't going to hurt. We all know what we get when big, complex bills pass without proper care. Most lawmakers admit that they never read the utility deregulation bill before it passed all those years ago. We know how that worked out. Will anyone really have a chance to digest a total revamp of the revenue code in Five Short Days?

2) Since we are raising taxes anyway, let's deal with some of the more complex loopholes in our tax code. Should commercial aircraft fuel continue to be totally untaxed? Should cement trucks continue to enjoy a rebate of fuel taxes despite the damage they do to our roads? The truth is that I have no idea and neither do most legislators. The only way to find out is through hearings. And we all know these are not going to happen in five days.

3) When you take a controversial vote, you should expect your governor to provide you with something in return. We know that the special session is about taxing, not about spending. Spending decisions are going to be made in the regular session. And by that time, lawmakers will have lost much (all?) of the leverage you have today. With the economy slowing, tax receipts are going to be falling for the next six months at least. By the time we get to the regular session, the governor could be faced with having no money to fulfill the promises he had to make for votes during the special session.

4) Finally, I would point out that the Speaker has done an amazing job of putting the House on equal footing with the Senate in the Annapolis power structure. A special session puts the House at the mercy of Mike Miller. Why squander the power of the House just when it matters most?

Please feel free to pass this on, and urge people to call their delegates and the Speaker's office. That number is (410) 841-3800 or (301) 858-3800. You can find direct contact information for your delegate by clicking on this link: http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/06hse/html/hse.html

Thanks!