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Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Legislature approves exclusive rights to internet gaming for Wabanaki Nations
In 2022, the Maine Legislature amended the Settlement Act to permit Tribes to handle sports betting, and the internet gaming bill would build off of that earlier expansion. (Photo by Getty Images) The Maine Legislature passed a bill to give the Wabanaki Nations exclusive rights to operate internet gaming in Maine. If this bill, LD 1164, ultimately becomes law, it would require 16% of the revenue generated from internet gaming to go back to the state to fund services to address gambling addiction programs, substance use disorder, emergency housing relief and veteran housing. However, there are still remaining hurdles until that is guaranteed. Last Thursday, the House passed the bill 85-59 but the Senate split over the legislation before tabling it. When it took the bill back up Monday, the upper chamber first attempted to reject the bill but fell short of doing so with a 17-18 vote. The Senate ultimately passed it without a roll call. Later Monday night, the Senate attempted to reconsider its vote, but that motion failed 17-18. Both chambers therefore followed the recommendation from the Veterans and Legal Affairs Committee to support the measure. But Maine's Department of Health and Human Services opposed the bill during its public hearing. While Press Secretary Ben Goodman declined to share an official stance from Gov. Janet Mills, instead saying the administration is 'monitoring' the bill, Wabanaki leaders say there is not much appetite from the governor, presenting the possibility of a veto. Legislature considers paths to afford Wabanaki Nations more revenue from gambling The federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988 codified that tribes have the exclusive right to regulate gaming on their lands, unless the state in which it operates prohibits such gaming under its criminal laws. However, the 1980 Maine Indian Claims Settlement Act has made it so the Wabanaki Nations are treated more akin to municipalities than independent nations, one way being that the Tribes are unable to benefit from any federal law passed after 1980, unless they are specifically mentioned in the law. In 2022, the Maine Legislature amended the Settlement Act to permit Tribes to handle sports betting, so the legislation being considered this session would build off of that earlier expansion. 'The proposal to authorize igaming for Maine's tribes is more than a revenue conversation,' Brian Reynolds, the new Tribal Representative for the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, said during debate on the House floor Thursday. 'It's about laying a foundation for self-reliance through modern tools. This is a chance for us to meet economic needs without waiting on federal grants or new appropriations. It allows us to stand on our own.' The Department of Health and Human Services' opposition largely centered around not wanting to incentivize more gambling. 'While the bill directs a portion of revenue collected, which will be used to further prevention and treatment efforts, the number of individuals who may need support and resources will continue to increase along with the public health concerns associated with gambling and internet use,' Puthiery Va, director of the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention under DHHS, testified during the public hearing. Rep. Amy Roeder (D-Bangor) presented a rebuttal to this view during a speech on the floor Thursday. Noting that it is tempting to try to legislate morality, 'that's not our job,' Roeder said. 'It's our job outside of this chamber to talk to our families, to talk to our children about why we don't become addicted to gambling, why we shouldn't drink to excess, but that's not our job to legislate.' Other proponents argued internet gambling is already happening and the bill presents an opportunity for greater oversight. 'Regulating igaming gives us the tools to enforce safeguards like age verification, betting limits and addiction resources that the offshore platforms ignore,' Reynold said on the floor. 'By bringing this market under Maine's laws, we're not only protecting the Maine gaming market, we're protecting people.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX The bill also presents an opportunity for the state to benefit on gambling that's already happening, Passamaquoddy Tribal Rep. Aaron Dana said in an interview with Maine Morning Star. 'If we allow that type of gaming and regulate that gaming here in the state of Maine, then we have the ability to have geo fencing and firewalls so the illegal online gaming is not happening anymore and the state is actually gaining revenue from it.' Dana sees this added revenue as particularly key in light of the tight budget year. 'I think it would be a win-win,' he said. Maine's privately owned casinos — Hollywood Casino, Hotel and Raceway in Bangor and Oxford Casino Hotel — are opposed because it would create an internet gaming monopoly for the Wabanaki Nations and, they argue, hurt their businesses by diverting revenue to the online options. 'Oxford Casino has delivered on its promise to Maine — creating jobs, paying taxes, and supporting local businesses,' Matt Gallagher, the casino's general manager, testified during the public hearing. 'LD 1164 undermines this success.' Dana argues the demographics of people who use online gaming are different from those who go to brick-and mortar-casinos. Roeder also argued 'the brick-and-mortars will not suffer because they offer something that igaming does not,' which is a social experience. The Legislature is also considering another gaming bill that pertains to the Wabanaki Nations this session, though it has yet to receive floor votes. Rather than altering the structure of who controls gaming, LD 1851 seeks to provide equality among the Wabanaki Nations in how much revenue they are provided from slot machine income in the state. It would increase the total net slot machine income to be collected and distributed by a casino from 39% to 46%, which would only impact Hollywood Casino, as Oxford Casino is currently at that percentage. It would then provide 7% of that income to the tribal governments of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and the Mi'kmaq Nation. This is roughly the same revenue, around $3.5 million, that Oxford already provides the Passamaquoddy Tribe and Penobscot Nation. While both gaming bills could be passed, Chief of the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians Clarissa Sabattis told Maine Morning Star she anticipates the slot revenue bill will not be as necessary should the Tribes gain control of internet gaming, though she sees that path as the less likely outcome. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
More than 100 bills still have a chance to become law this year
Entrance to the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee room in the Maine State House in Augusta. (Photo by Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star) More than 100 bills now have a chance to ultimately become law this year, though many with reduced price tags and scope. Among those advanced were bills to approve exclusive rights to internet gaming for Wabanaki Nations, establish a property tax relief task force, add Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history to Maine's learning results, require serial numbers for so-called ghost guns, and establish a statewide takeback program for firefighting foam contaminated with forever chemicals, following a spill in Brunswick last summer. The Legislature will return on Wednesday to ultimately decide which to send to Gov. Janet Mills, as well as to potentially consider other bills still in limbo in the chambers. The 117 proposals advanced on Tuesday were selected out of nearly 300 bills that had been placed on what's known as the appropriations table, which is managed by the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee that sets the budget. Most bills placed on the table already passed both chambers but still need to be funded. In total, the bills on the table would have cost about $2.5 billion over the next two years, but there is about $7 million left to be allocated after Mills signed the budget addition into law on Monday. Some of the bills the appropriations committee voted 'off the table,' to send back to the full Legislature for consideration, were advanced without changes. That was the case for the bills related to igaming for the Tribes, the property tax task force and Asian American history requirements. It was also the case for a bill to make the governor's energy office a cabinet level department and another to alter the real estate transfer tax in an effort to protect mobile home parks. However, the committee amended a number of bills to reduce their cost or strike it altogether. For example, the committee voted LD 1126 — the bill to require serial numbers for so-called ghost guns — off the table after removing its appropriations, noting that the Department of Public Safety Commissioner Michael Sauschuck said the positions those funds would have supported were not necessary to fulfill the goal of the bill. Meanwhile, another bill related to firearm regulation — LD 1867, to prohibit financial institutions and merchants from using firearm codes to track purchases — remains on the table, though Republicans on the committee attempted to move it off. One of the most common ways the committee amended bills was by striking their fiscal notes but then allocating just $500 to set up a fund that keeps a path open for future funding, by the state or other revenue. This was the case for LD 222, the takeback program for firefighting foam, LD 1738, which aims to fund proper disposal of syringe litter, LD 1529, which seeks to enhance the protection of high-value natural resources statewide, and LD 1643, which would establish the Maine Life Science Innovation Center, among others. After the committee included a $3 million appropriation for family planning services in the budget, it opted to also vote an amended version of a bill, LD 143, off the table to provide up to another $3 million by making such a transfer a priority for any unappropriated surplus of the general fund. This move received sharp rebukes from Republicans on the committee, including Rep. Amy Bradstreet Arata (R-New Gloucester) who said she was 'thoroughly disgusted.' But Republicans on the committee successfully moved a few items off the table. One was a bill to create the Net Energy Billing Cost Stabilization Fund. Another was a bill to provide that accrued and unused hours of earned paid leave from the previous year of employment must be available in the year of employment. And another was a bill to extend the statute of limitations on criminal actions involving aggravated sex trafficking. In other cases, the committee funded proposals but at reduced amounts. This occurred with bills to fund free health clinics and the Maine Emergency Medical Services Community Grant Program, as well as two proposals to reduce student homelessness, one aimed at helping students at risk of homelessness and another aimed at students who are already unhoused. One bill ended up requiring no committee action — LD 1425, which aims to improve access to sustainable and low-barrier trauma recovery services — because it is being funded by settlement money provided by the Office of the Maine Attorney General. This bill as well as a handful that were incorporated into the budget will still remain 'on the table' upon adjournment because they've been funded an alternative way. Some of the bills on the table that were funded through the budget include an expansion of Maine's version of a child tax credit for children under six and an initiative to help mitigate the fact that the Older Americans Act is no longer funded by the federal government. Further, committee co-chair Sen. Peggy Rotundo (D-Androscoggin) said before concluding work Tuesday night that the committee intends to carry over the bills still on the table into next year. 'There's another chance for all of them,' Rotundo said. As lawmakers begin to make their final decisions, use the searchable table below to see the status of the bills on the table:
Yahoo
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Maine Legislature sends more than 100 bills to governor on last day of session
The dome of the Maine State House in Augusta. (Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star) Lawmakers sent more than 100 bills to the governor's desk on the final day of session on Wednesday, though less than half of the bills that had been vying for funding. Among the bills legislators passed in the final hours are measures to provide exclusive rights to internet gaming for the Wabanaki Nations, require serial numbers for so-called ghost guns and add Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander history to Maine's learning results. Two bills aimed at helping with housing affordability, one by altering the real estate transfer tax to protect mobile home parks and another to establish a property tax relief task force, are also now on the governor's desk. Another bill passed by lawmakers on Wednesday would establish a statewide takeback program for firefighting foam contaminated with forever chemicals, following a spill in Brunswick last summer. And others would alter state government, including a change to make the governor's energy office a cabinet level department and another to make it so a simple majority, rather than current two-thirds, of each chamber could extend the Legislature's work beyond the statutory adjournment date. These bills are not guaranteed to become law quite yet. The Maine Legislature adjourned sine die, or finally, and does not plan to reconvene until the start of the second regular session in January 2026. But Gov. Janet Mills now has 10 days to either sign or veto the bills passed on Wednesday. The status of any bills she doesn't take action on won't be settled until the Legislature reconvenes. The governor will have three days to veto bills then, or let them become law without her signature. So far this session, Mills has vetoed five bills, all of which lawmakers sustained on Wednesday. All non-emergency laws passed this session will take effect on Sept. 24 unless the bill text notes otherwise. The 117 bills lawmakers passed on Wednesday followed the recommendations of the Appropriations and Financial Affairs Committee, which voted those proposals off of what's known as the appropriations table on Tuesday. These amount to about 40% of the total number of bills — nearly 300 — placed on the table throughout the session. Legislation on the table has largely already passed both chambers on initial votes but still needed to be funded. While some of these bills could now become law, the appropriations committee reduced or struck altogether the allocations of most given limited resources. (More details here.) One of the proposals it amended that now awaits approval from Mills is a measure to provide more funding for reproductive health care. The budget addition the governor signed into law last week provided $3 million for family planning services, which include routine gynecological and well exams, testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections, birth control, cancer screenings, gender-affirming and behavioral health care, among others. Such funding is not used for abortions. The bill now on the governor's desk, LD 143, had initially called for $6 million toward these services, but the appropriations committee advanced an amended version on Tuesday that would instead provide up to another $3 million from the available unappropriated surplus by the end of the current fiscal year. It was clear Republicans opposed the measure in committee, with Rep. Amy Bradstreet Arata (R-New Gloucester) saying she was 'thoroughly disgusted.' But both chambers ultimately enacted it as amended on Wednesday, with the Democratic majority and Republican Sen. Rick Bennett of Oxford backing it. But other proposals were approved as is. That was the case for one of the most debated bills in the appropriations committee on Tuesday: LD 1937, which sought to require hospitals and their affiliates to provide financial assistance programs for medical care. Republicans on the committee criticized it as a measure that will increase hospitals' costs while they're already struggling, while Democrats countered that the bill would make sure people who don't have insurance still have access to health care. The state delayed Medicaid payments to hospitals this spring after Senate Republicans refused to back a change package to address the urgent deficit without structural reform to the program. Now, hospitals are also bracing to possibly take on more costs for the uninsured due to proposed cuts to Medicaid in President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' The committee left on the table the majority of the bills that had been placed there this year. However, all of the bills left on the table upon adjournment were carried over in a joint order passed on Wednesday, so they could still become law next year when the Legislature reconvenes. Among those bills were two that sought to ensure the already required teachings of Wabanaki and African American studies are effectively implemented across all Maine schools. LD 1474 sought to permanently establish a Wabanaki studies specialist in the Maine Department of Education, while LD 1202 sought to create an African American Studies Advisory Council. Two other bills that the committee did not move off the table would have expanded the state's infrastructure to track and test sexual assault forensic examination kits, commonly called rape kits. These preserve evidence left behind during an assault through a forensic medical examination that survivors can choose to undergo immediately after a sexual assault. DNA evidence from these kits can then be used to solve and prevent crimes. LD 549 would have established a statewide tracking system for such kits, and LD 1816 would have conducted an inventory of existing kits in the possession of law enforcement. Defying the appropriations committee decision, Bennett, the sponsor of LD 549, attempted to suspend the rules to take both his bill and LD 1816 off the table on Wednesday. His motions failed. 'It's unfortunate that the appropriations of the committee hasn't responded to the urgent needs of some people of the state of Maine,' Bennett said. Sen. Brad Farrin (R-Somerset) also attempted to do the same for LD 182, which would provide per diem payments for MaineCare residents of the Maine Veterans' Homes. His motion also failed. In addition to carrying over the bills left on the table, each of the legislative policy committees requested that some of the bills in their possession be carried over to next year. The joint order also included some bills that had remained tabled in the chambers upon adjournment. One of those measures was LD 1822, the proposal for a comprehensive data privacy law passed by the majority of the Judiciary Committee. 'While LD 1822 did not receive a vote on the House floor this session, I am encouraged by the progress we made in the Judiciary Committee to put together a robust data privacy bill – one that will actually protect Mainers' sensitive information and strike a careful balance between innovation and accountability,' bill sponsor Rep. Amy Kuhn (D-Falmouth) told Maine Morning Star. 'I am grateful that the bill was carried over to next session, and I look forward to continuing this important work next year.' Meanwhile, both chambers voted down a competing data privacy measure, LD 1088. (Read more about these proposals here). Use the searchable chart below to check the status of the bills that had been placed on the table at some point this session: Editor's Note: This story was updated to clarify what happens to bills when they are delivered to the governor at the end of a session.
RNZ News
29-05-2025
- Business
- RNZ News
Tinian adopts cryptocurrency for internet gaming
Photo: Supplied The island of Tinian in the Northern Marianas is the first US jurisdiction to adopt a government-backed cryptocurrency for internet gaming. The CNMI's House of Representatives has voted to override Governor Arnold Palacios' veto of a senate bill. Senate Local Bill 24-01, Draft 1 essentially authorizes internet gaming using a regulated platform and creates the "Tinian Stable Token" or MUSD, backed by the US dollar and managed by the CNMI treasury on a secure blockchain. It also enables casinos to accept and process stablecoin payments for digital gaming and mandates full transparency and recordkeeping of all gaming transactions. Chief technology officer of Marianas Rai Corporation, and an advocate of the measure, Vin Armani, told lawmakers the actions they took on the matter of the override "will have an impact on the economic prosperity, or lack thereof, for generations of citizens of the CNMI". "You have a chance to attract billions of dollars of investment and tax revenue from the fastest growing segment of the financial technology industry." Senator Jude Hofschneider, who co-sponsored the bill, emphasized the need for diversification in the wake of repeated economic shocks from tourism decline and federal program wind-downs. He thanked the House for passing the override of Palacios' veto. "We believe that this initiative can help not only Tinian but the entire CNMI in our efforts to economic recovery," he said. "We often hear statements being made about diversifying our economy. This exercise is a great indication of what that means." He assured lawmakers that regulations and enforcement mechanisms already exist through the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission, which would oversee licensing and compliance. Palacios initially vetoed the measure, citing concerns raised by the Office of the Attorney General about oversight, financial transparency, and constitutional authority. The Attorney-General questioned whether such a currency framework could bypass federal and local financial regulations or create liabilities for the CNMI government. But lawmakers in both the Senate and House rejected the veto, arguing that the bill only enables a legal framework and does not appropriate any government funds or authorize uncontrolled crypto trading. Tinian's local leaders said the system will be tightly regulated, with every token transaction recorded on a tamper-proof blockchain for public auditing. Representative Patrick San Nicolas said a vote to override Palacios' veto on the bill is a vote for the future of not only Tinian but the entire CNMI. "Overriding this Senate local bill is a forward-looking measure that gives our island and our Commonwealth the legal infrastructure to enter a global digital economy, through standalone internet gaming licenses and the creation of the Tinian stablecoin. "This is not a rushed thing into unregulated digital wireless. This is a bill about transparency. This is a bill about accountability and modern financial infrastructure. It is about building an economy within the Commonwealth." Floor leader, representative Marissa Flores, who voted no to the override, asked her colleagues for patience and not to rush into passing an override without carefully thinking of its ramifications. "By taking the time to think carefully, to act thoughtfully, and to persevere patiently, we can make decisions that not only serve our immediate political needs, but also pave the way for the long-term security, prosperity, and the well-being of our Marianas." On 9 May the Senate voted 7-1 to override Palacios' veto, which then needed a two-thirds majority in the House to pass and was voted through 14-2 on 15 May.
