EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE NOMINATIONS COMMITTEE;

CURRENT ISSUES

1. (NEW) Given current budget concerns, what will be your highest priorities in the next few years?

2. (NEW) What effect will the repeal of the Las Vegas night statutes have on nonprofit organizations that rely on Las Vegas nights as fundraisers? Approximately how many organizations are affected?

3. (NEW) The Mohegan Sun Casino now owns a professional basketball team. What do you think of casinos hosting professional sports teams?

4. (NEW) In the last several years, there have been several proposals to authorize off-reservation high stakes bingo in the state. What are the pros and cons of this proposal? Would you support it?

5. (NEW) A current legislative proposal (HB 5645) seeks to increase commissions for lottery agents by one percent in 2003 and one-half percent in 2004. How much do agents get now? Would you support this proposal?

6. (NEW) Some legislators argue for a constitutional amendment declaring the state’s anti-gambling policy. But some people view the state’s long-standing anti-gambling policy as anachronistic. What are your views on this?

7. (NEW) What are the current trends in the gambling industry? What issues or trends are most likely to dominate the industry in the next few years? What are the implications for Connecticut?

8. (NEW) Despite questions over legal and security issues, gambling has come to the Internet. Today, several hundred web sites offer various forms of gambling over the Internet. The possibility of individual, anonymous, and easy access 24 hours a day makes Internet gambling very attractive for all kinds of gamblers. Should the state be considering ways to take advantage of Internet gambling, outlaw it, or regulate and tax it?

9. (NEW) A 1999 National Commission on Gambling voted unanimously for a moratorium on new gambling in the country. How would you advise the legislature?

10. (NEW) While casino gambling is thriving in the state, some of the other forms of gambling have been declining. What steps, if any, should the state take to ensure that the other forms of gambling remain viable?

11. (NEW) PA 01-9, June SS, gave tax breaks to the state’s pari-mutuel industry. Have the tax breaks improved the state of the industry or is it too early to tell?

12. (NEW) Is teenage gambling increasing in the state or are we just talking about it more? What standards would you support for enforcing underage gambling prohibitions?

ISSUES RELATING TO AGENCY RESPONSIBILITIES AND PROCEDURES

1. (NEW) What are the major challenges that you anticipate the Division of Special Revenue (DSR) will face in the next few years? How will they affect its operations? What strategies should the agency adopt to deal with them?

2. (NEW) In the last few years, lottery operations were removed from DSR’s purview, the Hartford fronton closed, and pari-mutuel and charitable gaming declined. As a consequence of all these changes, DSR’s role in gambling operations appears to have diminished considerably. Is this an accurate assessment of the situation? What changes, if any, would you like to see in DSR’s role and responsibilities?

3. (NEW) What are some of the major problems and issues that you have addressed during your tenure as executive director? How have your responses to them improved the agency’s operations?

4. (NEW) DSR proposals have not fared well in the legislature in the last few years. What gambling proposals would you like to see the legislature adopt this year?

VR: eh