Three GOP State Senators Willing To Trade Marijuana Support For Fiscal And Public Safety Reforms

Senator Declan O’Scanlon

Three  Republican State Senators, including Monmouth County’s Declan O’Scanlon are willing to vote to legalize recreational marijuana in New Jersey if Governor Phil Murphy and Senate President Steve Sweeney deliver the return of the Energy Receipts Tax to municipalities, a dedicated 911 System and Emergency Response Trust Fund, funding for addiction recovery services and a guaranteed reimbursement fund for municipalities paying to train police officers as Drug Recognition Experts who can assess if a driver is impaired by cannabis, according to an article on NJ.com

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Murphy could hold sports betting bill as a chip to play in budget negotiations

The William Hill Sports Race & Sports Book at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, New Jersey. Photo By Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO.

Dennis Drazin and his partners at Monmouth Park were ready to accept sports bets on Memorial Day weekend.  They wisely didn’t after Senate President Steve Sweeney announced he was inserting a provision in the state legislation regulating sports betting that would prohibit anyone who took bets before the regulations were passed from getting a license.

Sweeney was looking out for the Atlantic City Casinos who weren’t ready to take bets yet.   In the meantime, Delaware passed their spots betting regulations and bets will start being taken there today.  New Jersey loses out again.

What was considered a two or three week delay while legislation was passed now threatens to deprive New Jersey’s racetracks and casinos of sports betting revenue, and the related jobs, for a third or more of their summer season.  According to a report on Politico, Governor Murphy is prepared to hold the sports betting bill as a chip to play as he negotiates his first state budget with the more moderate Sweeney and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin.

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