Who is a member?
Our members are the local governments of Massachusetts and their elected and appointed leadership.
The Massachusetts Gaming Commission held public hearings in Boston, Fall River and Marlborough earlier this month on proposed regulations to govern the second phase of the casino licensing process. The draft regulations would address the following:
• The content and evaluation of applications
• Host community agreements and elections
• The “surrounding communities” designation
• The execution of surrounding community agreements
In testimony to the commission, the MMA noted the extent of change that will be brought by gaming facilities.
“The licensing of three resort casinos (Category 1) and one slots parlor (Category 2) in Massachusetts will have unprecedented and long-lasting impacts on our communities,” the MMA testified. “We respectfully and urgently request that you give significant consideration and weight to all requests and recommendations submitted by the prospective host and surrounding communities relative to their specific concerns and suggestions.”
The MMA urged the commission to craft final regulations pertaining to host communities that reflect their input on municipal timetables, consistency with established municipal processes, ordinances and bylaws, and local control of the host community agreement process.
The MMA commended the commission for creating two pathways for a municipality to receive the “surrounding community” designation: through agreement with the applicant, or through designation by the commission subsequent to the petition of the community.
The draft regulations, however, would allow the commission, in making its determination, to consider whether the adverse impacts would be common to several communities. The regulations would also allow the commission to consider whether the potential benefits to the community outweigh the negative impacts.
The MMA requested that these two provisions be omitted from the final regulations and that the commission base its surrounding-community decisions on the negative impacts to a community, regardless of whether the impacts occur in multiple communities or whether there are also prospective benefits to the community.
The commission is scheduled to release final regulations in June and subsequently issue an RFA-2 to applicants who successfully pass the Phase 1 application process.
Successful Phase 2 applicants will receive casino licenses in February 2014, according to the commission.