Rep. Franklin J. Foil, R-Baton Rouge, is turning to the state’s gaming industry to save TOPS, the publicly-funded scholarship program for Louisiana students attending in-state colleges and universities.
The Manship News Service reports Foil has filed House Bill 91 which, if approved, would establish a TOPS Gaming Income Fund to act as a “special treasury fund.” Under the measure, the state Office of the Treasury would deposit franchise fees from the state’s riverboat casinos in the new fund to cover any TOPS deficit.
Present law provides that the 15% franchise fee on net gaming proceeds, after allocations to the Bond Security and Redemption Fund and the Compulsive and Problem Gaming Fund, be deposited into the state’s general fund.
Foil’s bill would reallocate the 15% franchise fee to the TOPS Gaming Income Fund. The fees, however, would not be utilized if TOPS is fully funded by the Legislature through the appropriations process.
Foil says the $400 million riverboat gambling harvests annually is “more than enough” to patch funding holes in TOPS. When the Louisiana Legislature legalized gambling in the early ‘90s, there were strings attached—including a public promise that gambling revenues accrued would be used for education.
Of the riverboat gambling franchise fees, which go back to the state, only 25% go to education while the remaining 75% of the fees are dumped into the state general fund. Because TOPS is education-related, Foil says, he thought it made sense to dedicate part of the revenue to the popular Louisiana scholarship program.
“You look at other gambling programs we have, such as the lottery—almost all of that goes to education,” he says.
The regular legislative session begins on Monday.
