Dear Mr. Silver, Please see that the Attorney General issues a Formal

Opinion. See below.

Dear Attorney General Eric Schneiderman:

    The Bettors of the State of New York and the employees of the remaining OTBs, public benefit corporations, have no standing to ask for your Opinion to the following simple questions with seemingly obvious answers::


1. Will the Attorney General defend the constitutionality of NY PML Sec 105?
2. Does NY PML Sec 105 apply to   Nassau OTB?
3. Does NY PML  Sec 105 violate the rights of New York Bettors secured by NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3?
4. Is NY PML Sec 105 vague, indefinite and/or overly broad as the term "Easter Sunday" does not define one and only one Sunday in all years (see eg Gregorian and Julian Calendars)?

I hope that you will sua sponte issue an Opinion as to the above so that bettors may bet, workers may work or not as they wish, and the State and its subdivisions make money. There are tracks running all across the United States every day of the year that bettors want to bet. Track calendars may be found at eg www.ntra.com. The OTBs also sell  New York Lottery tickets which are drawn every day of the year. The OTBs also cash non IRS Lottery tickets in cash for any sum, a convenience for many Lotto Players.

It is critical in these current time that the OTBs are open when customers want to bet. I believe that your Opinion will belatedly validate the actions of New York City OTB taken on the advice of its Counsel in 2003.


Sincerely yours,
January 5, 2012

Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m - New York Daily News

articles.nydailynews.com/.../18220335_1_racing-and-wagering-boar...

Open On 1st Palm Sunday, Otb Rakes In $2m. BY JERRY BOSSERT DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER. Monday, April 14, 2003. New York City Off-Track Betting ...

§  105. Supplementary regulatory powers of the board.  Notwithstanding
  any inconsistent provision of law,  the  board  through  its  rules  and
  regulations  or  in  allotting  dates  for  racing  or in licensing race
  meetings at which pari-mutuel betting is permitted  shall  be  empowered
  to:  (i)  permit racing at which pari-mutuel betting is conducted on any
  or all dates from the first day of January through the thirty-first  day
  of December, inclusive of Sundays but exclusive of December twenty-fifth
  and  Palm  Sunday  and  Easter  Sunday; and (ii) fix minimum and maximum
  charges for admission at any race meeting.

Shel: We’ll raise our game – then our pay

Last Updated: 4:53 AM, January 23, 2012

Posted: 12:35 AM, January 23, 2012

More Print

Fredric U. Dicker

EXCLUSIVE

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is endorsing a pay hike for state lawmakers this year, but he conceded legislators must end their reputation for dysfunction in order to earn one.
Silver, touching on what many politicians see as a third rail of state politics — especially during tough economic times for constituents and the state’s coffers — said it was unfair that lawmakers, along with statewide elected officials and top state commissioners, haven’t had a salary increase since 1999.
“More and more members are full-time members of the Legislature, and it’s significant that their salaries haven’t kept pace with inflation for the last 13 years,’’ Silver told The Post.

Shannon DeCelle

Sheldon Silver

“People understand that before there can be a discussion of pay raises, there has to be a change in the performance level of the Legislature,’’ the speaker continued.
Silver said that lawmakers would have to repeat last year’s success of securing an on-time budget and also push through a “substantive agenda.”
“That’s the only thing that will convince the public at the appropriate time that a pay raise is deserved,” Silver said.
Silver insisted that there had been no discussions among legislative leaders or Gov. Cuomo about pay hikes, but he wouldn’t rule out talks later this year.
It’s “possible that the governor would look favorably on a salary adjustment for members of the Legislature, along with state commissioners, if a good budget is passed on time and the legislators show the public that they’re deserving of a raise,” a source close to Cuomo said.
Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos (R-Nassau), nervously eyeing the prospects for the GOP to retain its narrow, one-vote majority, refused to take a stand on a pay hike.
The Legislature, considered one of the most dysfunctional in the nation, worked successfully with Cuomo last year to adopt an on-time budget, a property-tax cap, ethics reform and legalization of same-sex marriages.
Lawmakers voted themselves a pay raise, effective Jan. 1, 1999, after the November 1998 election, fearing that if they had voted before the polling, many would have been defeated by angry voters.
Silver refused to speculate on when a pay-raise vote could take place this year after the November election, saying, “I’m not ruling anything in or out.”
Some lawmakers say privately that they’d like to see a pay-raise commission appointed in the next few months to report back with a recommendation before the end of the year.
If lawmakers don’t vote themselves a pay raise this year, they won’t be eligible to receive one until 2015.

The current Legislature goes out of existence Dec. 31, so a pay raise voted this year would become effective for lawmakers taking office Jan. 1.
Silver, Skelos and dozens of other lawmakers also earn undisclosed income from private law practices.
However, that will change next year, when a new ethics law requires the public disclosure of the approximate amounts of outside earnings.
fredric.dicker@nypost.com

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/shel_we_ll_raise_our_game_then_our_TUFMftgrlVA9ppojIpwWSO#ixzz1kPaaKe8F