After more than 12 hours of debate and dozens of proposed amendments, a lot of them rejected, the Alabama House approved, on its second attempt, Gov. Robert Bentley’s proposal for a state lottery. The Alabama House, by a scant one vote margin, passed the legislation on an unusual revote late Thursday. A bill that would use the state’s share of BP settlement money over the 2010 oil spill to pay debt and free up to $70 million for the program is pending before the Senate. Others asked for changes that would send more money to Medicaid. Before leading the House’s opening prayer, Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, scolded lawmakers for allegedly bringing out-of-state lobbyists to the State House to talk about the lottery bill.
Advertisement
As the bill now reads coming out of the House, $70 million would go directly to fix the immediate Medicaid shortfall and $191 million would come back to coastal counties for road projects.
At first, the bill was designed in such a way as to have all the lottery revenue go towards the general fund.
The governor projects a lottery would raise $225 million.
Alabama Governor Robert Bentley, who backed the bill, says the fact SB3 has made it this far shows the process is working.
“To add decreasing revenue seems nearly like misdirection, a false hope”, Collins said. Like the lottery, it is a constitutional amendment that would require voter approval. “That’s what this is, anything short of this, I have no support for”.
When the second vote was held just before midnight the measure passed with 64 House members voting yes. Otherwise, Gov. Bentley has said he is willing to call another special session to debate the issue.
Bentley has predicted lottery sales will generate $225m in annual revenue for the state.
Lawmakers must give final approval to the legislation on Wednesday to put the lottery on the November 8 ballot. His reading of state law is that lawmakers missed their deadline for passage Wednesday.
In the dead of night, the state lottery bill came back to life.
The bill’s sponsor fought most efforts to make changes, concerned that any adjustment could hurt the amendment’s chances of getting enough votes in the House. Officials had said multiple changes to the bill could peel off support for it in that chamber.
The House Economic Development and Tourism Committee will consider the bill Wednesday afternoon, but that is too late to meet a deadline to get on the November 8 ballot. The House-passed version would steer 90 percent of the money to the general fund and 10 percent to education.
Advertisement
The lottery proposal would dedicate $100 million a year to Medicaid. The needed funds are expected to be much higher in the 2018 and 2019 fiscal years.
