Alabama lottery bill faces battle
Governor Bentley and Senator McClendon’s lottery bills were approved on Senate floor but they’re currently fighting a set back in Alabama.
US.- The proposal Senators approved on Friday was supposed to direct 10 percent of the revenue toward Alabama’s education budget, but a subsequent amendment to send the first €90 million in revenue to the state Medicaid agency deleted the education allocation. The lottery in Alabama will generate at least €198 million a year for the struggling General Fund and specifically Medicaid.
Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh said: “I’m going to talk to the House and tell them what the intent was, but the reality is, the House may not want to put any money to education.”
The education amendment was originally from Senator Greg Reed. He commented that there would be an effort to get it added in the House, and that or any other change would mean that the bill would have to return to the Senate for approval. Greg Reed’s amendment was approved on a 22-7 vote, whilst it passed the Senate 21-7.
The Senate President said that two senators specifically voted for the legislation because it had the education funding. “There is a real gamble with that thing coming back to the Senate. The worst thing that could happen is that they put the 10 percent on there, send it back to me, and I can’t get 21 votes,” he added.
