Alabama lottery bill faces more problems

The Alabama House of Representatives blocked a committee meeting that was necessary for the proposal to get on the ballot.

US.- The proposed lottery bill won’t be on the November 8 ballot after an unexpected procedural move by a group of legislators blocked the bill from going to committee for approval. If lawmakers still approve a proposed constitutional amendment to allow a lottery during the special session, a special election would be required to place it on the ballot for voters.

Rep. Alan Harper, House sponsor of the lottery bill, said: “There was a procedural move made that basically will not allow our citizens to vote on this lottery. I don’t know if the lottery bill is dead. I do think we will bring it back up again, whether it’s in this session or a future session, but I’m disappointed that the citizens of Alabama did not get their opportunity to have their say.”

In a 59-33 vote, House members fell short of the four-fifths vote they needed to suspend House rules and allow a committee to meet to consider the lottery proposal. Rep. Ken Johnson said he called for a procedural vote because the House was moving too fast with the amendment: “You can call it delay, but I call it being deliberative. We just wanted to be sure that that roll call vote was taken to be clear that that was the will of the House, and that’s what we did.”

Governor Robert Bentley’s lottery proposal to get on the ballot in the general election was a long-term solution to the state’s problems in funding key services, like Medicaid. The governor commented that this is just “a bump in the road” and said the lottery proposal could still pass the House, with another date for the vote, hoping it would come sometime after Christmas.

Another bill passed the House 91-10 last week, which would use future payments from the BP oil spill settlement that would raise more than US$600 million, and some of that money would go to the General Fund to help Medicaid. The bill is expected to be considered today and if it receives final passage, it would complicate even more the lottery bill.