MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A Special Legislative Session is increasingly likely in the late summer or early fall and Alabama lawmakers are considering options to bring more money into the state’s beleaguered General Fund Budget. With Medicaid approximately $85 million underfunded and little appetite for tax increases, various lottery proposals are getting consideration as legislative leaders weigh their options.
Any lottery legislation must pass by August 24 to meet the deadline for it to be included on the statewide ballot in November. Such a scenario would also create uncertainty for the state’s budgets because the referendum may ultimately be defeated by popular vote, as it was in 1999.
The general idea of a lottery enjoys bi-partisan support in the legislature, and possibly enough votes to pass, but how the money would be used has been a sticking point for years.
Senator Jim McClendon (R-Springville) introduced a lottery bill at the beginning of the last legislative session, and said at the time it would raise $300 million in additional revenue for the state on an annual basis. However, McClendon’s bill did not stipulate how the funds would be used. House Minority Leader Craig Ford (D-Gadsden) has repeatedly introduced legislation that would create a so-called “Education Lottery,” with the revenue earmarked to flow into the state’s Education Budget, but it is the General Fund that is in a perpetual state of crisis.
That has led some lawmakers to propose an Education Lottery, which is more likely to get approved at the ballot box in November, along with moving certain tax revenues currently earmarked for education over to the General Fund.
McClendon is once again working on a lottery proposal for the upcoming Special Session, but plans to iron out the details on how the money would be used prior to introducing a bill.
Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh has indicated that he is taking the pulse of his members before pushing forward with any lottery plan, but sources say he is considering a carrot that could entice at least one influential anti-gambling senator to support a lottery bill: term limits.
“We’d be looking at a three term limit going into effect after the 2018 cycle,” a senator told Yellowhammer on condition of anonymity. “I think if you package that up with strengthening and getting further clarification on the ethics laws, it makes sense.”
Alabama is one of only six states that does not have a lottery, but a gambling expansion of any kind will face fierce opposition from the state’s large swath of evangelical voters, even if it has a popular measure like term limits attached.
Dr. Joe Godfrey, executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program (ALCAP), an almost 80-year-old organization that describes itself as “Alabama’s moral compass,” earlier this year expressed concerns that “illegal gambling is taking over this state” and reiterated his group’s opposition to an expansion of any kind. Influential Christian conservative talk radio host Rick Burgess added that he believes the lottery is “a lazy plan” for politicians who cannot balance a budget.
“The states that do a lottery, you would think their streets would be paved with gold,” said Burgess. “You would think the teachers make all the money they’d ever want to make. You would think the children have the latest technology. You would think the children want for nothing. That’s not reality. Look at Mississippi. They were last in education… After they brought the casinos into the Gulf, they’re still last.”
But there are signs that some long-time gambling opponents are softening their stance.
“Historically, I’ve opposed them,” powerful state senator Jabo Waggoner (R- Vestavia Hills) told ABC 33/40. But he says he is now considering throwing his support behind a bill that would bring the issue up for a vote again because he views finding money for Medicaid as an “urgent issue.”
In 1999, Alabamians voted down Gov. Don Siegelman’s proposed “education lottery” 54% to 46%. Since then, numerous statewide candidates — most of them Democrats — have run on a platform of letting the people vote again. Gov. Bentley has said he believes 70 percent of Alabamians would support a lottery to fund Medicaid growth.
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