MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gov. Robert Bentley on Monday announced details of what he is wanting the Alabama legislature to accomplish in its upcoming Special Legislative Session.
The Governor’s call includes the following:
“A constitutional amendment enabling a state lottery to support the General Fund” and “Legislation providing funding for Medicaid, infrastructure investment, and/or debt repayment.”
“This call is designed for the Alabama Legislature to address adequate support of essential state services including children, the elderly, people with mental illness and support for men and women in law enforcement,” the Governor said in a statement. “A primary focus of this special session is for legislators to allow the people within their district the right to vote on a statewide lottery. I am looking forward to working with lawmakers over the next few days as we address legislation that is simple, clean and transparent.”
Gov. Bentley has been saying for weeks that a state-sponsored lottery is the only solution left to fully fund Alabama’s Medicaid program, even calling for anti-gambling faith leaders to get down off of their “high horse” to help children.
RELATED: Bentley lays out Medicaid funding options: Create a lottery or let sick children die
“Which is the most immoral: Buying five lottery tickets with money you earned or allowing a child to die?” He asked. “I don’t think there’s even a choice there, so we must fund Medicaid, we must take care of our sick children, our disabled people, those in nursing homes, those with mental illness.”
Gov. Bentley went on to say that the government has a moral obligation to fund such programs.
“Because you know what? [The sick children] didn’t choose any of that,” he said. “Nobody did, and that’s one of the big functions of government is to take care of those that can’t take care of themselves.”
The governor’s decision to specifically include “infrastructure” funding in the official call could also signal the rebirth of a bill to “index” the state’s gasoline tax so that it would rise and fall inversely with the price of gas. Business and economic development groups have been pushing such a plan in recent years in an effort to improve the state’s crumbling roads and bridges.
“Unless a concerted effort is made to repair, replace, and maintain our road system, industrial recruitment will slow dramatically, job expansion will likely ground to a halt, and companies already located here may soon go looking for areas more hospitable to their needs,” said Jim Page, CEO of the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce. “Alabama currently more than 20 two-lane roads with more than 15,000 cars traveling on them daily, which is considered ‘grossly overcrowded,’ and 13 counties do not have four-lane access to an interstate highway, which leaves them at a sizable competitive disadvantage in economic development.”
Specifics of the competing lottery proposals will likely draw the most attention, though, with multiple bills expected to get consideration.
Sen. Jim McClendon (R-Springville) announced last week that he plans to introduce a second lottery bill in the legislature to compete against Governor Bentley’s plan.
McClendon’s proposal differs from Bentley’s in that it would allow for the creation of electronic lottery terminals at dog tracks in Birmingham, Mobile, Macon County and Greene County. The bill also authorizes the governor to negotiate compacts with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.
The senator estimates that his plan will bring in would bring in $427 million annually, which is more than the $225 estimated for the governor’s plan.
He said, however, that he would be happy if either plan passed.
“I’d support either plan or a hybrid,” said Sen. McClendon. “I hope [Governor Bentley’s bill] makes it through. That will be fine with me. I want to get this lottery issue before the people. I want to do something about the sick kids getting medical care.”
Alabama is one of only six states that does not have a lottery, but a gambling expansion of any kind is already facing fierce opposition from conservative and religious organizations.
In 1999, Alabamians voted down then-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.
The Special Session of the Alabama Legislature begins Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. Any constitutional amendment for a lottery must be approved by August 24th for it to appear on the General Election ballot in November.
RELATED: Bentley’s lottery panic is a sham. Here’s how Alabama can pay its bills without it.
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