State Sen. Chambliss on gambling vote: I requested enabling legislation, constitutional amendment be split — That did not happen, I voted ‘no’

Last week, State Sen. Del Marsh’s (R-Anniston) comprehensive gambling proposal fell two votes short of the required three-fifths needed for a constitutional amendment, which would have laid the groundwork for a lottery, the proliferation of casino gaming and opened the opportunity for sports gambling in Alabama.

The outcome was a surprise to political watchers, and it left some questioning why some members opted to vote against the Marsh proposal. Among the “no” votes was State Sen. Clyde Chambliss (R-Prattville). Chambliss had previously said the bill would be the “most transformative bill” in his lifetime, and he echoed that during an interview that aired on Monday’s broadcast of Mobile radio’s FM Talk 106.5.

According to Chambliss, had the proposal been presented with the constitutional amendment and the enabling legislation split up, he might have reconsidered his vote opposing Marsh’s effort.

“In my opinion, this is the most transformative bill we will most likely see in my lifetime,” he said. “It’s going to change our state — some people will say for the better. Some people will say for the worse. But what my job is, what the people of my district hired me to do is to go and study the details, get into the weeds and really understand the long-term ramifications of the legislation. And that is what I did. In my opinion, what we need to do and needed to do is split the enabling legislation from the [constitutional amendment], address the concerns that I had, the comments that I had, and then travel together. That was my request. That did not happen, and I voted ‘no.'”

“If all those conditions were met, I would consider voting for it because it is a hard place to be in denying the people the right to vote on something,” Chambliss added. “But if the bill and the legislation is not in the proper form, not in the proper order, then I have no choice. That’s what I did. I don’t regret that at all. It may come back. It may not. I don’t know. But we need to get it right. We need to have very minimal information in the Constitution. All of the details or most all the details lined out in the enabling legislation — we need to track those together. We got a draft of the enabling legislation on Friday before the CA was on the floor on Tuesday. It had not been introduced.”

“That was my requirement, for me personally, that they travel together,” he added. “That did happen, so thus the ‘no’ vote.”

Chambliss described the current circumstances within the Alabama Legislature as “pent-up demand,” meaning members were eager to pass legislation that they had set out to when running for office but had not had the opportunity because of the 2020 regular session being cut short because of the COVID-19 pandemic. For that reason, he suggested consideration of a gaming proposal could be done later, perhaps during a special session, since it would not likely be on a ballot until November 2022.

“There is no need to rush this,” he said. “Let’s get it right. In my opinion, we just weren’t there.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.