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The Legislature is at the midway point of the 2021 Regular Legislative Session.  They have used 15 days of their allotted 30-day legislative session.

The Senate has been consumed with attempting to pass a constitutional amendment to allow Alabamians the right to vote on whether to have a state lottery along with some casino and sports betting.  The Legislature in and of itself cannot authorize this expansion of gambling in the state.  Their only authority is to vote to place it on the ballot in order to give you the opportunity to allow the state to reap the financial windfall now only afforded to the Indian Gambling Syndicate.

There was a critical vote in the state senate last week on the issue.  With it being a constitutional amendment, it required 21 votes.  The vote was 19 to 13 in favor, but it lacked the constitutional muster by two votes.  Therefore, the measure could be resurrected.  However, if it is this close in the Senate, it probably does not have the votes for passage in the House of Representatives. 

Polls indicate that it would be approved by a vote of the people, probably with a 70 to 30 plurality, and with a majority of Republicans voting in favor. If it is that popular with the people, you probably are asking why in the world would Senators not vote to allow you to vote on it.  The devil is in the details.  The majority of the casinos would go to the Creek Indian Gambling Syndicate.  Some of the 24 Republican Senators balked at that almost total monopoly.

Sen.Del Marsh was not the right sponsor or front man for the constitutional amendment.  He is not totally trusted, especially by the 10 Democrats he has consistently run over and ignored for years while he was President Pro Tem of the Senate.  Marsh is also perceived as a pawn of the Indian Gambling Syndicate.  He is no longer Pro Tem, so nobody is scared of him.  A setting sun sets off very little heat.  He is not running for re-election for his Anniston based district because he could not be re-elected.  In his last race in 2018, he spent close to $480,000 to his unknown opponent’s $15,000 and only garnered 52 percent of the vote.  That does not portend well for re-election.

Gov. Kay Ivey needs to come out openly and strongly for the measure and make it her issue and her legacy.  It may need to be done in a Special Session later this year.  Even then, it will be a tough sell to get through the Senate and then the House.

Alabama is the Heart of the Bible Belt. If Alabama is the Bible Belt, then the area of Alabama, north of Birmingham and all the way to the Tennessee line is the buckle.  There are not any casinos in North Alabama, only churches, and most of the churchgoers are Church of Christ or Baptist.  They did not allow the sale of alcohol in most of these counties until a few years ago.

Every state senator in that area is a Republican and all of them voted no, including Garlan Gudger of Cullman, Sam Givhan of Huntsville, Tom Butler of Huntsville, Larry Stutts of Florence, and Clay Scofield of Sand Mountain.  You can probably bet your bottom dollar that the preachers encouraged their parishioners to contact their senators on Sunday before the vote last Tuesday. You may see the legislature address a simple lottery.

It may not be a glamorous event in the legislative process, however, the beginning of the most important and imperative accomplishment occurred last week when the General Fund Budget passed the Alabama House of Representatives.  The House approved a $2.4 billion dollar budget shepherded by the Ways and Means Chairman Steve Clouse, R-Ozark.

The budget includes a 2 percent raise for state employees.  This raise would amount to an $867 per year raise for a state worker making the median salary of $43,346.

The budget includes an increase in funding for the Bureau of Pardons and Paroles.  Other agencies seeing increases in the budget are the Department of Mental Health at 6.7 percent, the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency will see 7.9 percent increase, mostly for upgrading the state’s driver license system.

Overall, the budget is 3.3 percent higher than last years, which is amazing after a year of COVID-19.  It now moves on to the Senate, which more than likely will concur with few changes.

See you next week.

Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist.  His column appears in more than 60 Alabama newspapers.  He served 16 years in the state legislature.  Steve may be reached at www.steveflowers.us.