Alabama voters could learn this week whether they are likely to have their say on establishment of a state lottery.
On Tuesday, the House of Representatives is scheduled to debate the constitutional amendment authorizing a lottery. The lottery bill passed the 35-member Senate with the minimum 21 votes needed. It needs 63 votes in the 104-member House to pass; with most projecting it to “… be a close vote.”
House General Fund budget chairman Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, said the bill probably won’t pass without support from some of the 28 Democrats in the House. That has made it hard to get the three-fifths vote needed to pass the Legislature.
The lottery bill would direct 75 percent of net revenue to the General Fund and 25 percent to the Education Trust Fund. The Legislative Services Agency estimated the lottery would raise about $167 lottery million a year in net revenue after prizes and expenses are paid.
A public hearing on the education budget is scheduled for Tuesday, as well. The plan calls for spending $7.1 billion next year from the Education Trust Fund, which would be $493 million more than this year. The House Ways and Means education budget committee is scheduled to vote on the budget Wednesday, as well as a bill to give education employees a 4 percent cost of living raise.
Also the bill to legalize marijuana in Alabama, which has passed the Senate, awaits committee action in the House.
A proposed constitutional amendment to replace the state Board of Education, which is elected by voters, with a commission appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate, also awaits action in the House.
Tuesday is the 22nd meeting day out of a possible 30 in the legislative session, which must end by June 17th.