The Greene County Democrat

Tag: Alabama House of Representatives

  • Newswire : Alabama House v. Senate:a comparison of two gambling bills

    By: Josh Moon, Alabama Political Reporter

     

    After more than a year of work on a comprehensive gambling package, the Alabama House of Representatives easily passed in March two bills that would have allowed voters to approve a lottery, up to 10 casino licenses, sports wagering and a new gaming commission to crack down on rampant illegal gambling around the state. 

    The Alabama Senate undid it all in less than a week, passing a gambling bill that contained only a lottery, a potential compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians and historical horse racing machines at seven other locations around the state. 

    Both houses have proclaimed their legislation to be “what the people want,” and each claims that the gambling tax revenues can do big things. So, let’s take a look at what each bill does and what benefits each brings to the people of Alabama. 

    The Basics
    The House Bill: A statewide lottery, seven traditional casino licenses, three potential casinos via a compact with the Poarch Creeks, sports wagering online, a gambling commission with a law enforcement entity to police illegal gambling and regulate/oversee legal gaming. 
    The Senate Bill: A statewide lottery, three potential casinos via a compact with the Poarch Creeks, possible sports wagering via the Poarch Creek compact (but possibly only on-site sports wagering), historical horse racing at six locations, a gambling commission with a law enforcement entity to police illegal gambling and regulate/oversee legal gaming. 

    The Revenue 
    The House Bill: Up to $1.2 billion annually. That broke down to around $200-$350 million for the lottery, $300-$400 million from casino wagering, up to $300 million from the Poarch Creek compact (depending on terms), up to $100 million in sports wagering (assuming online availability). 
    The Senate Bill: Up to $425 million. That’s $200 million for the lottery, $25 million for the pari-mutuel wagering, and $200 million from the Poarch Creek compact. (The Poarch Creek compact could generate more – up to another $50-$75 million – if certain limitations were removed and/or the tribe was allowed to offer online sports wagering statewide.)


    The Benefits
    The House Bill: The bill was designed to be transformative for the state. Utilizing lottery revenue, lawmakers planned to make two-year college attendance free for most state residents, including for many job training/certification programs. Other college scholarship programs for low-income students were also on the table, as was providing security for public schools around the state. Other gambling revenue was to be used to expand mental health care services, expand rural health care services (and possibly Medicaid expansion), provide funding for designated infrastructure projects and provide raises for teachers and state retirees. Additionally, the funds would have been used to pay for the implementation of the lottery and the expenses associated with creating and maintaining the gambling commission and its law enforcement entity. 
    The Senate Bill: After funding the lottery and gambling commission, the remaining funds will be split equally among infrastructure, education and the general fund. (During debate, lawmakers indicated that a portion of the revenue would be used to build a new prison.)
    The Jobs

    The House Bill: The comprehensive House bill was an economic windfall for the state in a number of ways, not least of which was new jobs. In total, because of requirements that the 10 casino locations spend minimum amounts (the bill required $35 million within the first year) in upgrades and create destination resorts, the package was expected to create some 12,000 to 15,000 new, permanent jobs in the state. That figure did not reflect the temporary construction jobs created by building new casinos. 
    The Senate Bill: There is no study to cite for that bill, but because new casinos would be placed only at current Poarch Creek casino locations – and those locations are already considered top-level destinations – job creation would be significantly less. PCI would hire considerably more employees, and would likely become the state’s top overall employer (it’s already the state’s top hospitality industry employer), but nothing close to the 12,000-15,000 jobs under the House bill. 

    Overall
    Both bills approve a state lottery and create a gambling commission and law enforcement entity. Both bills also legalize 10 casinos – the Senate version simply reduces the kinds of gambling that can take place at seven of those locations to only historical horse racing games (basically slot machines). There will still be 10 casinos, but only $225 million in annual revenue as opposed to more than $700 million in annual revenue from the same locations. Additionally, the state likely will still have a massive illegal sports wagering market – a market that did a projected $2 billion in business in 2023 – under the Senate bill, which doesn’t address sports wagering, other than possibly allowing it at Poarch Creek facilities. Basically, the Senate bill has the same amount of gambling around the state as the House bill, but with control of an illegal market and a loss of $600-plus million in annual revenue. 

     

  • Newswire: Alvin Holmes dies at 81; had served decades in Alabama House

    Rep. Alvin Holmes

    MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former state Rep. Alvin Holmes, who had been the longest-serving member of the Alabama House of Representatives before his 2018 defeat, died on November 21, 2020. He was 81.
    Holmes, one of the first African Americans elected to the Alabama Legislature after the civil rights era, was for decades a fixture at the Statehouse. His political career included battles over issues ranging from removing Jim Crow language from the state Constitution to taking the Confederate flag off of the Alabama Capitol. With his trademark outspokenness, he had panache for humorous, and sometimes controversial, moments.
    Holmes was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1974, just four years after African Americans — who hadn’t served since Reconstruction — returned to the Legislature.
    “I came to the Statehouse out of the civil rights movement. I said I wanted to go up there and make a change,” Holmes said after his defeat in 2018.
    Holmes had said the accomplishments he was most proud of included establishing Martin Luther King Day as a state holiday and pushing for the hiring of African Americans for professional positions at the Alabama Legislature.
    He was among lawmakers who fought to take the Confederate battle flag off the Alabama Capitol’s dome where it had formerly flown as symbol of Southern defiance to integration. He sponsored a constitutional amendment to remove an interracial marriage ban from the Alabama Constitution and unsuccessfully fought for years to get sexual orientation included in the state hate crime statute.
    The short, mustached Holmes had a flair for humor and bluntness at the House microphone, a skill he said he knowingly deployed at times to draw attention to issues.
    Once, during a floor debate, Holmes pulled out a wad of cash and said he would give $700 to anyone who showed him Bible verses specifying that marriage is between only a man and a woman. The challenge prompted a flood of calls into the statehouse switchboard.
    “What’s wrong with the beer we got? I mean the beer we got drinks pretty good don’t it.” he also once asked during a debate on a bill, promoted by beer enthusiasts, to allow the sale of higher alcohol content brews.
    Rep. Christopher England, who also serves as chairman of the Alabama Democratic Party, said Holmes was a great Democrat and a fighter.
    “He stood on the frontlines of the fight for civil rights and was willing to sacrifice everything in his fight for justice for all. …. Alabama has lost a giant, whose wit, intelligence, fearlessness, selfless determination, and leadership will be sorely missed.”

  • Governor Kay Ivey signs jury override bill

    In one of her first official acts as Governor, Kay Ivey, on Tuesday, April 11, signed into law a bill that says juries, not judges, have the final say on whether to impose the death penalty in capital murder cases.
    Ivey signed the bill, which had been passed by the Alabama House of Representatives on April 4, by a vote of 78-19. The same bill had previously passed the Alabama Senate by a vote of 30- 1.
    Alabama was the only state left in the nation had these judicial override provisions.
    Senator Hank Sanders of Selma had sponsored the bill in the Senate for several years along with a bill requiring a moratorium of the death penalty until Alabama studies and reviews the equity of the death penalty.
    Sanders said, “Senator Dick Brewbaker, a Republican from Montgomery asked me if he could sponsor the jury override bill in this session and I agreed because my interest was to end this practice.”
    According to the Equal Justice Initiative. Alabama judges have overridden jury recommendations 112 times. In 101 of those cases, the judges gave a death sentence. Sanders said that a quarter of the persons presently on death row are there because the judge overrode the jury’s decision on their case.
    Rep. Chris England, D-Tuscaloosa, sponsored a bill to end judicial override in the House. On the House floor, England substituted Brewbaker’s bill for his, and it won final passage. This bill was pending the Governor’s signature when Robert Bentley resigned and Kay Ivey moved up from Lieutenant Governor to the Governor’s position.
    “Having judicial override almost undermines the constitutional right to trial by a jury of your peers,” England said.  England’s bill, as introduced, would also have required the consent of all 12 jurors to give a death sentence. Current law requires at least 10 jurors. Brewbaker’s bill left the threshold to impose the death penalty at 10 jurors.
    Ebony Howard, associate legal director for the Southern Poverty Law Center, issued a statement applauding the bill’s passage.
    “Alabama should do everything it can to ensure that an innocent person is never executed,” Howard said. “The bipartisan effort to pass a bill that would keep a judge from overriding a jury’s vote in capital cases is a step in the right direction. As of today, Alabama is one step closer to joining every other state in our nation in prohibiting judicial override in the sentencing phase of death penalty cases.”
    Alabama Arise, a statewide advocacy group on social justice issues and ending poverty in Alabama, also supported passage of the bill as one of its legislative priorities for this session.