Alabama lottery bill headed to make-or-break House vote

Aug. 25--Like Schrodinger's cat, it's impossible to tell if the Alabama lottery bill is alive or dead. But it's clear the amendment is in an uncertain and uncomfortable place.

The legislation, aimed at providing some stability to the ever-troubled General Fund and a Medicaid program critical to health care in the state, advanced out of a House committee Wednesday afternoon and could be on the floor of the chamber Thursday, though almost no one wanted to hazard a guess about its prospects.

"We'll push to get it done tomorrow," said House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia.

But much of the drama Wednesday came over the question of when Alabamians would go to the polls to vote on the amendment, and efforts by supporters and opponents to push that date one way or the other.

Opponents Tuesday appeared to force the vote off the November ballot after blocking a House committee from meeting that day to consider the bill. That prevented the House from voting on the legislation on Wednesday, which -- as most people understood until Wednesday afternoon -- was the deadline to get the lottery on the November ballot.

But supporters Wednesday began floating arguments that state election law gave them until Friday to get the measure on the ballot.

The argument -- which pulled the Alabama attorney general's office into the debate -- stems from language that says the Secretary of State shall accept amendments up to the 74th day before a general election, which is Friday. The code section appears to refer to the certification of candidates, but does include the word "amendment."

"If we can get through the House and Senate by Friday, the 74th day, it will be transmitted to the Secretary of State to get on the ballot," McClendon said Friday.

The date could be critical not only the fate of the lottery but the General Fund's bottom line. A general election will attract more voters, and a special election will cost the state millions of dollars. Officials usually estimate the cost at between $3 million and $4 million, but Secretary of State John Merrill said Wednesday those estimates were at least 18 years old.

"We are confident the cost of a special election is significantly higher than the $3 million or $4 million projected," he said.

Merrill also made it clear he did not read the law as McClendon did. The Secretary of State said that the word "amendment" in the law meant "change," not "constitutional amendment," and said Wednesday was the last day an amendment could get on the November ballot.

The Secretary of State has requested an opinion from Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange on the interpretation of the language.

"If directed to change by the Alabama attorney general or a court of law, we will change," he said.

Speaking at a news conference Wednesday, Gov. Robert Bentley called the issue a "smokescreen."

"It's not the date that's important; it's the vote that's important," he said. "If the date is Nov. 8, people will vote Nov. 8. If the date is after Christmas, people will vote after Christmas."

Dire warnings

Should the lottery get on a ballot and win approval from voters, revenues will not be available until 2018 at the earliest. That won't provide immediate help to Alabama Medicaid, which received $85 million less than officials said they need to maintain services in the General Fund budget approved last spring. The shortfall led the agency to cut doctors' payments, which has led to layoffs in some practices and could increase waiting times for Medicaid recipients and those with private insurance.

A bill that would use the state's share of BP's settlement over the 2010 oil spill to pay off debt and free up to $70 million for Medicaid passed the House last week. The Senate is debating the legislation.

Lottery revenues don't grow year to year, but supporters hope the revenues -- estimated at $225 million a year by Bentley's office -- would provide a few years of stability. Under the proposal, 10 percent of lottery proceeds after expenses would go to the state's education budget, with the rest sent to the General Fund. The first $100 million of General Fund receipts would go to Medicaid.

Officials hope it buys enough time for the state to create regional care organizations (RCOs) that would move Medicaid recipients into a managed care-type program that aims to slow cost growth.

"We have the opportunity once and for all, at least for a longer period of time, to solve this problem with the essential services of government, primarily Medicaid," Bentley said.

Medicaid covers over 1 million Alabamians, more than half of them children. The program plays a major role in keeping the state's hospitals and pediatric offices open.

But Medicaid was hardly mentioned during a public hearing on the lottery bill in House committee Wednesday. Like a Senate committee debate last week, the debate became an argument about the needs of the General Fund and the morality of a lottery, which opponents said unfairly taxed the poor.

"It is a tax based on deceit, with the government targeting its own citizens," said Joe Godfrey, executive director of the Alabama Citizens Action Program.

Mac McArthur, executive director of the Alabama State Employees Association, noted the General Fund squeezes were affecting the state employee workforce, which has shrunk by 6,000 since Republicans took control of state government in 2010.

"Your workforce is doing more and more and it's being stretched to the breaking point," he said.

Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said opponents of a lottery needed to keep the needs of Medicaid in mind.

"If they're really concerned about poor folks getting medical attention, they better ask themselves why they've taken this position on the lottery," he said.

'An interesting day'

McCutcheon said he expected a long debate on the lottery Thursday. The legislation will need 63 votes to advance.

"We'll have discussion and debate about the legal issues," he said. "I think it will be an interesting day and I think it will be a good day."

There will be no shortage of ideas about the legislation, and legislators across the ideological spectrum planned to fight or amend the proposal. An unusual coalition of anti-gambling legislators; Jefferson County Republicans opposed to a Nov. 8 vote on the lottery and Democrats who wanted more gambling in the proposal moved to block the lottery bill Tuesday. All will throw themselves into the battle Thursday.

"We've got a game plan," said Rep. Rich Wingo, R-Tuscaloosa, an anti-gambling legislator.

Democrats plan several attempts to change the operations and direction of the bill. Rep. A.J. McCampbell, D-Demopolis, argued in committee Wednesday that the bill in its current form could limit competition in the gambling sector. He planned to bring an amendment to address that.

"When it comes to the bingo that is already here in the state, if this bill is passed, we would have the opportunity to see just one group or one organization have bingo or lottery machines," he said.

House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said he expected other amendments that would try to increase the share of the lottery proceeds going to education.

The Senate will resume the BP bill debate Thursday. Senators are split on an estimated $191 million in the bill that would go to Mobile and Baldwin counties, hit hardest by the 2010 Gulf oil spill. With the uncertainty over the lottery bill, some north Alabama senators have suggested increasing the debt payment in the bill to provide more money to Medicaid. But south Alabama legislators oppose that, noting the damage the spill did to coastal Alabama's tourism and seafood industries.

"It was Mobile and Baldwin counties who suffered the brunt of that catastrophic event with the oil spill," said Sen. Vivian Davis Figures, D-Mobile. "That is an area that should be made whole. Not only that, we don't know what the oil spill is going to do for decades to come.

Marsh -- who said the House "really screwed it up" on the Tuesday committee vote -- said the question was one of roads for south Alabama or funding for Medicaid.

"They've got people on Medicaid too," he said. "There are poor people all over the state that have to be served. We've got to determine our priorities, (and) what are our responsibilities as a state. That's the bottom line."

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