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Stutts: lottery referendum 'unlikely' for November

Gov. Robert Bentley announced Wednesday he will call a special legislative session in August to consider a referendum on a state lottery.

Alabama voters would have to approve lottery legislation by constitutional amendment if the legislature first approves it. Bentley's announcement came with few, if any, details about what state services would benefit from lottery revenue.

Bentley said details will be released in a few weeks. He mentioned the need for additional funding for Medicaid, though.

Alabama's general election is set for Tuesday, November 8, 2016. A lottery measure must be passed by the legislature on or before August 24th in order to appear on the November ballot.

Sen. Larry Stutts (R-Tuscumbia) said the likelihood of Alabama voters approving lottery legislation is directly tied to whether funds would be earmarked for public education.

I personally doubt it would pass unless it's tied to education. If you say the money goes to prisons or Medicaid, I doubt Alabama voters would support it,” Stutts said.

Stutts said the state coffers are at an all-time high on tax revenues and rather than new funding measures, he believes fiscal belt-tightening is needed first.

The state collected more than $10 billion in tax revenue last year,” Stutts, who sits on the Senate General Fund Budget Committee, said. “Yet we're saying we've got to have more. We haven't adequately addressed the issue of uncontrolled spending. The state has more tax dollars than ever but yet we say we need more,” he added.

Bentley's lottery proposal, while drawing mixed reactions from Republicans, was praised by Senate Democrats.

We are pleased the governor has decided to entertain legalized gaming after Democrats have been pushing the issue for years,” said Alabama Senate Minority Leader Quinton T. Ross, Jr. (D-Montgomery). “We need to legalize and tax our existing gaming facilities, as well as create a statewide lottery so our state can adequately fund and expand our struggling Medicaid system and properly support our underfunded educational system.

These gaming dollars can provide stability and long-term economic streatms for many of our General Fund and Education Trust needs,” Ross added.

Before the issue can be decided by Alabama voters, lottery legislation faces several legislative hurdles, including how lottery revenue will be spent.

Some legislators want all lottery revenue to benefit education, while others want to see the proceeds go into the general fund. Stutts said one option would be for the general fund and education budgets to be combined, where all state revenue, including lottery monies, would “go into one pot.”

Currently, the education budget benefits from growth revenue, like taxes, that can decrease or increase each year, while the general fund revenues are constant.

The advantage for the general fund would be there would be some growth revenue that now goes to the education side of the budget benefit the general fund if combined,” Stutts said. “As the pot got bigger, the general fund would grow based on the percentage it got.”

Stutts sees pros and cons to a proposed lottery. He also questions whether legislators should pass the issue onto Alabama voters to decide.

We have a representative democracy for a reason. We're elected to go make hard decisions,” Stutts said. “I don't think every issue should be put on the ballot. We're not a pure democracy. Representatives are supposed to make good decisions when representing the people.

I'm absolutely open to what my constituents think. The bottom line is when you're in the legislature, you're supposed to make good decisions and you have information the general public doesn't have to make them,” Stutts added.

A lottery would also create the political hot potato of a state lottery commission.

Who would run the lottery? A lottery commission? Okay, who's going to be on it?,”Stutts queried. “Who gets to make the appointments to the lottery commission? Where will the money go? Those are critical issues that have not been answered,” he added.

Even with a special session, Stutts has his doubts about a lottery referendum appearing on the November ballot.

I don't think we'll end up seeing it this November because there are too many details people don't agree on and it's not as simple as just saying we need a lottery,” Stutts said.

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