Week Starts with Gambling Debate

After a weekend of campaigning it is back to work in Montgomery again. As I have been moving around my district I am getting more and more questions about the gambling debate.

It appears that I spoke too soon last week when I said the legislature had not seen any sign of gambling legislation yet. Today the House and Senate Tourism & Travel Committees held public hearings on the proposed “Sweet Home Alabama” constitutional amendment. This amendment would allow gambling at certain locations in Alabama and have them taxed at a certain amount. It now appears that this issue is going to start moving more and more into the discussions held in the State House over the next couple of months. While there are strong passions on both side of this issue, I think I speak for many legislators when I say that we cannot allow this one issue to push so many other important subjects off the legislative calendar altogether.

The gambling issue deserves the proper debate that both sides are seeking but it cannot be allowed to paralyze state government for the next several months. I am also hearing this same sentiment from the voters back home. More and more people are telling me that they are sick of hearing about this issue. If it does we will surely see our budget crisis, the PACT program insolvency and other reform related issues fall by the way side.

On to some other subjects…..

On tap for the House today is another short special order calendar dealing with various bills which are being pushed by different constituencies. The House will continue to have short special order of about 4 to 5 bills each day. This will inevitably lead to less legislation being enacted but will ensure a more appropriate amount of deliberation on each subject.

Thank you to the Birmingham News for their support for more ballot access bill. While I know this is not always a popular issue with either party it does deserve the attention of the legislature. The ability to sign up and run for office should be easier and not harder in Alabama.