Gov. Robert Bentley to call special session for Alabama lottery

When Alabama voters help choose a new president in November, they might also get a chance to decide for the first time in 17 years whether they want a state lottery.

Gov. Robert Bentley announced he will call a special session of the Legislature to consider a proposal for a lottery to help fix the state's persistent problem with funding state services.

Bentley announced the plan this morning in a video posted on his website.

Bentley said the state can't afford to pay for basic services and has borrowed money and used one-time money for decades to fill the gaps.

The governor said a lottery would raise about $225 million a year, and he proposes applying the revenue to General Fund programs, including services for children, the mentally ill, law enforcement and "those in the most need."

"The time has come for us to find a permanent solution," Bentley said.

"This solution will provide funding that we can count on for year after year without ever having to raise your taxes or put one more band-aid on our state's money problems."

Bentley did not give a date for the session. Press Secretary Yasamie August said it would be announced later this week.

Some state lawmakers have said the best time to call a special session on a lottery would be in August.

"I think there's a strong chance that we can get a piece of lottery legislation out of the Legislature, if the special takes place in August," Senate President Pro Tem Del Marsh, R-Anniston, said Tuesday.

Marsh issued a statement today, urging the governor to call the session early enough to get a lottery proposal on the ballot for the general election Nov. 8.

For that to happen, the Legislature would have to approve a lottery bill by Aug. 24.

Proposed constitutional amendments require a three-fifths vote in the House and the Senate.

In his video, Bentley asks legislators to give voters a chance to decide on a lottery.

"Let's hear from the people of this great state on whether the time has come to approve a statewide lottery to help fund essential state services for our children, our elderly, those with mental illness and those who are in most need, as well as the men and women in law enforcement," the governor said.

Bentley said his plan would allow only a lottery and no other forms of gambling.

He is proposing a statewide lottery commission to oversee the lottery.

It's been 17 years since Alabama voters rejected Gov. Don Siegelman's lottery proposal. Siegelman's lottery would have funded college scholarships, technology for schools and pre-kindergarten.

Bentley and the Legislature have grappled with funding services throughout his time in office.

The most pressing issue, for now, is the Alabama Medicaid Agency, the largest consumer of dollars from the state General Fund and a program that serves about one million Alabamians.

Earlier this year, lawmakers overrode Bentley's veto and approved a budget that appropriated $700 million from the General Fund for Medicaid for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1.

Bentley said Medicaid needs $785 million to maintain services and to sustain a plan to changed Medicaid to a managed care program run through regional care organizations, or RCOs.

That plan has been in the works for more than three years, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved a waiver that could provide up to $748 million over five years to make the transition.

Bentley mentions the Medicaid reforms in his video.

"We're reforming Medicaid from top to bottom, shifting the responsibility to manage the program from government workers to private sector stakeholders," the governor said. "This will slow the growth in Medicaid spending and save the taxpayers millions of dollars."

Marsh, in his statement today, said it's important to address funding for the Medicaid reforms.

"The legislature made a commitment to fund the RCOs and in speaking with my colleagues in the Senate and House, I am hopeful that we will continue to make progress toward achieving that goal," Marsh said. "It important that we continue this revolutionary transformation of the Medicaid system, which is acting as a pilot for continued healthcare reforms and is projected to save the state millions of dollars over time."

Sen. Quinton Ross, D-Montgomery, minority leader in the Senate, said the voters should be allowed to decide whether they want expanded gambling at the state's greyhound tracks, as well as the lottery.

"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," Ross said.

"These gaming dollars can provide stability and long-term economic streams for many of our General Fund and Education Trust Fund needs."

Ross said the millions of dollars that Alabamians spend gambling in neighboring states could be spent here instead and help support programs in this state.

"We need to benefit from the millions of dollars spent by Alabamians who patronize other states through their gaming facilities and lotteries; and we agree with Gov. Bentley that it is time to allow the people of Alabama to decide the issue once and for all by allowing them to vote."

Rep. Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, leader of the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, has proposed lottery bills for years but does not think Bentley's plan will work.

"A lottery will do nothing for this year's Medicaid shortfall, and at best will be nothing more than a band aid for the General Fund that will leave us right back where we are now in just a few years," Ford said in a statement.

"The lottery is a one-shot deal, and a lottery for the General Fund will become, as it has in other states, a victim to legislative shell games; it will become nothing more than a slush fund for legislators."

Ford's lottery proposal would fund scholarships for two years for all students admitted to public universities or two-year colleges.

Acting House Speaker Victor Gaston, R-Mobile, said the governor has not provided the details needed to make the special session successful.

"The governor has not outlined his plan to legislators in any detail, nor, to my knowledge, has he even set a concrete start date for the special session, so it is difficult to comment with so little information at hand," Gaston said in a statement.  "I hope that the governor reaches out to lawmakers over the next several weeks in order to seek their input on any lottery proposal that comes forward and to do the prep work that is necessary for any special session to be successful."

The chairmen of the House and Senate General Fund budget committees said it's time to seriously consider a lottery.

Rep. Steve Clouse, R-Ozark, the House chairman, said he would like to see it on the Nov. 8 ballot because turnout will be high with a presidential election and because it will save the cost of a special election.

"I think it's time we addressed this issue in the Legislature and I think people need to vote on this issue again after 17 years," Clouse said.

Sen. Trip Pittman, R-Montrose, the Senate chairman, said he thinks a lottery is a bad way to fund government but said it needs to be debated because the state is running out of options on the General Fund.

Pittman noted that Bentley has proposed tax increases, moving education revenues and other ideas, but most of those have been rejected by the Legislature.

"The governor has led on some of these issues," Pittman said. "The lottery is pretty much what you're left with."

Pittman said lottery revenues should be designated for the General Fund. He said he was undecided on whether he would support the legislation.

Pittman said specifics on Bentley's legislation would help determine whether it passes the Senate.

He said some senators are adamantly opposed, some in favor and others willing to consider a lottery under limited circumstances.

Clouse said he thought a majority of House members favored sending a lottery proposal to the voters. As for whether it can get the required three-fifths vote in the House, Clouse said it would be close.

Rep. John Knight, D-Montgomery, chairman of the House Black Caucus, said he was concerned that Bentley had not discussed the lottery proposal with him or anyone in the caucus.

"It seems like everything that is being done now is being done behind closed doors," Knight said.

Knight said he supported a lottery but said voters should have a chance to vote on casino gambling and other forms of gambling, including betting on football games.

Knight said the state has immediate funding needs, including for Medicaid, state troopers and prisons, and decisions need to be made about those.

He said those problems could have been fixed during the regular session but the Republican-led Legislature has not been willing to raise taxes. A special session, he said, would be a waste of taxpayer money.

Sen. Jim McClendon, R-Springville, is working on a lottery bill that would also include video gambling at the state's four greyhound tracks.

This story was updated numerous times, including at 5:44 p.m. to add a quote from Sen. Quinton Ross.