gambling
Ron Sparks Wants to Regulate
12/07/10 10:30
King Cockfight made this video on Ron Sparks and gambling set the Warren G's Regulate. It is a must watch...
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Million Dollar Ad Buy Mystery Solved
18/05/10 14:46
Well the mystery of the million dollar ad buy has finally been solved. In a somewhat anti-climatic end to a much anticipated ad, the New Sons of Liberty launched this website with their new TV ad.
The person(s) behind the ad are still unknown, but at first glance it appears to be a waste of a million dollars. With the exception of Bill Johnson, all the Republican gubernatorial candidates are against gambling. I haven't seen a poll yet that shows Johnson with a shot at winning, so the ad doesn't seem to be particularly helpful/hurtful on the Republican side. It could be targeting the Democrats, but I can't really see this ad swaying many Democrat primary voters.
Even more puzzling is the timing of the ad. Why run it now? Gambling is not on the ballot in June or November, and for all intents and purposes it is a dead issue until the 2011 Legislative Session. I can't quite figure out what purpose it serves to run the ad now.
Whoever is behind it and whatever their motives are, one thing is pretty clear...the ad is a major let down to politicos who have spent the last week or more speculating on what it could be.
The person(s) behind the ad are still unknown, but at first glance it appears to be a waste of a million dollars. With the exception of Bill Johnson, all the Republican gubernatorial candidates are against gambling. I haven't seen a poll yet that shows Johnson with a shot at winning, so the ad doesn't seem to be particularly helpful/hurtful on the Republican side. It could be targeting the Democrats, but I can't really see this ad swaying many Democrat primary voters.
Even more puzzling is the timing of the ad. Why run it now? Gambling is not on the ballot in June or November, and for all intents and purposes it is a dead issue until the 2011 Legislative Session. I can't quite figure out what purpose it serves to run the ad now.
Whoever is behind it and whatever their motives are, one thing is pretty clear...the ad is a major let down to politicos who have spent the last week or more speculating on what it could be.
Update on the Attorney General Race
07/05/10 13:26
I feel I should disclose my bias in this matter up front: I have openly supported Luther Strange in his campaign for Attorney General for several months now. I am not paid by the campaign or anyone connected with it. I did participate in a television ad for the Luther Strange campaign.
It looks like the Alabama Attorney General's race is about to get a lot more interesting.
Incumbent Troy King took political pandering to a new low last week with his claim that Luther Strange lobbied for the oil company whose rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. In Friday's Press-Register, a spokesman for King said, "that Strange's ties to the oil industry and particularly to Transocean could compromise his ability to serve as the state's top lawyer."
It's ironic that King would be accusing Luther Strange of having a conflict of interest when he has had to step aside and let the Feds conduct two major investigations that the AG's office should have been involved in but couldn't because of King's ties to targets of the investigation. While investigating the junior college scandal King asked Chancellor Roy Johnson for jobs for at least two of his friends. He then had to turn the investigation over to Richard Minor, District Attorney from St. Clair County. In addition, the FBI is handling one of the largest investigations into government corruption the state has ever seen, and where is the AG's office? Not involved. Troy King's ties to the gambling interests has caused a conflict of interest for the AG's office. So you'll have to pardon me if I don't take King's accusation seriously...
It's true that Luther Strange lobbied for Sonat, Inc. which was the parent company of Transocean Offshore Drilling Co. In a statement released Friday he says, "I briefly represented Transocean Offshore Drilling Co. 12 years ago and provided only federal legislative monitoring. Furthermore, it is in no way the same company that it is today. In fact, it has been reincorporated twice through mergers in the past 10 years and my work for them 12 years ago has absolutely no bearing on my intent to pursue all those responsible for the tragedy." In my opinion King is clearly trying to take a bad situation which people are understandably upset about, and use it for his own benefit.
Furthermore, I'm hearing rumors that the AG's office has some scandals of it's own to worry about. Questions are being asked about Troy's assistant JW Godwin and his campaign activities while on the state's payroll. Last Thursday AG Troy King and JW Godwin traveled together in a state car to a campaign event in Huntsville, AL. Pictures taken by the Luther Strange campaign show the state car and the campaign materials they brought with them. When the Strange campaign questioned the AG's office about whether or not JW Godwin had taken leave time to participate in campaign activities, Chief of Staff Chris Bence confirmed that as of 3:00 pm on the day of the event Godwin had not filed a leave slip. The leave slip was filed when Godwin returned (one might infer that was because he was asked about it by the Strange campaign). A member of Luther's campaign staff was told it was consistent with the AG's policy on leave not to file the leave slip until after the leave has been taken.
I feel I should also point out that in addition to his duties in the AG's office, JW Godwin was sent to campaign school, has an iPad purchased by the campaign, and has campaign stationary with his name on it. Clearly Godwin is taking an active role in King's campaign which legally, he has every right to do. What he cannot do is campaign while on state time. The Alabama Code is pretty clear on that point:
Section 17-17-5: Improper use of state property, time, etc., for political activities
No person in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, or a city whether classified or unclassified, shall use any state, county, or city funds, property, or time, for any political activities. Any person who is in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, or a city shall be on approved leave to engage in political action or the person shall be on personal time before or after work and on holidays. It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee to solicit any type of political campaign contributions from other employees who work for the officer or employee in a subordinate capacity. It shall also be unlawful for any officer or employee to coerce or attempt to coerce any subordinate employee to work in any capacity in any political campaign or cause. Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of the crime of trading in public office and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined or sentenced, or both, as provided by Section 13A-10-63.
It's also pretty clear on using state resources, i.e.-vehicles, for campaign activities:
Section 36-12-61: Use, etc., of state-owned property for promotion or advancement of interests of candidates for public office.
It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the State of Alabama to use or to permit to be used any state-owned property of any character or description, including stationery, stamps, office equipment, office supplies, automobiles or any other property used by him, in his custody or under his control for the promotion or advancement of the interest of any candidate for the nomination or election to any public office of the State of Alabama.
As I said at the top of this post, I am unarguably biased in this race. In writing this post, I'm simply putting the information out there (along with my opinion of course) and I'll leave it to readers to decide whether they think any of the items have any merit.
It looks like the Alabama Attorney General's race is about to get a lot more interesting.
Incumbent Troy King took political pandering to a new low last week with his claim that Luther Strange lobbied for the oil company whose rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. In Friday's Press-Register, a spokesman for King said, "that Strange's ties to the oil industry and particularly to Transocean could compromise his ability to serve as the state's top lawyer."
It's ironic that King would be accusing Luther Strange of having a conflict of interest when he has had to step aside and let the Feds conduct two major investigations that the AG's office should have been involved in but couldn't because of King's ties to targets of the investigation. While investigating the junior college scandal King asked Chancellor Roy Johnson for jobs for at least two of his friends. He then had to turn the investigation over to Richard Minor, District Attorney from St. Clair County. In addition, the FBI is handling one of the largest investigations into government corruption the state has ever seen, and where is the AG's office? Not involved. Troy King's ties to the gambling interests has caused a conflict of interest for the AG's office. So you'll have to pardon me if I don't take King's accusation seriously...
It's true that Luther Strange lobbied for Sonat, Inc. which was the parent company of Transocean Offshore Drilling Co. In a statement released Friday he says, "I briefly represented Transocean Offshore Drilling Co. 12 years ago and provided only federal legislative monitoring. Furthermore, it is in no way the same company that it is today. In fact, it has been reincorporated twice through mergers in the past 10 years and my work for them 12 years ago has absolutely no bearing on my intent to pursue all those responsible for the tragedy." In my opinion King is clearly trying to take a bad situation which people are understandably upset about, and use it for his own benefit.
Furthermore, I'm hearing rumors that the AG's office has some scandals of it's own to worry about. Questions are being asked about Troy's assistant JW Godwin and his campaign activities while on the state's payroll. Last Thursday AG Troy King and JW Godwin traveled together in a state car to a campaign event in Huntsville, AL. Pictures taken by the Luther Strange campaign show the state car and the campaign materials they brought with them. When the Strange campaign questioned the AG's office about whether or not JW Godwin had taken leave time to participate in campaign activities, Chief of Staff Chris Bence confirmed that as of 3:00 pm on the day of the event Godwin had not filed a leave slip. The leave slip was filed when Godwin returned (one might infer that was because he was asked about it by the Strange campaign). A member of Luther's campaign staff was told it was consistent with the AG's policy on leave not to file the leave slip until after the leave has been taken.
I feel I should also point out that in addition to his duties in the AG's office, JW Godwin was sent to campaign school, has an iPad purchased by the campaign, and has campaign stationary with his name on it. Clearly Godwin is taking an active role in King's campaign which legally, he has every right to do. What he cannot do is campaign while on state time. The Alabama Code is pretty clear on that point:
Section 17-17-5: Improper use of state property, time, etc., for political activities
No person in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, or a city whether classified or unclassified, shall use any state, county, or city funds, property, or time, for any political activities. Any person who is in the employment of the State of Alabama, a county, or a city shall be on approved leave to engage in political action or the person shall be on personal time before or after work and on holidays. It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee to solicit any type of political campaign contributions from other employees who work for the officer or employee in a subordinate capacity. It shall also be unlawful for any officer or employee to coerce or attempt to coerce any subordinate employee to work in any capacity in any political campaign or cause. Any person who violates this section shall be guilty of the crime of trading in public office and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined or sentenced, or both, as provided by Section 13A-10-63.
It's also pretty clear on using state resources, i.e.-vehicles, for campaign activities:
Section 36-12-61: Use, etc., of state-owned property for promotion or advancement of interests of candidates for public office.
It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the State of Alabama to use or to permit to be used any state-owned property of any character or description, including stationery, stamps, office equipment, office supplies, automobiles or any other property used by him, in his custody or under his control for the promotion or advancement of the interest of any candidate for the nomination or election to any public office of the State of Alabama.
As I said at the top of this post, I am unarguably biased in this race. In writing this post, I'm simply putting the information out there (along with my opinion of course) and I'll leave it to readers to decide whether they think any of the items have any merit.
Rep. David Grimes Sounds A Little Nervous
06/05/10 16:46
Rep. David Grimes sounds a little worried about the FBI investigation into government corruption and the gambling bill...
It seems to me that if you didn't say anything you shouldn't have you wouldn't be worried about what you said...
It seems to me that if you didn't say anything you shouldn't have you wouldn't be worried about what you said...
Why I'm Against Gambling
30/03/10 18:45
My opposition to gambling has nothing to do with whether it is moral or immoral, or with whether the Bible says it is wrong or not.
First, I should say that if I have to pin myself somewhere on the political spectrum, I consider myself a classical liberal. Thus, in keeping with that ideology, I am not opposed to gambling in Alabama...in theory.
(Note: My father has brought it to my attention that most people will not know what classical liberal means. Lest anyone think I have gone over to the dark side, here's the definition of classical liberal: is a political ideology that developed in the in England, Western Europe, and the Americas. It is committed to the ideal of limited government and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets19th century. Notable classical liberals include Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman.)
The problems come from looking at reality. Our country is a welfare state. Between food stamps, Medicaid and various other entitlement programs, the poor in America are taken care of. Who pays for those programs? You and I do...and so does every other taxpayer in America. I often hear "People should be able to do whatever they want with their own money. If they are dumb enough to gamble it away, it's not my problem." But the thing is, it IS their problem, just like it's my problem. When Joe Smith gambles all his money away and can't afford to feed and clothe his family, the taxpayers have to pick up the slack. And that's one reason I'm against gambling in Alabama.
Here's the other reason: The gambling interests in Alabama have a long history of buying votes and being involved in shady business deals in order to get what they want. They also have a history of funding candidates that will look out for their best interest. Almost all of those candidates are Democrats. Imagine the millions of dollars that will flow into Alabama if we legalize gambling. Now imagine all of those millions flowing right into the pockets of Democrat candidates. At a time when Republicans are closer than ever before to taking over the State Legislature, we cannot afford to have gambling come in with that kind of money and fund the Democrats. If we allow this to happen, Montgomery will become even more corrupt and shady than it already is.
The Democrats showed just how desperately they want gambling legislation passed today. The Senate Democrats pulled out every trick in the book, and broke as many rules as needed to pass SB 380. Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. was heavily involved in today's debate--something he rarely does. From the gavel in, it was clear that the Democrats had something afoot. We now know exactly what they had--two senators who agreed to come over to their side. Unfortunately, Sens. Denton and Pruett gave up their integrity and voted for this corrupt piece of legislation.
The gambling bill (SB 380) passed by a vote of 21-13 around 6:30 this evening. We will now have to take this battle to the House. I only hope we have some tough House members who will be ready to withstand the pressure from the gambling kingpins.
First, I should say that if I have to pin myself somewhere on the political spectrum, I consider myself a classical liberal. Thus, in keeping with that ideology, I am not opposed to gambling in Alabama...in theory.
(Note: My father has brought it to my attention that most people will not know what classical liberal means. Lest anyone think I have gone over to the dark side, here's the definition of classical liberal: is a political ideology that developed in the in England, Western Europe, and the Americas. It is committed to the ideal of limited government and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets19th century. Notable classical liberals include Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman.)
The problems come from looking at reality. Our country is a welfare state. Between food stamps, Medicaid and various other entitlement programs, the poor in America are taken care of. Who pays for those programs? You and I do...and so does every other taxpayer in America. I often hear "People should be able to do whatever they want with their own money. If they are dumb enough to gamble it away, it's not my problem." But the thing is, it IS their problem, just like it's my problem. When Joe Smith gambles all his money away and can't afford to feed and clothe his family, the taxpayers have to pick up the slack. And that's one reason I'm against gambling in Alabama.
Here's the other reason: The gambling interests in Alabama have a long history of buying votes and being involved in shady business deals in order to get what they want. They also have a history of funding candidates that will look out for their best interest. Almost all of those candidates are Democrats. Imagine the millions of dollars that will flow into Alabama if we legalize gambling. Now imagine all of those millions flowing right into the pockets of Democrat candidates. At a time when Republicans are closer than ever before to taking over the State Legislature, we cannot afford to have gambling come in with that kind of money and fund the Democrats. If we allow this to happen, Montgomery will become even more corrupt and shady than it already is.
The Democrats showed just how desperately they want gambling legislation passed today. The Senate Democrats pulled out every trick in the book, and broke as many rules as needed to pass SB 380. Lt. Gov. Jim Folsom Jr. was heavily involved in today's debate--something he rarely does. From the gavel in, it was clear that the Democrats had something afoot. We now know exactly what they had--two senators who agreed to come over to their side. Unfortunately, Sens. Denton and Pruett gave up their integrity and voted for this corrupt piece of legislation.
The gambling bill (SB 380) passed by a vote of 21-13 around 6:30 this evening. We will now have to take this battle to the House. I only hope we have some tough House members who will be ready to withstand the pressure from the gambling kingpins.
Update on AL Legislature: Gambling
03/03/10 14:04
Lots of action in the Alabama legislature today on gambling. For those of you who don't follow Montgomery closely, here's what went down:
Democrats attempted a vote to overcome the BIR (Budget Isolation Resolution) for Sen. Roger Bedford's gambling bill. The vote was 18-16 and the BIR failed. The BIR must be overcome by 21 votes. For information on the problems with Sen. Bedford's bill, click here. For the roll call vote on SB 380's attempt to overcome the BIR, click here.
People on the ground were saying (and news outlets were reporting) that Sen. Bedford was not going to bring his bill back up again during this session. Then, lo and behold, a Republican senator who voted against Sen. Bedford's bill on the BIR vote, decided to introduce his own gambling bill. Senator Paul Sanford released the following today explaing what his bill would do and why:
Senator Sanford said his tracking of correspondence from constituents is running eighty percent to twenty percent in favor of putting the issue to a vote of the people so long as the bill is not putting the power in the hands of a few monopolies.
“One thing I have learned from the arrogance of the U.S. Congress related to ‘healthcare reform’ is that elected officials better listen to the folks back home, and that’s what I’m doing but I just couldn’t support a non-competitive bill that didn’t have the best interest of the State at heart. I was elected as a ‘citizen lawmaker,’ and if the people of my district want to be able to vote on this issue, that’s what I’m going to give them the opportunity to do,” Sen. Sanford stated. “If this does make its way to the ballot box in November, I ask that voters do their due diligence on the issue and not make a decision based on any slick advertising campaign but on the true facts and information,” he finished.
Many conservatives are questioning the wisdom of introducing a bingo bill when we already had the issue beat. Sen. Sanford is rumored to be looking at a tough race for re-election. I'm sure the overwhelming support for gambling in his district had something to do with his decision. However, it is unfortunate that we seem to be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on this one.
Democrats attempted a vote to overcome the BIR (Budget Isolation Resolution) for Sen. Roger Bedford's gambling bill. The vote was 18-16 and the BIR failed. The BIR must be overcome by 21 votes. For information on the problems with Sen. Bedford's bill, click here. For the roll call vote on SB 380's attempt to overcome the BIR, click here.
People on the ground were saying (and news outlets were reporting) that Sen. Bedford was not going to bring his bill back up again during this session. Then, lo and behold, a Republican senator who voted against Sen. Bedford's bill on the BIR vote, decided to introduce his own gambling bill. Senator Paul Sanford released the following today explaing what his bill would do and why:
FROM THE DESK OF
Senator Paul Sanford
Press Release
March 3, 2010
CONTACT: (334) 242-7800
Senator Paul Sanford Desires to Move
Bingo Debate in a New, Honest Direction
(MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA)—Senator Paul Sanford (R-Huntsville) had been working with both sides of the electronic bingo issue (SB380) to try and clean up the bill before it came up for debate in the state senate. After a few attempts to reconcile the differences of both sides, Sen. Sanford’s desired concessions were not met. Within the next day or two he will be releasing a new bill drafted by the Legislative Reference Service that will shrink the size of the constitutional amendment and simplify the issue to a basic up or down vote of the people in November.
“I desire nothing more than to move the ‘bingo’ debate in a new, honest direction – one that is more simplistic, straight-forward, and transparent. It has bogged down the Legislature for years, and it is time to put this issue to rest and move on with the other pressing business in Alabama, like getting our economy back on track,” Senator Sanford said. “We all realize this subject has been a ‘grey’ area of the law, but it’s time for the voters to turn grey into either black or white with a bill that is not dripping in special interest tinkering,” he continued.
Senator Sanford said the original Senate Bill 380 and subsequent substitutions, none of which were released for official debate, were too “stuck in the mud” with unfair special treatment for a select few. His bill, which will be released on his websites (senatorsanford.com and sanfordforsenate.com), pairs down the debate to a straight up or down vote of the people. The bill will also at least do the following:
- Refer to the current machines in use as “slot machines” instead of “bingo”;
- Legalize, tax and regulate slot machine casinos in a few pages instead of the current 48-page constitutional amendment full of fine print that nobody reads or understands;
- Place casino licenses up for bid so the taxpayers, instead of casino bosses, get the best deal
- Add prohibitions of campaign contributions from the gambling interest to those who appoint the Gaming Commission and to the Legislature ; and
- Establish a minimum tax rate of 50% to make sure we’re not “giving away the store”
Senator Sanford said his tracking of correspondence from constituents is running eighty percent to twenty percent in favor of putting the issue to a vote of the people so long as the bill is not putting the power in the hands of a few monopolies.
“One thing I have learned from the arrogance of the U.S. Congress related to ‘healthcare reform’ is that elected officials better listen to the folks back home, and that’s what I’m doing but I just couldn’t support a non-competitive bill that didn’t have the best interest of the State at heart. I was elected as a ‘citizen lawmaker,’ and if the people of my district want to be able to vote on this issue, that’s what I’m going to give them the opportunity to do,” Sen. Sanford stated. “If this does make its way to the ballot box in November, I ask that voters do their due diligence on the issue and not make a decision based on any slick advertising campaign but on the true facts and information,” he finished.
Many conservatives are questioning the wisdom of introducing a bingo bill when we already had the issue beat. Sen. Sanford is rumored to be looking at a tough race for re-election. I'm sure the overwhelming support for gambling in his district had something to do with his decision. However, it is unfortunate that we seem to be snatching defeat from the jaws of victory on this one.
Legislative Update
25/02/10 11:25
As is typical at this point during the legislative session, not much happened on Goat Hill this week. The Senate is stuck on gambling (SB 380) and Sen. Lowell Baron's roads bill (SB 120). Democrats don't have the votes to overcome the BIR on either. (For those of you who don't follow Alabama politics, the BIR is the Budget Isolation Resolution-a procedure by which 2/3s of members must vote to set aside the budget and consider other legislation. The legislature is bound by law to pass state budgets before other legislation can be considered--unless they can get 2/3s to agree to set the budgets aside).
Look for the gambling bill to be modified slightly in the next few weeks--namely for the tax breaks for Country Crossings to be removed from the legislation. More on the gambling bill below.
As for the House, they spent the week on a constitutional amendment that would call a constitutional convention to rewrite the Alabama Constitution. The bill failed to get the necessary votes to stay on the table for debate, and is thought to be dead for the rest of the session. Today, the House began debate on a bill that would rescue the bankrupt PACT program. Some Republicans were unhappy with the bill because it capped tuition for students whose parents participated in the PACT program. This would result is different students being charged different amounts of tuition. It sounds like a total nightmare for universities and patently unfair to students.
Gambling was the big issue on Goat Hill Tuesday. Both sides had rallies scheduled at the State House--the Anti-Gambling crowd at 12:30 and the Pro-Gambling crowd at 2:00. Naturally, the Pro-Gambling crowd showed up early, and crashed the Anti-Gambling rally. Participants became very aggressive--yelling "Scalp Riley" and "Impeach Riley" and became very nasty toward First Lady Patsy Riley. I think the Pro-Gambling people really hurt their cause with Tuesday's display.
Regardless of how you feel about gambling in Alabama, this legislation is TERRIBLE. This is NOT, I repeat NOT, free-market gambling. It was written by a handful of wealthy and powerful gambling bosses and sets them up with a monopoly and gives them immunity from any criminal or civil prosecution. For details on the legislation, click here.
Look for the gambling bill to be modified slightly in the next few weeks--namely for the tax breaks for Country Crossings to be removed from the legislation. More on the gambling bill below.
As for the House, they spent the week on a constitutional amendment that would call a constitutional convention to rewrite the Alabama Constitution. The bill failed to get the necessary votes to stay on the table for debate, and is thought to be dead for the rest of the session. Today, the House began debate on a bill that would rescue the bankrupt PACT program. Some Republicans were unhappy with the bill because it capped tuition for students whose parents participated in the PACT program. This would result is different students being charged different amounts of tuition. It sounds like a total nightmare for universities and patently unfair to students.
Gambling was the big issue on Goat Hill Tuesday. Both sides had rallies scheduled at the State House--the Anti-Gambling crowd at 12:30 and the Pro-Gambling crowd at 2:00. Naturally, the Pro-Gambling crowd showed up early, and crashed the Anti-Gambling rally. Participants became very aggressive--yelling "Scalp Riley" and "Impeach Riley" and became very nasty toward First Lady Patsy Riley. I think the Pro-Gambling people really hurt their cause with Tuesday's display.
Regardless of how you feel about gambling in Alabama, this legislation is TERRIBLE. This is NOT, I repeat NOT, free-market gambling. It was written by a handful of wealthy and powerful gambling bosses and sets them up with a monopoly and gives them immunity from any criminal or civil prosecution. For details on the legislation, click here.
Where Is Alabama AG Troy King?
15/02/10 10:17
Update on AL Legislature
11/02/10 12:53
Gambling has been the big issue this week in the AL Senate. On Tuesday, SB380 passed out of the Tourism Committee. No surprise there--the committee is stacked with pro-gambling legislators. The bill had it's second reading on Tuesday and many speculated it would be brought up for a vote on Thursday. It was not put on the special order calendar for today, and Sen. Lowell Barron said they would debate it on Tuesday. Sen. Del Marsh attempted to substitute the gambling bill on the special order calendar in order to force a vote. The gambling interests are estimated to be two votes short today--one due to Sen. Kim Benefield being absent today (I believe her husband was in a car wreck last night) and the other due to the waivering of Sen. Mark Keahey. Keahey, who represents Atmore, is reportedly getting a little twitchy on the bill because of pressure from the indian gaming interests in his district.
I'm hearing that as of now, the Republicans believe they have enough votes to stop the bill from passing. However, the gambling interests would not bring the bill to the floor without being absolutely sure they had the votes to pass it. We'll have to wait and see what happens on Tuesday.
Sen. Lowell Barron informed the body that Sen. Ted Little's PACT bill would be on the special order calendar. I will be watching for a vote.
A few weeks ago I mentioned HB81, a bill that allows persons charged or convicted of certain felony or misdemeanor criminal offenses to petition the court in which the charges were filed or in which the conviction occured to have his or her record expunged. The Senate verson of that bill, SB178 sponsored by Sen. Smitherman, did not garner enough votes today to overcome the BIR.
The Senate spent the morning working on Sunset bills (mostly boards or commissions that have to be reauthorized every year). Sen. Scott Beason introduced an amendment to each of the Sunset bills that prevents illegal immigrants from serving on those boards or commissions.
I'll continue to update as this very fluid situation changes.
I'm hearing that as of now, the Republicans believe they have enough votes to stop the bill from passing. However, the gambling interests would not bring the bill to the floor without being absolutely sure they had the votes to pass it. We'll have to wait and see what happens on Tuesday.
Sen. Lowell Barron informed the body that Sen. Ted Little's PACT bill would be on the special order calendar. I will be watching for a vote.
A few weeks ago I mentioned HB81, a bill that allows persons charged or convicted of certain felony or misdemeanor criminal offenses to petition the court in which the charges were filed or in which the conviction occured to have his or her record expunged. The Senate verson of that bill, SB178 sponsored by Sen. Smitherman, did not garner enough votes today to overcome the BIR.
The Senate spent the morning working on Sunset bills (mostly boards or commissions that have to be reauthorized every year). Sen. Scott Beason introduced an amendment to each of the Sunset bills that prevents illegal immigrants from serving on those boards or commissions.
I'll continue to update as this very fluid situation changes.
Alabama Legislative Update
21/01/10 16:11
Two ethics bills have passed the House:
1. Rep. Paul DeMarco's bill requiring mandatory ethics training and closing loopholes in the current ethics law.
2. Rep. Cam Ward/Alvin Holmes' bill to give the Alabama Ethics Commission subpoena power.
Senator Lowell Barron is pushing a constitutional amendment to raid the Alabama Oil and Gas Trust Fund to the tune of $1 billion over 10 years for road construction and repair. Republican Senators have been able to stall a vote thus far. The bill is SB 121.
Marcel Black's pro-gambling bill passed out of the Travel and Tourism Committee yesterday. This bill gives casino owners amnesty from paying taxes and amnesty from civil and criminal prosection for breaking state and federal laws. The bill has been amended to terminate in November so it's goal is to protect the casino owners until a constitutional amendment can be voted on. The constitutional amendment has not yet been introduced, but it is expected soon.
1. Rep. Paul DeMarco's bill requiring mandatory ethics training and closing loopholes in the current ethics law.
2. Rep. Cam Ward/Alvin Holmes' bill to give the Alabama Ethics Commission subpoena power.
Senator Lowell Barron is pushing a constitutional amendment to raid the Alabama Oil and Gas Trust Fund to the tune of $1 billion over 10 years for road construction and repair. Republican Senators have been able to stall a vote thus far. The bill is SB 121.
Marcel Black's pro-gambling bill passed out of the Travel and Tourism Committee yesterday. This bill gives casino owners amnesty from paying taxes and amnesty from civil and criminal prosection for breaking state and federal laws. The bill has been amended to terminate in November so it's goal is to protect the casino owners until a constitutional amendment can be voted on. The constitutional amendment has not yet been introduced, but it is expected soon.