The Legislature and Bingo

April 17, 2008

Lance Griffin

Last week I called and left messages with almost all of the members of the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee to get their thoughts on the bingo bill that had been introduced by Sen. Harri Anne Smith. I followed up with e-mails to the committee members whose addresses were on the State Legislature Web site.

None of them responded to either the phone calls or the e-mails, except one. Sen. Charles Bishop called a few days later and talked about electronic bingo in Walker County. Of course the bingo bill has been pulled now, but Bishop’s take was interesting. I’m working on a story for early next week. Bishop told me that he believes those who support the bingo center at Country Crossing won’t be supporting it 2 years from now based on his experience. I told him that what the County Commission said it wants to do is to prevent the widespread proliferation of electronic bingo machines that invaded his county. He sees it differently.

Check back for more on my conversation with Sen. Bishop

House Bingo bill rises from the dead, killed again

April 16, 2008

Lance Griffin

After a motion for reconsideration, HB577 (Rep. Marcel Black’s racetrack bingo bill) received 57 yea votes in a procedural vote, three short of the 60 needed to move the bill forward, so HB577 has been killed again. It does not appear the bill can be brought up again for reconsideration.

Bingo at Country Crossing clears another legislative hurdle

Lance Griffin

A House bill that could have limited electronic bingo to four existing race tracks in Alabama was killed today. HB577, sponsored by Rep. Marcel Black, would have allowed electronic bingo at race tracks in Mobile and Birmingham along with its current operations in Green County and Macon County. It would have effectively outlawed it everywhere else (except on federally protected Indian land).

The bill failed on a procedural vote, the Budget Isolation Resolution, yielding 55 yea votes and 39 nay votes. 60 yea votes were needed to move the bill forward.

The Senate is expected to debate another gambling bill later today.

Statement by Sen. Harri Anne Smith

April 14, 2008

Lance Griffin

Below is the full text of the statement read by Sen. Harri Anne Smith when she announced that she had withdrawn her bingo bill from the Alabama Senate.

“I recenrtly introduced a bill in the state Senate which would have put the establishment of electronic bingo in Houston County on the ballot in November. I did this because I believe that when the citizens of any community face a political and moral issue of great significance they should have the opportunity to participate in that decision.“

“I believe that then and I believe it now. Since I introduced this bill I have heard from hundreds of people from all walks of life – in the newspaper, on the Internet, by phone, on radio and TV, and on the street.“ 

“The good, solid citizens of our community have let me know in no uncertain terms how strongly they feel about this issue. The consensus is obvious to me. A majority of the people of Houston County clearly want the Country Crossing development to move forward because of what they believe it will mean to this area in terms of jobs and economic development.  For that reason I have today contacted the Senate committee chairman and asked that my bill be stopped permanantly.“

Statement by Rep. Benjamin Lewis

Lance Griffin

Below is the full statement sent to the Dothan Eagle by Rep. Benjamin Lewis after he said he would not attempt to move his bingo bill out of the local legislation committee in the House:

STATEMENT ON BINGO LEGISLATION
“It is apparent that there will not be any further effort at this time by the Alabama state legislature to amend Houston County’s local charitable Bingo amendment.”

“While I support the Country Crossing development which will bring thousands of jobs to our community, I still have reservations about the gambling aspect of the project. I believe this will open the door for casinos to be built in Houston County. I have carefully studied Constitutional Amendment No. 569 and the enabling legislation (Act No. 95-420) which allows charitable Bingo in our county. I read the regulations passed by the Houston County Commission and studied the legal opinions the commission based their decision upon. I sought independent legal advice on this issue from attorneys who represent interests on both sides of this issue. I sought direction from Governor Bob Riley’s office and Attorney General Troy King’s office. I even sought counsel from some of the legislators who sponsored the original legislation in an effort to determine the original intent. It is my belief that there are some problems with the law and some of the provisions are ambiguous. It is partly because of these potential problems with the original law that I introduced a bill in the House to correct the ambiguous language and allow it to conform to what I believe was the original intent of Amendment 569.”
                                         
“Also, in the face of the long standing public policy of this State against gambling as outlined by Article IV, Section 65 of the 1901 Constitution of Alabama, the history of Alabama’s voters repeatedly voting down attempts to establish a state-wide lottery or approve a state-wide gambling amendment to the Constitution, and a number of state court decisions holding similar electronic machines as illegal gambling devices, I believe a clarification in the law was needed. I received numerous correspondences from the public with concerns about the proposed Country Crossing development including a Bingo Casino being built here in our community. 

“One of the things that make the Wiregrass so special is the community spirit that is found here. I stand by my decision to introduce HB 819; however, due to recent events the legislation is effectively dead. It is my belief that political decisions that have the potential to change the direction of a community deserve the input of the community.”