You don’t always get what you want, and sometimes you don’t even get what you need in the rudderless Alabama Senate.
Proceedings in the Alabama Legislature came to a near standstill Tuesday afternoon, with Sen. Shea Shelnutt furious over the failure of a bill to fund a large agricultural center in her district. He instituted a filibuster, effectively blocking the entire House of Representatives from convening. -Passed the bill. He promised it would continue through Wednesday, Congress’ last regular business day in the 2024 session.
Really shell nut needs He was publicly reprimanded by Sen. Vivian Figures, who told Ms. Shelnutt she should “take it easy” and not be so selfish about the agricultural center.
But it doesn’t really matter what the shell nut needs. The agricultural center is at the top of the Alabama Farmers Federation’s legislative wish list. The Alabama Farmers Federation is a group that has continually interfered with the passage of the comprehensive gambling bill passed by the House of Representatives earlier this year. When that gambling bill was raised to a huge amount by an Alpha-backed senator and almost all of them were murdered by that same senator, the gambling bill’s House sponsors and House leadership realized that everyone was more concerned about the stakes. It seems that they decided to put the horse’s head on the bed so that it can be understood better.
After the farm center bill goes to a conference committee, each chamber will send three members to work out a compromise, but Nathaniel Ledbetter hasn’t hidden his anger over the Senate’s handling of the gambling bill. The Speaker of the House appointed two of them. He convened Congressman Andy Hoyt and Congressman Sam Jones, the leading forces behind the gambling bill, to a conference committee.
Guess who Whitt and Jones voted for on the farm center bill.
The horse’s head has been delivered.
So Shelnutt threw a tantrum. To be honest, that’s probably fine with people in the House. Sure, they want the bill to pass, but they also want the Senate to get a taste of their own medicine.
Let’s be clear: Bills like the comprehensive anti-gambling bill passed by the House of Representatives don’t just become law in days or months.
The bill would allow Alabama residents to vote to approve seven casino licenses, sports betting, a statewide lottery, and the Porch Band of Creek Indians compact for one year. It had been formulated over a period of time. Everyone in leadership positions, including the Senate leadership (who all pretended as if this was the first time they were hearing about gambling legislation), was aware of this bill and was at least in the drafting of the bill’s initial outline. was involved.Hell, the bill the House passed was essentially the same as the bill passed by the Senate. Two degrees in recent years.
But Senate President Greg Reed, whose motivations I’ll have to explain because I don’t understand them, acted as if he was caught off guard by it, effectively giving the bill no consideration whatsoever. I left it to a group of senators who don’t have it. They were more concerned with getting it passed and were far more concerned with serving their own interests than those of their constituents.
And no one in the Senate leadership stepped in to help those who were sincerely working on this policy.
We’re talking about a bill that would bring in more than $1 billion a year in tax revenue. university scholarships. Expanding healthcare. Expanding mental health care. School safety. More than 12,000 permanent jobs. Millions more in tourism revenue.
And the leadership acted as if it were dealing with a bill to set the course of a new nation.
During that time, the goal of those opposed to the bill was simple and very effective. That means dismantling the union between dog track and bingo parlor owners and the Poarch Creek family.
The union was a driving force behind the bill’s passage in the House, but the relationship has always been fragile. And the gambling bill doesn’t need many changes until the interests of both sides are in the opposite direction, and each side has a large number of senators and the votes needed to pass something.
The bill that passed the Senate was complete garbage, written by people with no deep understanding of the complex issues at stake and no desire to actually pass anything. The bill eliminated casinos and sports betting, offering only the Poe Arch Creek Compact, Lottery, and historic horse racing machines at the dog track.
They probably couldn’t afford the new gaming fees that are part of the bill. Certainly, the money could not have been spent on scholarships or expanding the medical system.
Members of Congress and leadership were furious. So they refused consent and sent the bill to a conference committee.
During that commission, the game continued. To increase revenue, the new compromise would give Dog Paw and three other locations electronic games, meaning dealer-less casino games. That was a problem for Poarch Creek, but not necessarily a deal killer.
According to Sen. Greg Albritton, the deal killer came later. A clause inserted into the bill would specifically prohibit the Poarch Creeks from expanding their gambling operations outside of the land currently held in trust. Albritton said when he saw that, he knew it was over. He told people it was over.
Porch Creek officials were dissatisfied with the bill and became active in trying to repeal it.
and Alpha and many other behind-the-scenes interest groups, most of which are funded by organizations that run the game in other states that are desperate to keep Alabama residents sending their kids to college. For those who have done so, it was mission accomplished.
That’s too bad. That’s really true. Because that first gambling bill would have fundamentally changed Alabama for the better in many ways. That would have given millions of underprivileged children the chance to earn a college education and work qualifications. This would have provided so many people in rural areas of this state with health care services that will improve their lives for generations to come. And we could have provided the mental health care needed to save thousands of lives.
It would also shut down many true criminal enterprises operating in the state that use illegal gambling as a means to fund a variety of other illegal activities.
But instead, we played politics. For some of us, our personal ambitions and professional fears took precedence over our duty to serve our constituents, but they made it clear that they wanted the opportunity to vote on this issue. Was.
So what happened Tuesday may have been at least some sort of poetic justice. An eye for an eye, sort of. Yes, Alpha and other groups and self-serving weak legislators succeeded in preventing the people of Alabama from voting for gambling.
However, agricultural centers will also disappear.
