Here is a look at where some key issues stand:
GENERAL FUND
One of the most pressing issues is to give final approval for the general fund budget for next fiscal year. The bill is in conference committee to work out differences between the House of Representatives and Alabama Senate. The $2.4 billion spending plan is up a modest 3.6% over this year. The budget includes a 2% pay raise for state employees.
CURBSIDE VOTING BAN
The bill by Republican Rep. Wes Allen of Troy would explicitly forbid election workers from setting up curbside areas for people to vote as well as forbid the setting up of voting machines outside a polling place. Curbside voting is a voting method that civil rights organizations had sought during the COVID-19 pandemic and have argued that it would make it easier for people to vote, particularly the elderly, disabled and parents with young children. The House approved the bill and it is awaiting a vote in the Senate.
A day-long push to get a comprehensive lottery and gambling push through the Alabama House of Representatives collapsed late Thursday, after an attempt to cut the bill down to a simple lottery by a group of Republicans failed. We ve been working on that bill, and there was a division in the membership on this, and there was not enough votes to pass it, House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, said late Thursday. We were looking at any other options on that, including a lottery bill.
The developments led to angry accusations from Democrats, who said Republicans locked them out of meetings and abruptly introduced the lottery bill late in the day on Thursday, and Republicans who said they worked in good faith to try to get something out for voters to approve.
A day-long push to get a comprehensive lottery and gambling push through the Alabama House of Representatives collapsed late Thursday, after an attempt to cut the bill down to a simple lottery by a group of Republicans failed. We ve been working on that bill, and there was a division in the membership on this, and there was not enough votes to pass it, House Speaker Mac McCutcheon, R-Monrovia, said late Thursday. We were looking at any other options on that, including a lottery bill.
The developments led to angry accusations from Democrats, who said Republicans locked them out of meetings and abruptly introduced the lottery bill late in the day on Thursday, and Republicans who said they worked in good faith to try to get something out for voters to approve.
By KIM CHANDLER
Associated Press
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) â The fate of an Alabama lottery and casino bill remained in limbo on Thursday as the House of Representatives delayed a vote amid a flurry of last-minute negotiations to try to obtain the needed support.
House leaders of both parties met multiple times through the day for negotiations on the bill trying to work out a compromise that could muster the 63 votes needed to pass the 105-member House. The chamber moved on to other bills Thursday night as the discussions continued.
âThere s been a lot of work on it. Right now, we are looking at the differences in the House and the Senate, the majority caucus and the minority caucus. They are sitting in there now at the table working through it,â House Speaker Mac McCutcheon said Thursday evening.
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