MONTGOMERY — The Senate will likely agree to go to a conference committee next week to try to negotiate an agreement with the House on the two chamber's competing gambling proposals, according to State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore).
The House non-concurred on the Senate's gambling package last week, saying they preferred the comprehensive version passed by the House earlier in the session. The House appointed three members to go to a conference committee to negotiate, but the Senate hasn't officially agreed to the conference committee yet and appointed its three members.
"Well, obviously, we are not going to deal with that today," Albritton told reporters on Thursday. "So, it'll probably (be) next week, Tuesday I guess, maybe. We'll pull it out of the basket, go to conference, and then we'll start working on it. My concern is that we have such huge differences between what the House passed and what the Senate passed and then where that middle ground is. We're going to have to get a 60% vote in both houses again. All of those are uphill battles. It's going to be difficult."
State Senate Pro-Tem Greg Reed (R-Jasper) said, "The bill is going to come out of the basket. There is going to be a conference committee and that committee can do its work and negotiate which is the process and then come back to both bodies and determine where we go next."
"I think that the definition of where the chambers are can only be evaluated based on the two bills, the Senate bill and the House bill were very different. I'm very comfortable with the Senate bill. I think we did some things that are very different and I think that's what our members were looking for so I'm very happy with the bill," Reed told reporters on Thursday.
There are nine legislative days left in the 2024 session.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
Don't miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
