Last week, State Rep. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City) fired a shot at Senate Republicans in the wake of the collapse of the so-called comprehensive legislation earlier this month.
Blackshear was apparently responding to literature from the Senate Republican Caucus claiming gaming legislation as one of the "2024 session accomplishments."
In a statement released by the House Speaker's office, Blackshear argued that 15 Senate Republicans were to blame for the gambling package's failure.
During his weekly appearance on Huntsville radio WVNN's "The Dale Jackson Show," State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) reacted to the public frustration from gambling proponents.
Orr speculated it had to do with the legislation's constitutional amendment falling one State Senate vote short of being on an August special election ballot.
The Morgan County Republican lawmaker also questioned the State House of Representatives' wisdom in choosing not to concur with a Senate-generated bill and a conference committee bill that changed the Senate-led effort.
"I think it's because they were close, and I don't know what the House was thinking when the Senate sent down a lottery bill, continue the status quo," Orr said. "And the only rub I had with the status quo was they expanded it to Lowndes and Houston County. Otherwise, it was something I could have gotten on board with. But they bootstrapped two counties that don't have video bingo in their local constitutional amendments, and that was what decided it for me."
"But anyway, we sent them down a very stripped-down bill and said if you amend it, it won't sustain, it won't hold if you send it back," he continued. "And lo and behold, they sent back a much broader gaming component, which included electronic gaming, which is 'Katy bar the door,' and that was a problem, even though they had been told it would be a problem. They decided to push the envelope, I guess."
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Orr said he was looking at a renewed effort in 2025 to put illegal gambling enforcement and a lottery at the front of the line.
"I certainly willing to start engaging, as we've talked about on your show," he said. "The gaming community has been the ones driving the debate, the argument, what's in the bills. I think we need to come from a different perspective and start the lottery and that be it. If you talk piece by piece, we start with lottery. That's what the people are primarily interested in voting on and that's what we ought to address first. It ought to be at the top of the list without all these fellow travelers, hangers-on, box cars on the train like we've talked about and take care of the people's business. And that's what I'm looking to do in the '25 session, with some added enforcement — pop-up bingo barns and all of that. Let's focus on the lottery and take care of job one and not add all these other wish lists that get added to it and make the ultimate product palatable."
"I asked the question way back at the beginning of this session because those that were promoting the package were, 'Oh, we've got to enforce it, we've got to control it, we've got to capture it,' and all of that," Orr added. "Well, let's just start with that. Why do we have to expand gaming, which was the original package to enforce it? We pass laws all the time that enforce this, that, create laws that people want and we expect the enforcement to go with them. And the problem now is almost all the violations are misdemeanors, and law enforcement and the judicial system doesn't want to fool with it. So, let's ramp it up and deal with job one. I would submit as well the people want to vote on a lottery, and that ought to be a part of it without getting into the expansion and all the issues. Let's just take care of what we need to take care of."
Jeff Poor is the editor in chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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