Elliott opposes conference committee’s ‘expansive legislation’ on gambling – Yellowhammer News

State Sen. Chris Elliott (R-Josephine) explained his vote against the lottery and gambling legislation Tuesday night, arguing it was too “expansive.”

The Senate failed to pass the constitutional amendment on lottery and gambling with a 20-15 vote. The House had passed the bill earlier in the day. It needed 21 votes to pass due to constitutional amendments requiring a 60% threshold in each chamber.

A vote on the amendment is expected to be called again today as a majority of members voted in favor of adopting the conference report that was passed by the committee.

“The Alabama Senate passed legislation that would have ended illegal gambling and allowed the people to vote on a paper lottery, but nonconcurrence by the House forced the bill to conference committee,” Elliott posted Wednesday on Facebook. “The resulting compromise vastly expanded electronic casinos throughout our state and contained significant permissive language that further grew government. While I have repeatedly voted for a referendum on a paper lottery, I could not support the conference committee’s expansive legislation.”

Elliott has said  Alabamians really just want a lottery.

“The people want the lottery, I mean, that’s basically what they’re after,” Elliott said last month. “They’re not after anything more than that. And this focus on the politics between the House version and the Senate version and why this passed and why that didn’t pass is not the issue as far as the people are concerned. They just want to be able to vote on a lottery.”

The senator is now on the opposite side of Gov. Kay Ivey, who told reporters Wednesday that she supports the legislation.

“My position has remained unchanged,” she said. “It’s time for the voters of Alabama to have their say. Legislators have had their say all along.

“Now, it’s time for the Alabama voters to vote and let’s get this done.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee