Budgets, lottery, gambling among chief topics for 2021, legislators say

The 2021 session of the state Legislature will be different due to COVID-19 restrictions and likely will focus heavily on budgets and legislation dealing with business, the lottery and other forms of gambling, several legislators told the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce today.

People will not be able to come and go from the Alabama statehouse as freely as they normally do, Sen. Jabo Waggoner told Hoover chamber members in a Zoom videoconference.

People will have to pass a health screening to be able to enter the statehouse, said Waggoner, a Republican from Vestavia Hills who is chairman of the Jefferson County legislative delegation and represents Senate District 16.

Guests will need appointments and will have designated areas to meet with members of the House of Representatives, said Rep. David Wheeler, a Republican representing House District 47, which includes parts of Hoover and Vestavia Hills.

However, guests of senators will be able to meet senators in their offices, Wheeler said.

The session is scheduled to start Feb. 2, with legislators meeting three days a week for the first two weeks and then taking a week off to assess progress in the new working environment, Waggoner said.

Passing budgets for both the general fund and education trust fund will be a priority, and expected legislation dealing with a lottery and other forms of gambling such as casinos also will be “front and center,” Waggoner said.

The gambling issues come in light of a report by a gambling study commission indicating that Alabama could raise $510 million to $710 million a year from a lottery, casinos and sports betting if voters approved a constitutional amendment expanding gambling in the state.

Waggoner said he believes the vast majority of people in Alabama want the opportunity to vote on a lottery, and he believes it would pass if it goes to a vote. “We’ve been talking about it for years,” he said.

There are still a lot of details to be worked out, such as how far into gambling the legislation goes, Waggoner said.

Wheeler said another factor to be considered is whether the legislation presented for a vote would give a monopoly to one group or another. That might be harder for some legislators to approve, he said. “As with any legislation, it’s the devil in the details,” Wheeler said. “We’ll have to see what actually comes out.”

Rep. David Faulkner, a Republican from House District 46, which includes parts of Hoover, Mountain Brook, Homewood and Vestavia Hills, said polls indicate growing support for a lottery in Alabama, but he agreed “the devil is in the details” because a lot of people don’t want a lottery if the proceeds go to the Legislature.

People are more inclined to vote for a lottery if all the proceeds go to education, he said.

Faulkner said he personally is not in favor of a lottery based on what he has seen in other states. He realizes the state would gain some revenue from a lottery, but he would hate to base any funding of essential services on gambling proceeds. He still needs to read the full report from the gambling study commission before casting a vote, he said.

Wheeler said the lottery bill that came up last year would have designated 50% of its proceeds to pre-kindergarten services and 50% to postsecondary education. There was no vote on that bill due to a shortened session with COVID-19, but the bill had 70 co-sponsors, which pretty much would have guaranteed passage, he said.

Waggoner said he also expects the Legislature to consider legislation that would prohibit taxation of federal COVID-19 stimulus checks, expand broadband in the state and address tax rebates and credits for industry that are due to expire.

Faulkner said he plans to sponsor legislation in the House that would prevent people from being able to sue schools and businesses for issues related to COVID-19.

“We want to give people assurance we can keep our kids in school and get back to work and get back to business and not worry about COVID lawsuits,” Faulkner said.

Sen. Dan Roberts of Senate District 15, chairman of the Shelby County legislative delegation, noted that, despite concerns about the impact of COVID-19, Alabama’s state government is one of the states in the best economic position concerning budgets. The state general fund and education trust fund are in great shape for this upcoming year, but he is more concerned about the impact on small businesses in the following year, he said.