Alabama Senate leader declares gambling, lottery bills dead for session
The leader of the Alabama Senate said Thursday there would be no efforts to create a lottery or expand gambling in the state in the current legislative session.
Senate President Pro Tempore Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, said in a statement emailed after the chamber adjourned Thursday that passing gambling legislation in the chamber will require 'long-term and intense negotiations among members' and votes to be secured before beginning another legislative session.
'With 12 meeting days remaining in the session, both budgets still awaiting approval, and other important bills and measures demanding focus and attention, the comprehensive gaming bill released today is simply too little, too late, and has too few votes to pass,' Gudger said in the statement.
The Senate leader's statement came as Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, had been shopping what he described as a 'trimmed-down' version of a gambling package filed last year that failed to pass the Legislature. That package included a constitutional amendment and legislation to legalize a state lottery and gambling, which stalled in the Senate.
Albritton did not push back against Gudger's statement in a phone interview Thursday afternoon, saying that 'the last part of that phrase is the most accurate.'
He also confirmed he's not introducing a bill in the 2025 legislative session.
'We're not going to drop a bill this year,' Albritton said.
The gambling package failed last year amid disputes over what kinds of gambling would be offered and distribution of revenues. House sponsors were sharply critical of changes the Senate made to the package, and House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said in February that the chamber would not bring its own version of the legislation.
The state's 1901 Constitution outlaws lotteries and gambling. Gambling that exists in the state operates under local constitutional amendments or on land owned by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a federally-recognized tribe that runs casinos in Atmore, Montgomery and Wetumpka. Efforts to create a lottery or expand gambling have been stymied by divisions among Republicans in the Legislature; disputes among gambling interests and disagreements over distribution of gambling revenue.
Alabama is the only state east of the Mississippi without a lottery.
SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
a few seconds ago
- Yahoo
Hillary Clinton warns SCOTUS 'will do to gay marriage what they did to abortion'
Hillary Clinton believes the U.S. Supreme Court will overturn marriage equality, and she's urging LGBTQ+ couples to get married while they still can. The former Secretary of State and presidential candidate predicted that the court would reverse Obergefell v. Hodges in an interview with Jessica Tarlov of Fox News' The Five, warning that "there are going to be real world consequences." "American voters, and to some extent the American media, don't understand how many years the Republicans have been working in order to get us to this point," Clinton said. "It took 50 years to overturn Roe v. Wade. The Supreme Court will hear a case about gay marriage. My prediction is they will do to gay marriage what they did to abortion. They will send it back to the states." WATCH: @HillaryClinton predicts to @JessicaTarlov that SCOTUS will overturn marriage equality and 'send it back to the states' (like abortion) — leading to a ban in much of 🇺🇸 On Trump & Republicans stealing seats: 'they don't want a fair fight' Full: If the Supreme Court reverses Obergefell , marriages between same-sex couples will still be recognized federally under the Respect for Marriage Act. Signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2022, the act mandates that the federal government recognizes same-sex and interracial marriages, and that all states recognize those performed in other states. The act does not require states to allow marriages between same-sex couples. As state bans on these unions were struck down in Obergefell, such bans could be enacted again if Obergefell is overturned. If that were to happen, the fallout would likely be similar to that after Roe v. Wade's reversal, in which red states immediately enacted bans. Related: While the Supreme Court has made no official move to reconsider marriage equality, nine states have recently introduced resolutions asking the court to hear the case again. None have yet passed, and even if they were to, the resolutions are nonbinding — meaning they carry no legal weight, and the court is not obligated to hear them. However, some justices have voiced opposition to Obergefell even after the ruling. When the conservative majority created by Donald Trump overturned Roe v. Wade, Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurring opinion at the time that the court should also revisit and overrule decisions that prevent state restrictions on contraception, marriage equality, sodomy, and other private consensual sex acts, calling the rulings "demonstrably erroneous." "Anybody in a committed relationship out there in the LGBTQ community, you ought to consider getting married," Clinton continued. "'Cause I don't think they'll undo existing marriages, but I fear that they will undo the national right." This article originally appeared on Advocate: Hillary Clinton warns SCOTUS 'will do to gay marriage what they did to abortion' RELATED Gay weddings have boosted state and local economies by $6 billion since marriage equality Idaho Republicans' resolution to repeal marriage equality is 'foreshadowing' for the U.S. New poll finds record-low support of marriage equality from Republicans since Obergefell v. Hodges
Yahoo
a few seconds ago
- Yahoo
Texas Republicans' redistricting map: How the GOP could increase its stronghold.
Texas Republicans and Democrats are engaged in a redistricting battle that is spurring a national partisan war over congressional maps before the 2026 midterms. President Donald Trump's political team pressured Texas lawmakers to redraw the districts this year. Redistricting normally occurs at the beginning of a decade, after the decennial census. But this mid-decade move is aimed at creating more Republican districts in Texas and protecting the GOP's narrow majority in the U.S. House. The most recent proposed map could help Republicans gain five seats held by Democrats. That would give the GOP 30 of Texas' 38 congressional districts. The proposal prompted Texas Democrats to flee the state in July. Their absence during a special legislative session denied the Texas House the number of members needed to advance legislation, a move meant to stop the maps from passing the Legislature. But Gov. Greg Abbott called a second special legislative session and Democrats have returned. Republicans look to gain five U.S. House districts If the 2024 election had taken place under the proposed maps, President Donald Trump would have carried three more districts than he would have under the current congressional map. In addition, Republicans would have better odds in two districts currently held by Democrats that Trump already carried in 2024. Republican share of U.S. House seats already eclipses statewide GOP support Trump won Texas in 2024 with 56% of the vote. But the current Congressional maps drawn in 2021 saw voters preferring him in 71% — or 27 — of the 38 Texas congressional districts. Under the current proposed map, Trump would have carried 79% of districts, meaning the new boundaries are drawn in a way that favors Republicans far beyond their share of statewide voter support last year. How Texas Republicans secured an outsized share of congressional districts Republicans control both chambers of the Texas Legislature, which draws congressional districts. GOP lawmakers in 2021 gave their party an advantage in Congress when they drew the district boundaries. Giving one political party an advantage over the other, or gerrymandering, is something both parties do in states across the country. Under this year's proposed plan, Democratic districts in the Dallas and Houston areas were drawn to increase, or 'pack', the number of Democratic voters in districts the minority party already controls. Packing those districts leaves fewer Democratic voters and more Republican voters in neighboring districts. Consolidating more Democrats into nearby districts could turn seats represented by Democratic U.S. Reps. Julie Johnson in North Texas' 32nd District and Al Green in the Houston area's 9th District into Republican districts. In Hays County, 52.1% of voters chose Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024. Under the new proposal, that county south of Austin is split into two Republican districts, the 21st District and 27th District. Decreasing a party's voting strength is called 'cracking.' Republicans hope Texas voters continue shifting to the right The GOP is gambling that the state continues its rightward shift in the 2026 midterms. Significant Democratic gains in 2018 almost gave Beto O'Rourke the win in the U.S. Senate race. But the pendulum swung back to Republicans when O'Rourke unsuccessfully ran against Gov. Greg Abbott in 2022. Republicans hope that South Texas, whose voters are mostly Hispanic, will continue to skew right in order to flip the seats held by Democrats Rep. Henry Cuellar in the 28th District and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez in the 34th District. New map would pack more white, Hispanic and Black voters into districts where they're the majority Parties can carve up districts for political gain, but they cannot redraw the districts to dilute the voting strength of voters of color. Because Black and Hispanic voters in major Texas cities favor Democrats, it can be hard to determine whether lines are drawn for partisan gains versus racial dilution. In Texas, Hispanics make up the largest demographic group and have driven population growth in the state for at least the last 20 years. But Hispanics are the majority in only seven out of 38 proposed districts. Still, there would be one additional district where Hispanic Texans make up the majority. There would be an additional two districts where white Texans are the majority, and an additional two districts with a majority of Black Texans. In addition, the new maps would decrease the number of multiracial districts where no one racial group holds a majority from nine to four, creating two new majority Black districts — the 30th District in Dallas represented by Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett and the solidly blue 18th District in Houston currently vacant since the death of Rep. Sylvester Turner. More all-star speakers confirmed for The Texas Tribune Festival, Nov. 13–15! This year's lineup just got even more exciting with the addition of State Rep. Caroline Fairly, R-Amarillo; former United States Attorney General Eric Holder; Abby Phillip, anchor of 'CNN NewsNight'; Aaron Reitz, 2026 Republican candidate for Texas Attorney General; and State Rep. James Talarico, D-Austin. Get your tickets today! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
USA Today
2 minutes ago
- USA Today
Oval Office meeting again puts rocky, tense Trump-Zelenskyy relationship to the test
Trump's appraisal of the Ukrainian president has been an exercise in zigzag diplomacy as their relationship has unfolded since Trump's first term. WASHINGTON – He has his bromance with Vladimir Putin. But President Donald Trump's relationship with Volodymyr Zelenskyy is more whiplash than kinship. Trump's appraisal of the Ukrainian president has been an exercise in zigzag diplomacy, deriding him one moment as a modestly successful comedian who doesn't want peace and the next minute calling him a nice man with whom he has a good relationship. "Did I say that?" Trump asked back in February, when reporters reminded him that just a week earlier he had mocked Zelenskyy as a dictator. "I can't believe I said that," he exclaimed. He said it. Zelenskyy returned to the White House on Monday, Aug. 18, to discuss a potential peace deal to end Ukraine's three-and-a-half year war with Russia. The visit marks his first time back since a disastrous Oval Office meeting back in February in which Trump berated him on live television and then kicked him off the White House grounds. This time, Zelenskyy brought some backup. French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and other European leaders joined Zelenskyy at the White House meeting with Trump. Trump's like-him-one-minute, lampoon-him-the-next relationship with Zelenskyy stands in stark contrast to his rapport with Putin. Trump gave the Russian leader a red-carpet welcome to Alaska on Aug. 15 for a summit that was big on pageantry but produced no results. The two leaders left The Last Frontier without a deal to end the war. Troubled history for Trump and Zelenskyy Trump and Zelenskyy have a troubled history. It started with a phone call that led to Trump's first impeachment. The two leaders connected in July 2019, just three months after Zelenskyy's stunning rise from television comedian to newly elected president of Ukraine. The call started off well enough. Trump congratulated Zelenskyy on "a great victory" and complimented him for a doing a terrific job, according to a summary later released by the White House. But then Trump asked for a favor. He pressured Zelenskyy repeatedly to reopen an investigation into a Ukrainian energy company to focus on a political rival, Joe Biden, and Biden's son, Hunter. At the time, Joe Biden was considered a likely candidate for president and would, in fact, go on to defeat Trump in the 2020 election. Democrats said Trump's asking a foreign government to investigate a political rival amounted to an egregious abuse of power. Trump was impeached for the first time just a few months later but was acquitted in a Senate trial. From then on, Trump and Zelenskyy have never been on the best of terms. Trump has insisted repeatedly that Ukraine's war with Russia would never have started if he had been president and at times has even appeared to blame Zelenskyy for the conflict. But it was Putin who started the war when he ordered Russian troops to invade their Eastern European neighbor. Trump has also taken Zelenskyy to task on social media when efforts to strike a peace deal have come up short. "Think of it, a modestly successful comedian, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, talked the United States of America into spending $350 Billion Dollars, to go into a War that couldn't be won, that never had to start, but a War that he, without the U.S. and 'TRUMP,' will never be able to settle," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Feb. 19. "A Dictator without Elections, Zelenskyy better move fast or he is not going to have a Country left." A week later, Trump suggested he didn't remember calling Zelenskyy a dictator and insisted he gets along with Zelenskyy just fine. "I have a very good relationship with President Putin. I think I have a very good relationship with President Zelenskyy," he said. Discord on full display in Oval Office The next day, though, the discord between them exploded in spectacular fashion when Zelenskyy came to the Oval Office to sign a deal for the U.S. to receive revenue from Ukraine's minerals in exchange for military assistance. As tempers flared, Zelenskyy told Trump an ocean separates the U.S. from the conflict now, "but you will feel it in the future." "Don't tell us what we're going to feel," Trump shot back. 'We're trying to solve a problem. Don't tell us what we're going to feel." Trump mocked Zelenskyy's clothes, Vice President JD Vance called him "disrespectful" and Trump booted the Ukrainian president from the White House without signing the minerals deal. Trump later wrote on social media that Zelenskyy "is not ready for Peace if America is involved, because he feels our involvement gives him a big advantage in negotiations." Trump said Zelenskyy "disrespected the United States of America in its cherished Oval Office," adding "he can come back when he's ready for Peace." Trump and Zelenskyy met again in private at Pope Francis' funeral in Rome in April – the White House called the meeting 'productive' – and again at a NATO summit in June. Trump greeted Zelenskyy with a handshake when he arrived at the White House on Monday, Aug. 18 and said it was an 'honor' to have him back. Michael Collins writes about the intersection of politics and culture. A veteran reporter, he has covered the White House and Congress. Follow him on X @mcollinsNEWS. Contributing: Francesca Chambers and Joey Garrison
