Updated: Mar. 21, 2022, 9:11 a.m. |Two distinct lottery proposals from Republicans await Alabama lawmakers when they return from spring break next week.fast-track committee approval
Two of the most controversial bills still in play have passed one chamber. One would make it a felony for doctors to provide puberty-blocking medications, hormones, and surgeries to transgender minors to help them transition.Both bills have strong backing from most Republicans and opposition from most of the Democratic minority.
A fiscal note attached to Brown’s bill estimates that a lottery would generate $198 million to $285 million in net revenue annually, after prizes and expenses are paid. Brown’s plan calls for applying the money to scholarships to help students attend four-year and two-year colleges, a student loan repayment program, bonuses for retired education employees, and agricultural education programs for high school students.
Many of those bingo facilities operate under constitutional amendments for bingo approved by voters in their counties. Although the state Supreme Court has ruled electronic bingo is illegal, efforts to enforce that ruling have not worked.