June 2024 Group Watch: RSA’s Bronner Calls for Gambling Special Session
Retirement Systems of Alabama CEO David Bronner said he would like to see Gov. Kay Ivey call a special session to try again to pass a proposed constitutional amendment on gambling that failed by one vote during the annual session that ended in May. Bronner said he is concerned that leaner times are coming, and the state will need revenue to sustain progress in education and other areas. Bronner said the revenue from a gambling package could help offset tax cuts passed the last couple of years and the cost of a new school choice program, the CHOOSE Act, which will allow parents to use $7,000 in tax dollars to pay for private school, money that would otherwise support public education. Bronner said that could be a problem in a state that already lags behind other states in school funding. Lawmakers spent more than a year developing a plan for a lottery, casinos and sports betting that in its initial form would have generated more than $900 million a year in net revenue for the state. The House passed the plan, then later passed a compromise version with no sports betting. The compromise plan fell one vote short in the Senate. Approval is required to put it on the ballot for voters, who have the final say. Governor Ivey has advocated for a statewide vote on the gambling issue, including during her state of the State of the State address in February. She supported the plan that passed the House during this regular session.
