Senate to focus on flow of cash

RALEIGH — N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight will form a committee in the near future to examine a state lottery before allowing the bill to come to a vote on the floor.

The Senate convened Monday night, less than a week after the House passed an education lottery bill last week, but the measure wasn’t discussed during the session.

The session was adjourned early for no stated reason before senators addressed the bill.

When the lottery does reach the floor, deliberation is likely to last a while, said Amy Fulk, spokeswoman for Basnight, a lottery supporter and a Dare County Democrat.

“The last time a lottery bill was on the Senate floor was 1995,” she said.

“This isn’t something we want to take lightly or rush in any way.”

Since the House passed the lottery bill 61-59 on Wednesday, the fate of the state-run gamble rests with the Senate.

In years past, the chamber has backed a lottery three times in six votes but was never able to win House support.

But Sen. R.C. Soles, D-Columbus, said that the current bill is different from those supported previously and that senators are especially concerned about where lottery funds would go.

Under the House bill, 50 percent of profits would pay for school construction, 25 percent would go to need-based scholarships and 25 percent would be placed in a general education fund.

The Senate has been more pro-lottery because senators have larger constituencies than House members and aren’t as pressured to be responsive, said Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange. She has long been an opponent of a state lottery.

The fact that the more public-conscious House passed a lottery signals that supporters might have hit the jackpot, she said.

Kinnaird, considered one of the state’s most liberal legislators, said she is depending on solid Republican support to help defeat the bill.

Democrats are split on the issue, so the Senate’s minority party could provide the impetus to veto a lottery.

Republican opposition to the bill is most likely to come if party leadership exercises discipline in voting and don’t allow GOP senators to vote as they wish, Kinnaird said.

Sen. Charlie Albertson, D-Duplin, said he opposed the lottery. He added that the House agreement not to advertise the gambling game, except in convenience stores, makes the bill more tasteful but not very practical.

“You have to promote it if you hope to be successful,” he said.

The special committee will consider what changes to make to the House bill before it is introduced.

Fulk said the committee will include members from both parties and both sides of the lottery issue.

Basnight won’t allow the bill to come to a vote until he has enough supporters to pass it, Kinnaird said.

“That’s what they always do.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.