A last-minute public hearing in the Alabama Senate Tourism committee Wednesday afternoon became a racially and politically charged event that ended with no vote — in part because one committee member made clear that he would not vote on a new or amended version of the expanded gambling bill that has stalled in the chamber.
The meeting was called to consider HB 151 and HB 152, which together represent a massive expansion of gambling that includes retail and online sports betting, in-person casino gambling, the building of seven brick-and-mortar casinos across the state, and a lottery. The bills passed out of the House on Feb. 15, but currently don’t have enough support to get past their first Senate committee stop.
“Is there any reason our caucus was excluded from this hearing?” asked Sen. Roger Smitherman, who is Black. “We don’t have a representative here. Are you going to do this without us? … We need to be in the middle of this germinating and be a part of it. Why would people think that we would support anything that we are not part of?”
The hearing started 23 minutes late when the committee finally had a quorum, and once the meeting was called to order, it was clear that some members believed that having a hearing was a just a ploy to buy time. Some were so angry at the process and games being played by bill sponsors that they had no plan to seriously consider any proposal.