House Defeats Lottery Proposal

Special Report - September 17, 2002
The North Carolina House of Representatives today defeated a lottery referendum bill by a vote of 50 to 69. Senate Bill 2-Authorize Lottery Referendum gained new life on Tuesday afternoon as the House Rules Committee took up a committee substitute bill which provided for a nonbinding lottery referendum on the November ballot. The proposed question would read "[ ] YES [ ] NO North Carolina should have an education lottery."

At the 10:00 A.M. session, House Speaker Jim Black (D-Mecklenberg) announced the removal of the lottery referendum provision from the massive omnibus budget/revenue bill which was the result of several weeks of negotiation between House and Senate conferees. Many legislators had objected to the inclusion of a lottery referendum provision in SB 1115 because such a move clearly violated the rules of both the House and Senate.

After the announcement, the House Rules Committee met and by a 15 to 9 vote, passed a new version of SB 2 which provided a separate vote on a lottery referendum bill. This allowed legislators to vote for or against the lottery without the additional complications imposed by the budget bill. As a result, the vote margin was larger than some had expected. Pro-gambling forces were obviously stunned by the large margin, however, legislators were sending a clear and resounding message that gambling, even a state lottery, should have no part in dealing with the state's budget problems.

Bill Brooks, President of the North Carolina Family Policy Council said, "There was a collective sigh of relief when the vote was announced and the lottery was defeated. This vote demonstrates that when you can find a group of legislators who are willing to look at the facts surrounding the social and economic harms of a lottery, and freed from pressure politics, then they can make a good decision."

Legislators refused to accept gambling proponents arguments that the people needed to vote on the issue. Several commented that the strategy of using a lottery referendum to try and force the General Assembly to enact a lottery was not acceptable.

Voting for the bill (50) were: Speaker Black; Adams; Alexander; Allen; Allred; Arnold; Baddour; Barefoot; Bell; Bonner; Boyd-McIntyre; Coats; Cole; Cox; Crawford, J.; Culpepper; Cunningham; Earle; Edwards; Fox; Gibson; Goodwin; Haire; Hall; Holliman; Hunter; Hurley; Jarrell; Jeffus; Lucas; McAllister; McLawhorn; Michaux; Oldham; Owens; Redwine; Saunders; Sherrill; Sutton; Tolson; Tucker; Underhill; Wainwright; Warner; Warren; Warwick; Willingham; Womble; Wright; Yongue.

Voting against the bill (69) were: Baker; Barbee; Barnhart; Blue; Blust; Bowie; Brubaker; Buchanan; Capps; Carpenter; Church; Clary; Crawford, M.; Creech; Culp; Daughtry; Davis; Decker; Dockham; Easterling; Eddins; Ellis; Esposito; Gillespie; Grady; Gray; Gulley; Hackney; Harrington; Hensley; Hiatt; Hill; Hilton; Holmes; Howard; Insko; Johnson; Justus; Kiser; Luebke; McComas; McCombs; McMahan; Miller; Miner; Mitchell; Morgan; Morris; Nesbitt; Nye; Pope; Preston; Rayfield; Rogers; Russell; Setzer; Sexton; Shubert; Smith; Starnes; Teague; Thompson; Walend; Walker; Weatherly; Weiss; West; Wilson, C.; Wilson, G.

Excused absence (1): Dedmon.

Copyright © 2002. North Carolina Family Policy Council. All rights reserved.