A conference committee formed to negotiate a gambling legislative package between the House and Senate will begin meeting next week.
The Senate appointed State Sens. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore), Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) and Bobby Singleton (D-Greensboro) to the conference committee on Tuesday. They will join State Reps. Chris Blackshear (R-Phenix City), Andy Whitt (R-Madison) and Sam Jones (D-Mobile) on the committee.
Fewer Senators voted in favor of going to a conference committee on Tuesday than in March when they passed their versions of the gambling constitutional amendment and enabling legislation.
“In the Senate, we lost five votes. When we passed it, we passed it with 22 votes and then when we had the question for the conference, we had 19 votes (and) two of those were new. We lost five votes that we’ve got to figure out why we lost those and how do we regain them. We’re going in the wrong direction in that way,” Albritton told reporters on Thursday.
