Albritton, Baker, Hammett address GOP
From left,, Hammett, Baker, an Albritton discus issues
Escambia County, Ala.'s, legislative delegation of Sen. Greg Albritton, Rep. Alan Baker and Rep. Matthew Hammett addressed fellow Republicans Monday night at the Hourglass in Brewton talking about the most recent legislative session on issues dealing with gambling, ethics, property taxes and even the fact that Alabama regulates outhouses and the cutting of trees.
Rep. Baker said the legislature did pass a law on property rights in a pro-active move against squatter rights that have been an issue across the nation. Rep. Baker said the bill sets steep penalties for people falsifying documents as the number of homeless people increase across the state and nation.
Rep. Baker said election laws were strengthened to guarantee one person, one vote and penalties for election fraud.
Rep. Baker said the ethics reform bill did not pass, which he said would strengthen violations but felt the bill was derailed by outside sources.
Rep. Baker also noted that he supported and voted for the gaming bill in the House of Representatives saying the pulse he was getting from the people is they wanted the right to vote at the ballot box.
But he added that it wasn't just forces in Alabama throwing money at the gambling issue.
The House passed a gaming bill, but the Senate came up one vote short of approving a bill that would have been put on the ballot.
"We see the dollars going out of state," Baker said. "Dollars that could be used in Alabama. We need to do something against illegal gambling."
He added that the House passed the most comprehensive gaming bill ever.
"I do support the people's right to vote, whether it's a stand-alone lottery or not," Baker said.
Rep. Hammett said he didn't like the new gambling provisions with no oversight and said if a lottery only bill passed it would raise the gambling in the state to a level II.
Sen. Albritton said the last session was the toughest he's ever been through in Montgomery, noting 1,100 bills were introduced and most were controversial.
Albritton, who has sponsored gambling bills in the Senate for several years only to see them fail in the House, was one of the senators who voted against the House bill.
He said his decision to vote no because many of the gambling elements would not be regulated and the state would have no control over such things as sports gambling.
"I've supported a comprehensive gambling bill for years," Albritton said. "We control outhouses, chicken houses and cutting trees but we have no control over gambling."
He said he will continue to vote no until the state takes on the issue in a serious manner.
Rep. Hammett, who represents the eastern end of Escambia County, said the Legislature passed the largest budget in history at $3.4 billion that gave teachers and state employees raises.
He also noted the school choice bill that will provide parents with $7,000 to put their children in private schools and $2,000 to those who home school.
He also said he supported and a bill passed that will cap increases on property taxes at 7 percent per year.
