By Paul DeMarco
The Alabama Legislature can actually chew gum and walk at the same time, but nobody seemed to care this past week.
With the Alabama House of Representatives passage of a constitutional amendment and a bill to set forth the details to legalize gambling in the state, that is all anyone has been talking about in Montgomery and beyond.
For decades, the debate over gaming has consumed hours at the statehouse, but has only made it to the ballot once, when Alabama voters rejected a state lottery in 1999.
However, last week the state representatives pushed through the legislation on the sixth legislative day with very little effort despite the strong criticism from conservative groups.
Thus, it was what has gotten all of the attention from the activities in the state capital. Yet, while their counterparts were moving quickly to pass the gambling bills, the Alabama Senate was approving legislation promised by state leaders.
Bills passed by the Senate including:
* Penalizing the efforts to illegally collect and tamper with absentee ballots
* Provide municipal authorities the ability to terminate appointed members of library boards
* Confirm that reading material in K- 12 schools is age appropriate
* Require schools to give parents the ability to view the curriculum being taught their students
Those bills will now be considered by the Alabama House of Representatives and if they end up being signed into law by Governor Kay Ivey then there will be a lot of folks happy with the work of lawmakers.
The problem for State Senators is with gambling getting all the headlines, their good work for the citizens of the state is getting overshadowed.
And if the constitutional amendment to legalize gambling is approved by both chambers of the Legislature, no one will even remember the good work Senators have accomplished so early in the session.
Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives and can be found on X formerly Twitter at @Paul_DeMarco