House Speaker David Ralston said Friday that he wants lawmakers to go home this weekend, go to church, talk to their constituents and come back Monday before they vote on a plan to legalize casinos in Georgia.
Ralston, a Blue Ridge Republican, said he would not bring the bills up for a vote Friday.
“I wouldn’t bet on it,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “The odds are long. We had a display, maybe, of abundance of exuberance.”
The House Rules Committee, which decides which bills get sent to the House floor, earlier voted to put both House Bill 677 and House Resolution 807 on Friday's debate calendar. But Ralston has sole authority to decide when — or if — those bills get called for consideration.
Ralston, in fact, would not commit to having the bills voted on Monday, which is Crossover Day, the last day for a bill to move from one chamber to the other without major parliamentary maneuvering.
HR 807 would ask voters to amend the state constitution to legalize up to four casinos, two of which would be in Metro Atlanta. HB 677 sets the rules and guidelines for how casino companies would qualify for a license and dictates that at least 90 percent of taxes and fees from the casinos go to fund the HOPE scholarship.
Late Friday, however, lawmakers and lobbyists were circulating a proposed amendment to HR 807 that would have the revenues split among HOPE, health care and local property tax relief.
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