By Keith Clines, The Huntsville Times

April 23, 2010

HUNTSVILLE, AL – A proposed state constitutional amendment would give Madison County almost $40 million directly over 10 years to spend on roads and bridges, and provide even more money for the state Department of Transportation to spend locally.

State voters will decide in November whether to approve the amendment to take up to $100 million annually for 10 years from the Alabama Trust Fund to spend on roads and bridges(READ MORE)

The Alabama Legislature is wrapping up its annual session, and the talk of the capital is all about gambling and the regulation of electronic bingo machines that look a lot like slot machines. Gov. Bob Riley has been on a crusade to derail any legislation that permits expanded gambling. Now the Justice Department is investigating whether lawmakers were promised money by casino operators in exchange for their votes. (CLICK HERE)

MONTGOMERY — Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, said Tuesday he didn’t know at the time the name of the caller who asked about his position on bingo and then dangled a campaign contribution of $250,000.

Sanford said the telephone call came a week or two before his June 9 election from a lobbyist who said he represented two clients in the gaming industry that were willing to write him two checks for $125,000.

“They needed to know how I stood on the (bingo) bill,” he said. “Then he qualified his statement and said there’s no quid pro quo associated with this. And at that time, my response to him was pretty simple. I just said, ‘I don’t believe we’re on the same side of the equation…’”(Click Here)

GOP filibuster late in session called political posturing

MONTGOMERY – The impassioned fight over health care that gripped the nation’s capital the past year has moved to the Alabama Statehouse, possibly threatening what’s left of the 2010 regular session.

Senate Republicans used two legislative days Tuesday and Thursday in a debate over a proposal calling for a constitutional amendment to block Alabamians from being forced to participate in the national health care program. (READ MORE)

Senator Sanford held a Legislative Update @ the Chaffee Neighborhood Civic Association(CNCA) 3/22/10.  He addressed his Sponsored bills in the 2010 Regular Session.  Some photos from the event are below.

Still uncertainty forbills on quarries,Housing Authority

MONTGOMERY – Two-thirds of the Alabama Legislature’s 30 meeting days have been expended, but Huntsville area lawmakers got a lot accomplished before the weeklong spring break. CLICK HERE for more.

Senator Sanford and Rep. Howard Sanderford held a Legislative update 3/8/10 at Cove UMC.  The event was a success and it was great to meet with consitutents.  The press release that was distributed is here.

Session ends next month
By Dana Beyerle Montgomery Bureau Chief
Published: Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 3:30 a.m.

MONTGOMERY | Bingo may not be dead in the legislative session that ends next month.  After the defeat of a procedural vote needed to advance a bingo constitutional amendment in the State Senate last week, attention has turned to different measures.  A bingo constitutional amendment sponsored by Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, fell three votes short in the Senate earlier this week and failed to advance. Critics cited its length, complexity and the granting of bingo monopolies to established operators as reasons it failed.

“You’d have to take a lawyer with you to vote,” Sen. Charles Bishop, R-Arley, said of Bedford’s amendment.
Bedford said he wouldn’t push the amendment or an accompanying bingo indemnity bill for the remainder of the session.  But that doesn’t mean other measures won’t pop up.  And there is still the question of the legality of bingo machines, renewed Friday when Gov. Bob Riley’s Task Force on Illegal Gambling was stopped by a local judge’s order from raiding a re-opened VictoryLand and other casinos.  Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, introduced a simple four-page constitutional amendment that asks voters to give the Legislature the authority to regulate and tax gambling with laws instead of a constitutional amendment. 

Freshman Sen. Paul Sanford, R-Huntsville, said he’s also drafting a constitutional amendment that would ask voters to approve a gambling regulatory agency. It would have to pass both houses of the Legislature before it could go to voters.  Sanford said he didn’t like Sanders’ proposal because it could cause a “free for all” by competing bingo interests. “People in the state aren’t all that trusting of the Legislature,” he said.  Sanford said his proposed regulatory agency would be separated from the bingo industry by limiting campaign donations, much like the wall that separates utility companies and the Public Service Commission, he said.

“One of the biggest complaints is the opportunity for corruption,” Sanford said. “We’re trying to find a constitutional way to put a wall of separation there, whether it’s limiting the ability to contribute (to campaigns) or putting a dollar limit on it.”  Sanford also said he wants bingo taxed at a higher rate than the 25 percent rate proposed in Bedford’s amendment. He also wants bingo licenses awarded by bidding.  Bedford’s amendment grandfathered in already existing bingo operations and allowed only three new ones. Bedford said a substitute would have raised the tax rate to 27 percent after winnings were paid.

“A lot of states have these tax rates much higher than what’s offered up,” Sanford said. “The average is the high 30s and some are as high as 60 percent or 65 percent.”  He said he proposes a 50 percent tax rate after winnings. The state would get 40 percent, counties 8 percent and the Department of Human Resources 2 percent for a gambling addiction program.

“I’m trying to come up with a framework that would somewhat corral the Legislature’s ability to let this get out of hand and leave the bulk of provisions up to a gaming commission that’s written into the Constitution,” he said in a Friday interview.  He said he also prefers a much higher bingo licensing fee than the $200,000 or $250,000 in Bedford’s amendment.  Another bill by Sen. Scott Beason, R-Gardendale, calls for an up or down vote on gambling, requires the Legislature to regulate gambling, repeals existing local bingo amendments and requires a statewide vote on any gambling measure enacted by Legislature.

Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, has a House constitutional amendment similar to Bedford’s amendment, but he said last week he wouldn’t push it because Speaker Seth Hammett wants the Senate to take up bingo first.
Sanford said he’s hearing about the bingo issue from constituents. Some want to legalize it, and others want to outlaw it, he said.  “I have never been all that politically connected in the process,” Sanford said. “It might be a sense of naivete.”  The House and Senate return to work on Tuesday for the 19th legislative day of the 30-day legislative session.

FROM THE DESK OF
Senator Paul Sanford
 
Press Release
March 3, 2010
CONTACT: (334) 242-7800
 
Senator Paul Sanford Desires to Move
Bingo Debate in a New, Honest Direction
 
(MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA)—Senator Paul Sanford (R-Huntsville) had been working with both sides of the electronic bingo issue (SB380) to try and clean up the bill before it came up for debate in the state senate. After a few attempts to reconcile the differences of both sides, Sen. Sanford’s desired concessions were not met. Within the next day or two he will be releasing a new bill drafted by the Legislative Reference Service that will shrink the size of the constitutional amendment and simplify the issue to a basic up or down vote of the people in November.

“I desire nothing more than to move the ‘bingo’ debate in a new, honest direction – one that is more simplistic, straight-forward, and transparent. It has bogged down the Legislature for years, and it is time to put this issue to rest and move on with the other pressing business in Alabama, like getting our economy back on track,” Senator Sanford said.  “We all realize this subject has been a ‘grey’ area of the law, but it’s time for the voters to turn grey into either black or white with a bill that is not dripping in special interest tinkering,” he continued.
 
Senator Sanford said the original Senate Bill 380 and subsequent substitutions, none of which were released for official debate, were too “stuck in the mud” with unfair special treatment for a select few.  His bill, which will be released on his websites (senatorsanford.com and sanfordforsenate.com), pairs down the debate to a straight up or down vote of the people.  The bill will also at least do the following: Refer to the current machines in use as “slot machines” instead of “bingo”; legalize, tax and regulate slot machine casinos in a few pages instead of the current 48-page constitutional amendment full of fine print that nobody reads or understands; place casino licenses up for bid so the taxpayers, instead of casino bosses, get the best deal add prohibitions of campaign contributions from the gambling interest to those who appoint the Gaming Commission and to the Legislature ; and establish a minimum tax rate of 50% to make sure we’re not “giving away the store”.  “I ask that all current supporters of SB380 join me in support of my new bill, because, its is, in its simplest form, accomplishing the same basic tenet of placing this issue before the people for a vote,” said Sen. Sanford.  “That is the argument that supporters of the current bill are using in their PR campaign, paid advertising, and discussions with undecided legislators.  So why would anyone who supports SB380 not join me in my more basic and straight-forward bill that meets the same goal?” he continued.
 
Senator Sanford said his tracking of correspondence from constituents is running eighty percent to twenty percent in favor of putting the issue to a vote of the people so long as the bill is not putting the power in the hands of a few monopolies.
 
“One thing I have learned from the arrogance of the U.S. Congress related to ‘healthcare reform’ is that elected officials better listen to the folks back home, and that’s what I’m doing but I just couldn’t support a non-competitive bill that didn’t have the best interest of the State at heart.  I was elected as a ‘citizen lawmaker,’ and if the people of my district want to be able to vote on this issue, that’s what I’m going to give them the opportunity to do,” Sen. Sanford stated.  “If this does make its way to the ballot box in November, I ask that voters do their due diligence on the issue and not make a decision based on any slick advertising campaign but on the true facts and information,” he finished.
 
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Paid for by Friends of Paul Sanford, 218 Westchester Ave, Huntsville, AL 35801

HERE for full text of SB380.

Local Senator Guides Occupational Tax ban bill through Senate

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FEBRUARY 4, 2010

For More Information, contact (256) 652-5293

(HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA) – Senator Paul Sanford (R-Huntsville) guided the Occupational Tax ban bill through the Senate today.   SB17 passed the Senate today on a vote of 23-0 with 3 abstentions.  This was Senator Sanford’s first bill filed.

“Today was a rewarding experience with my first bill filed as a State Senator passing the Senate body, especially since the bill was directed towards keeping taxes low for the Huntsville/ Madison County community” he continued.

“After last year’s attempt by Rep. Hinshaw to move a bill banning an Occupational Tax in Madison County, I was glad to do my part as the local Senator representing the majority of Madison County by sending the House a sister bill they can pass” said Sanford.

Representative Randy Hinshaw filed HB 5 in the August 2009 special session, the bill failed to make it out of the Senate’s Local Legislation No. 1 Committee chaired by Senator Zeb Little, a Democrat from Cullman, Al. 

“Paul Sanford was elected to the Alabama Senate in a special election in June. He and his wife Danielle own and operate “little Paul’s Barbecue” in Huntsville. The couple has two children, Chase and Ryan.

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