Senate leadership pushed a budget through the chamber May 5 with a lottery provision that might give new life to the House lottery bill.
The budget’s lottery provision would amend the lottery bill narrowly passed by the House in early April if the Senate votes in favor of the House measure.
Several staunch opponents of the lottery voted for the budget because of strong support for other parts of the bill.
“I’m forced to vote for the lottery,” said Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange.
Kinnaird said she voted for the budget because it would increase the cigarette tax and includes funding for public education.
The budget would raise the cigarette tax by 75 cents and would allocate education funds based on the number of school districts in a county.
But Kinnaird’s vote for the budget does not change her stance on the lottery.
“I’ll never vote for a free-standing lottery,” she said.
If both the Senate budget bill and the House lottery bill are passed, lottery revenue would not go to higher education, as the House bill stipulated, but fund school construction and educational programs such as Gov. Mike Easley’s “More at Four” program.