Virginia lottery profits referendum survives Senate maneuver

Bob Lewis

Wednesday, Feb. 9, 2000 | 4:04 a.m.

RICHMOND, Va. - A measure to allow Virginians to vote this fall on a proposed state constitutional amendment to earmark all Lottery profits solely for schools won final Senate passage Wednesday after a bid to sidetrack the bill failed on a tie vote.

Sen. John Chichester, R-Stafford, argued that because the proposal deals with revenue, it belongs before the Finance Committee, and he offered a motion to send it there.

The Senate deadlocked 19-19 on the motion, and Lt. Gov. John Hager cast the vote that kept it out of the committee. Sens. Richard J. Holland, D-Isle of Wight, and Martin E. Williams, R-Newport News, did not vote on the motion.

Moments later, the bill won final passage 25-13. It now goes over to the House, where a similar version is still before committees.

The same measure passed both houses with bipartisan support a year ago. But because it proposes an amendment to the state constitution, the legislature must approve it two successive years.

The bill's sponsor, Sen. Stephen Newman, R-Lynchburg, argued against Chichester's effort to derail the bill. He said Virginians feel that they had been promised that lottery proceeds would be used to help public school students.

"There are a lot of people who believe that when we make a promise, the promise should be forever," Newman said. "It's often times we make the promise and then put all kinds of contingencies on it."

But Sen. Richard Saslaw, D-Fairfax, said no such promise was ever made, at least not by the legislature or by then-Gov. Gerald Baliles back in 1988.

Another opponent, Sen. Charles Colgan, D-Prince William, objected to using a constitutional amendment to make a change that a statute could accomplish. "We ought not be using the Constitution to legislate," he said.

For fiscal 1999, the lottery reported a profit of $321.4 million. That was up slightly from $318.9 million the year before, but still $21.6 million short of the record $343 million set in 1997.