A constitutional amendment that would allow Alabama voters to decide whether to authorize a lottery and casinos remains in limbo as lawmakers wrap up the 2024 legislative session.

Thursday will be the 30th day of the session – the maximum allowed under the state constitution.

The lottery and casinos bill fell one vote shy of the required 21 in the 35-member Senate last week, a vote that would have put the question on the ballot for voters on Aug. 20.

The Senate could vote again but that may be pointless unless one of the 15 senators who voted “no” changes their mind.

If lawmakers adjourn Thursday without that happening, it will be the closest the Legislature has come to putting a lottery vote on the ballot for voters since Gov. Don Siegelman’s plan lost 54 percent to 46 percent in October 1999.

While the gambling bill may be a longshot, there is essential business on the agenda for the last day. Lawmakers must still pass the education budget for the fiscal year that starts Oct. 1. A conference committee approved a new version of the $9.3 billion budget on Tuesday but it still faces votes in the House and Senate.

The Legislature passed the $3.4 billion General Fund budget on Tuesday.

A bill to repeal and replace the state ethics law died Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Here are some of the bills still pending on the last day of the session:

• HB36 by Rep. Phillip Ensler, D-Montgomery, would create a state law against devices that convert semi-automatic handguns to automatic fire, like machine guns. Sheriffs, police, and prosecutors came to the State House to urge legislators to pass the bill to ban the so-called Glock switches, which are illegal under federal law.
• HB130 by Rep. Mack Butler, R-Rainbow City, would expand a ban on classroom instruction or discussion about sexual orientation and gender identity in public schools. The ban now applies from kindergarten through fifth grade. HB130 would extend it through eighth grade. It would also prohibit teachers and other school employees from displaying a flag or insignia representing sexual orientation or gender identity in a classroom or on school property, such as a pride flag or rainbow flag.
• HB111 by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, would specify that male and female are defined in Alabama based on biological sex at birth and not based on gender identity. Sen. April Weaver, R-Brierfield, is sponsoring the bill in the Senate. DuBose said the purpose is to protect the privacy, fairness, safety, and equal opportunity for women and girls in sports and other areas.
• HB385 by Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Shelby County, would make school and public library staff criminally liable for distributing “sexual or gender oriented material” to minors without parental consent. It would force school and public librarians to remove a book that someone finds obscene or harmful to minors within seven days of written notice to the library director or principal or face misdemeanor charges.
• SB312 by Sen. Will Barfoot, R-Montgomery, would allow virtual participation in parole hearings by the inmates up for parole, law enforcement, victims, victims’ advocates, and others. Inmates do not appear at their parole hearings in Alabama, which are held by the three-member parole board in Montgomery.

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