The debate in the Alabama Senate over a proposal to allow a lottery and state-regulated gambling at seven facilities stalled Thursday after the Senate changed the bill to prevent the possibility of initially using net revenues for prison construction.

The Senate voted 24-7 for an amendment by Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, to change the distribution of revenues from the lottery and pari-mutuel gambling.

Before the change, the bill said that until March 30, 2029, the revenues would go to capital improvement and infrastructure improvements that are already under way.

After that, the money would be split in thirds between education, general government, and roads and bridges.

Jones’ amendment made the three-way split take effect from the outset, eliminating the funding of capital projects before that.

Before Jones’ amendment, the bill did not specifically say that revenue until March 30, 2029, would have gone to prison construction. But Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, who is handling the bill in the Senate, opposed Jones’ amendment because he said the Legislature needs to find a way to pay for a new prison in Escambia County.

In October 2021, the Legislature passed a plan to build two 4,000-bed men’s prisons for $1.3 billion, a plan that legislative leaders and Gov. Kay Ivey said was essential to fixing the state’s overcrowded and understaffed prisons, which face a lawsuit from the Department of Justice.

But the cost of construction on the first of those two prisons, in Elmore County, has risen to more than $1 billion. Albritton, who is chairman of the Senate’s General Fund budget committee, said lawmakers are obligated to find a way to pay for the Escambia prison, which is in his district.

“We committed to that,” Albritton said. “How many of you are going to raise taxes to do that? How many of you are willing to cut your pet projects or another agency to do that?”

Albritton said the project is important to his district, where the state has already partially closed Holman prison and where there is a second aging prison, Fountain. The senator said the existing prisons are dangerous for employees and the inmates.

“This is my district that’s being ignored,” Albritton said. “That prison is falling down. We’ve already had to shut one down there at a loss of 200 jobs.”

“You have an obligation to fix this problem,” he said.

Jones said the Senate answers to voters across Alabama who are concerned about education and roads and bridges. His argument prevailed on the 24-7 vote.

Fiscal notes attached to the bill estimate that a lottery would raise net state revenue of $305 million to $379 million a year and the revenue from the seven facilities offering pari-mutuel betting would raise net revenue of $99 million to $132 million.

Before the Jones amendment, Albritton had agreed with some other amendments during a cordial discussion and said his goal was to pass a bill that could go back to the House, which passed a different plan three weeks ago.

But after the amendment, Albritton moved to carry over, or delay action on his bill. The Senate blocked that move, keeping the bill on the Senate floor, but Albritton said he would talk as long as the rules would allow and do what he could to block a vote. The rules allow senators to speak for two hours on each question before the chamber.

“I cannot and will not allow this to move forward until I fix my local problem,” Albritton said.

Albritton has tried for several years to pass a gambling proposal, saying the state needs to regulate and tax gambling that exists now. If the plan passes the Legislature, it would go to the voters for final approval.