Gaming Amendment Cleared for Signature-Gathering

After three failed tries, a state legislator succeeded Monday in gaining certification for a ballot proposal to authorize a state-run gambling commission and name himself its first director.

But Rep. Charles Ormond, D-Morrilton, said after all his efforts, he was unsure whether he would pursue the initiative.

"I'm not just sure I'm going to do that. So far, this has been a one-man effort," Ormond said. "I'll just have to do some research and see what support I might have to do this."

He said he'd likely decide in a month whether to proceed.

Attorney General Mike Beebe accepted the popular name of the latest proposal that Ormond submitted.

The attorney general substituted a ballot title that he concluded more accurately and impartially summarized provisions of the proposed constitutional amendment to authorize casino gambling, a lottery and charitable bingo, and to establish a commission as sole regulator of the operations.

"When construed together, the popular name and ballot title accurately set forth the purpose of the proposed amendment," Beebe's opinion said.

The certification clears Ormond to begin trying to collect the more than 100,000 valid signatures needed to put his proposal on the November 2006 general election ballot.

The Legislature this year declined to refer Ormond's proposal to the 2006 ballot, and the attorney general had twice rejected versions of the popular name and ballot title as too ambiguous, most recently on Aug. 1.

State law requires review by the attorney general's office of a measure intended for a statewide election ballot to assure that the language of the proposal is clear and not misleading or ambiguous. The law does not require the attorney general's office to determine the merits of such a proposal.

Ormond's proposal would amend the state constitution to establish an Arkansas Commission on Lotteries and Wagering to regulate charitable bingo, a state lottery and gambling houses in counties that voted to host them.

The Legislature would have no authority over the operations, except to change the percentages of proceeds that would go to local governments and schools.

The commission's operations also would be exempt from the state Freedom of Information law and the state Administrative Procedures Act. State laws regulating other state agencies would not apply to the commission.

The four-member commission would first be appointed by the governor, one commissioner from each of the state's four congressional districts. Subsequent commissioners would be elected by votes in the respective congressional districts.

The proposal names Ormond as the first director to serve a 10-year term, from Jan. 1, 2007 through Dec. 31, 2016.

In his opinion Monday, Beebe said the text of the proposal is complex and attempts to address many different subjects, and because of that is necessarily lengthy.

He noted that the state Supreme Court has cautioned that a ballot title should not be so long that a voter would not have time to read and consider the title in the five minutes allowed by law in the voting booth.

The three-term lawmaker is prohibited by term limits from seeking re-election. He has said his proposal would generate 20,000 new jobs and after eight years of operation would bring in _$1 billion in new revenue annually to the state.

He said it would stem what he estimates is a _$400 million outflow of Arkansans' money to casinos in bordering states.

A number of gambling amendments have been stricken from the ballot by the state Supreme Court as misleading over the past decade, and measures that did make the ballot were soundly defeated by voters.