Lawmakers Seek Compromise on Lottery Bill [AUDIO]

Updated: (2/25 @5:31 p.m,)

A joint conference committee worked out a deal on the lottery bill. The compromise calls for cities and towns to receive $6 million of the proceeds each year for 6 years, with the overage going into the common school land trust fund. The compromise must now go to the House and Senate to see if they agree with the deal.

A bill that would allow a state lottery in Wyoming has been sent to a conference committee after the state House voted 34-25 not to agree with an amendment the Senate made last week in how the proceeds of the lottery would be used.

The senators changed the bill to specify that any proceeds outside of the expenses and prizes will go to support the state school system.The house version of the bill had specified that proceeds would be distributed among local governments in the state.The bills sponsor, Representative Dave Zwonitzer (HD-9) says the bill now must head to a conference committee to see if the differences can be resolved.

I believe when we get to committee, we will look at several options...

Both the house and senate appointed conferees to meet and try to work out the differences in the bill.

The Senate laid back third reading on the Hathaway Success Curriculum bill to Tuesday. Senate Minority Floor Leader, Senator Chris Rothfuss (SD-9), a member of the Senate Education Committee says there has been a lot of debate on the bill because it's important to get it right.

As we are crafting the success curriculum we have to make sure we are doing something for students who are becoming college ready, not just for the University of Wyoming...

Lawmakers plan to wrap up their general session Wednesday. Senate President Senator Tony Ross (SD-4) says the legislature makes a practice of ending its general session early to save a few days in case they need more time in the 20-day budget sessions it holds every other year.

Who knows what our budget session will be like next year, but lately we haven't had to use the days...

Several committees have met to come up with a list of what topics they will discuss during the interim. Representative Tom Lockhart (HD-57), chairman of the House Minerals, Business and Economic Development Committee, says one of the big issues the joint committee will tackle is sanitary landfills.