ATLANTA —
The Georgia Senate has voted to approve a bill that would centralize control and enforcement of video poker machines in the state.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports the Senate voted 35-16 Thursday to approve House Bill 487, which would transfer oversight and enforcement of video poker machines to the Georgia Lottery Corp.
Under the proposal, a share of the proceeds would be used to fund the state’s HOPE scholarship program and the measure has earned Gov. Nathan Deal’s support. The bill would require stores housing video poker machines to award vouchers for merchandise and not cash, tobacco or alcohol.
The house last week approved a version of the bill.
The Senate will send the proposal back to the House to approve changes made in committee and on the floor.
In other legislative news, Georgia lawmakers plan to end their annual legislative session in late March.
A resolution adopted Thursday by the House of Representatives has set the final day for March 28. The last day is commonly called Sine Die, which means adjourning without setting another meeting. House Majority Leader Larry O’Neal said there is a possibility the schedule could be changed depending on how quickly a budget is passed.
State News
Related Photos
-
The Georgia Senate has voted to approve a bill that would centralize control and enforcement of video poker machines in the state.
Discussion
Video poker bill clears Ga. Senate
- State News
-
-
Report: Jekyll Island exceeded development limits
A decades-old state law passed to protect Jekyll Island’s unspoiled beaches, salt marshes and maritime forests seems simple enough, limiting development of hotels, golf courses and other amenities to just 35 percent of the island’s land area.
-
Tri-state water feud plays out in Congress
The water dispute between Alabama, Florida and Georgia is provoking hardball politics in Congress, where Georgia lawmakers derailed a proposal that could restrict metro Atlanta’s water supply.
-
Olens running for re-election
Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens made several stops in Valdosta Thursday, ending the day by speaking at the annual Valdosta Bar Association’s annual banquet.
-
Deal signs law limiting lobbyist spending
Lobbyists cannot spend more than $75 at a time while seeking to influence Georgia officials under legislation signed into law Monday that still leaves some loopholes and unresolved questions.
-
3 missing women found at Ohio home; man arrested
Three women who went missing separately about a decade ago, when they were in their teens or early 20s, were found alive Monday in a residential area just south of downtown, and a man was arrested.
-
Frontier fort from Revolutionary War found
Less than two months after British forces captured Savannah in December 1778, patriot militiamen scored a rare Revolutionary War victory in Georgia after a short but violent gunbattle forced British loyalists to abandon a small fort built on a frontiersman’s cattle farm.
-
Three injured in shooting near Tifton hospital
A shooting in the parking lot across the street from Tift Regional Medical Center’s Emergency Room on the corner of Lee Avenue and 20th Street Friday afternoon resulted in three people being injured, two of whom were federal agents with the U.S. Marshals Service, according to authorities.
-
James Bond studio to open first U.S. facility in Ga.
The British film studio that’s home to the James Bond movie franchise announced plans Monday for its first U.S. film production facility, at a site near Atlanta.
-
Official: 1 adult, 4 kids killed in Georgia fire
A woman and four young children died early Saturday as a fire engulfed a home in west Georgia, and authorities said only an 11-year-old girl who was woken by her mother escaped. The woman died trying to save the remaining children.
-
Authorities ID man killed in shooting
Investigators worked Saturday to piece together why a man shot an officer five times during a suburban traffic stop, wounding a bystander and sparking a police shootout that ended in his death.
- More State News Headlines
-
