Tennessee Constitutional Amendment 1 (2002)
From Ballotpedia
Constitutional Amendment 1 is a constitutional amendment that was placed on the 2002 Tennessee ballot by the legislator to establish a state lottery to fund educational scholarships.
Contents |
Support
The initiative was considered a movement that was supported by the democratic party. State Senator, Congressman Steve Cohen fought for nearly twenty years fore the State Lottery to be established.
Other legislative support: Rep. Gary Odom[1]
On the ground the Tennessee Student Scholarship Lottery Coalition was supporting the measure. Some of the reasons for the initiative* were:[2]
- Creating funds for scholarships to promote getting a college education
- It will not have an effect on the sales tax
- The state is losing money to the surrounding states of Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia by not having a lottery. About $200 million a year is spent by Tennesseans in these other states when they cross the border to buy tickets.
Opposition
The Republican party and the Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance opposed the initiative.
The Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance has four main points for why it opposes the lottery: The lottery encourages corruption and bribery, it hurts children, it hurts the poor and it is bad economics.
Other reasons Gambling Free Tennessee Alliance opposed it:[3]
- Funding does not go to the operation of schools, just to scholarships
- It will place added stress on the state budget.
- For $300 million worth of scholarships, Tennesseans will have to spend $900 million buying tickets
- A study by three economists in Florida found that states that have a heavy dependence on sales taxes felt a greater impact on the rest of the revenue stream with a lottery than states without a lottery
The Baptists came out against the measure as well.[4]
Status
The ballot passed with 58% in favor of it.
Effect
Since the inception of the Tennessee Education Lottery Scholarship program in 2004, over a billion dollars has gone to students continuing their education at the college level.[5]
External links
- Tennessee Constitutional Amendments
- 2006 Constitutional Amendment election results
- National Conferences of the State Legislator, Initiative and Referendum
References
- ↑ Support state lottery op ed, The Chattanoogan
- ↑ Is the gamble worth the risk?, The Oak Ridger, Oct. 3, 2002
- ↑ Alliance: Not a penny to go to operate schools, The Oak Ridger, Oct. 3, 2002
- ↑ Campaign against state lottery gets key push from churches, Baptist Press, Nov. 4, 2002
- ↑ Congress Steve Cohen bio
