This is an alternative funding source that should be seriously considered.  Otherwise, where in the world is the money going to come from?  It's not going to "magically" appear during the next session of congress.  What will be different from the last session?  We were told we should be coming up with some innovative ways to fund PACT.  I've racked my brain.  Has anyone been able to come up with anything?

Last edited by dhpeacher (06-27-2009 6:22:12 pm)

I have no problem with a lottery.....but I do agree associating the PACT with it would be a bad choice

I find it hard to believe the only alternatives for PACT solvency are either increased taxes or a lottery...how about imposing an across-the-board program spending cut to "pay for" annual PACT offsets?  Or do we really believe that everything in the Alabama annual budget is "essential" ???

I agree we shouldn't advocate a particular method of solving the state's problem, but we can certainly debate the range of possibilities.  Raising taxes or instituting a lottery are political lightning rods - raising taxes will be seen as putting "our" burden on everyone else's back.  And Alabamians have defeated every previous attempt at a lottery - why would this time be different?   

We need to quantify what the worst-case annual obligation might be to keep PACT solvent - how much are we actually talking about here?  Is it on the order of $10M a year?  The RSA study should help us to understand the magnitude of the problem.  I'm betting the state could do relatively minor belt-tightening and "find" the funding to keep PACT solvent, without a lottery or increasing taxes. 

In a state with a $2 billion annual general budget and a $6 billion ETF, I think a few million can be found to honor the state's contract with parents and grandparents who pre-paid their kids' college tuition.

Last edited by Jeff and Alice (06-30-2009 7:03:07 am)

Remember kids, this is just a discussion/debate....I am for the PACTS to be honored by whatever method it takes.  I just want my five grandkids to get what we promised them and what the state promised us.  I can only say that Mark Reynolds, assistant to David Bronner of RSA said to us directly in Montgomery:   you folks need to be thinking of some kind of innovative way to fund PACT, as there is NO money available.  I thought at the time that this was unreasonable and that we should not have to do the legislatures' work for them.  If the past legislative session is any example, all the suggestions would call for a constitutional amendment, which the public probably would vote down as it would be helping "bail us PACT people out".  If we tried something new like a 1 cent tax on soft drinks, the corporate lobby would defeat it and the people wouldn't like to pay more for their soda pop anyway.   Maybe there's a magic answer out there, but why didn't the legislature come up with it last time?  Because Paul Hubbert is not about to turn loose of one dime of his giant pot of money and the power that goes with it.   I don't see that anything has changed with the RSA audit except to apparently say we are in worse shape than we thought.  Wonder how much of our money went to pay for that audit?   And, so it goes.  If something else can be worked out, I'm all for it.  As for the lottery, let's not bury the idea, let's just put it back and save it as a last resort.  Ask yourself, if the only way to get my child into college is via a lottery, would I keep him/her home?  Everyone's (I hope) goal is to see their kids get their college degrees.

Remember!  We have one great power - the POWER TO VOTE!  We have to organize and threaten to vote them out of office if they don't come up with a solution.  Each county needs a PACT leader to be able to network across the state and become one big voting bloc.
We need members.  It's the only true power we have.  In Madison County we are having our first meeting on July 11 at 2:00 pm at the Huntsville Public Library Auditorium.  Drop-ins are welcome.

Last edited by dhpeacher (06-30-2009 9:32:58 pm)

I agree that this is an obligation of the state. It's so incredible that Marc Reynolds told Ms. Peacher and others that "YOU need to think of some kind" of funding for this. What we do need to be aware of, however, is that we don't want some legislator or politician to go off half-cocked and try to do something that would doom the program. I've read here how a lottery and tax increases are very divisive issues so we may or may not want to see them linked to PACT. So while it is not our job to find money, we really need to be vigilant that someone doesn't try to pull something we believe will fail and ruin the the program. We need to be prepared to protect PACT if we think something is being considered that is not in it's best interest.