Upon adjournment today

A handful of House members and a handful of Senate members will meet beginning at 5:00 p.m. today with hopes that we'll emerge Friday with a "floor ready" bill on the implementation of the lottery. We'll also have some budget and education experts on hand, including former Speaker Bill Stovall and former Sen./Rep. Jodie Mahony. A couple of makeshift comittees were convened after the lottery was by voters on November 4 to study both components of the lottery (and looking at ideas from each of the other 42 states that have a lottery). Speaker Robbie Wills released this memo Monday night as a snapshot of the lottery's current status and to give House members a starting point for consideration of the various issues. Since that time, we've gathered comments from several sources, including higher ed officials, on what they like and don't like. Bring the coffee.