By Kim Chandler | The Associated Press

MONTGOMERY (AP) — Alabama lawmakers on Monday opened a special session focused on a state lottery and Medicaid funding with the election of a new speaker in the House of Representatives.

House members elected Rep. Mac McCutcheon, a Republican from Capshaw, as the new speaker on a 68-28 vote. McCutcheon replaces ousted Speaker Mike Hubbard who was automatically removed from office in June after being convicted on ethics charges.

McCutcheon, a retired investigator with the Huntsville police department, did not name Hubbard but promised a break with the strong-armed leadership style of the past and said he would work to regain trust.

“To put it bluntly, the days of the imperial speakership are over. I will work every day, every hour, every minute and every second to be the people’s speaker because we, in this House, are the people’s House,” McCutcheon said to applause from House members.

Republicans, who hold a lopsided majority in the House, voted in unison for McCutcheon. Democrats supported their own nominee, partly in protest of the majority party’s block voting policy.

McCutcheon’s election was the one definitive action at the start of a special session where Gov. Robert Bentley’s proposed state lottery faces an uncertain outlook.

Bentley on Monday issued a broad special session agenda that included both a lottery to provide money and any “legislation providing funding for Medicaid, infrastructure investment, and/or debt repayment.” The broad wording allows lawmakers to take up a number of issues, including how to use settlement money from the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

A lottery would have to be approved by voters in a statewide referendum. Bentley on Monday urged lawmakers to let voters decide the matter.

“They are not voting on a lottery. They are voting on the people’s right to vote on a lottery. People who are watching out there need to get in touch with their senator or representative and say, ‘Please let us vote on it. Let the people decide,” Bentley said.

The Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee will hold public hearings Tuesday morning on Bentley’s lottery bill as well as rival proposals that would also allow electronic lottery machines, which can resemble slot machines, at state dog tracks or seek a compact with the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

The committee could vote as soon as Tuesday afternoon.

However, legislative leaders have said the lottery bills face tough odds in a Legislature divided over gambling and particularly whether to include casino or machine gambling

House Minority Leader Craig Ford, D-Gadsden, said Democrats were, “not too optimistic” anything would be approved this session.

“I think the governor is a bit delusional in calling this session without meeting with anyone and counting votes,” Ford said.

Bentley said Monday that he was cautiously optimistic about the bill’s chances.

Alabama is one of six states, along with Mississippi, Utah, Alaska, Hawaii, and Nevada, without a state lottery. Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman made a state lottery to fund education the centerpiece of his 1998 gubernatorial campaign, but voters rejected it in 1999 under heavy opposition from church groups and out-of-state gambling interests.