FRANKFORT — Gov. Steve Beshear said he expects a "simple" constitutional amendment will be introduced in the Senate next week to expand gambling with enabling legislation in it to allow lawmakers to work on details later.

Beshear did not say who will sponsor the measure but said he will aggressively pursue expanded gambling in the legislative session that begins Tuesday.

Beshear talked about expanded gambling and other issues Wednesday in a wide-ranging interview in his Capitol office with print reporters.

The Democratic governor was sworn into office earlier this month for his second four-year term. Expanded gambling was a priority of his first term, but the legislature never approved his proposals.

Beshear said earlier this month that a constitutional amendment is the best way to go.

"People don't want to look at a 14-page amendment to determine whether they are going to vote on it or not," Beshear said. "We need a fairly simple approach to this."

If the legislature approves such an amendment, voters could decide the issue at the polls next November.

Beshear said his proposed constitutional amendment would contain some details, but enabling legislation would be needed to decide such issues as how additional revenue from expanded gambling would be spent.

Beshear said he probably would call a special legislative session to work out details about expanded gambling if voters OK the amendment.

Senate President David Williams, a Burkesville Republican who opposes expanded gambling, has said Beshear should publicly air a constitutional amendment before introducing one in the legislature.

Kentucky is losing hundreds of millions of dollars to neighboring states that allow casino gambling, Beshear said.

Beshear noted a Lexington Herald-Leader online report that a poll conducted by the Kentucky Republican Party this month reflects a similar finding by a horse industry poll released this week that showed Kentuckians overwhelmingly think expanded gambling should be decided by a vote of the people.

State GOP Chairman Steve Robertson said that in the party's poll of 1,050 Kentuckians conducted Dec. 18-20, about 80 percent said the issue should be decided at the polls.

The horse industry poll this week said 87 percent of Kentuckians want to vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling. Only 10 percent of those surveyed said they oppose a vote.

While the horse industry poll said 64 percent would vote in favor of the amendment, the GOP poll did not find support for expanded gambling as strong.

Robertson said the GOP poll asked "a more general question" about expanded gambling.

"We asked if they favored or opposed it," Robertson said. "About 53 percent said they favor it."

Robertson said he has talked to a few legislators about the party poll and did not want to release all of it now.

On other issues, Beshear said:

 He will have "a bold agenda" in the 2012 General Assembly to do more in early-childhood education and development and creation of a better trained work force.

He said he again will pursue raising the dropout age in schools from 16 to 18. The House has approved such legislation three times, but it has died in the Senate.

 The next two-year state budget will be "one of the most, if not the most, challenging" the state has had to handle, Beshear said.

The economy is picking up, but federal stimulus dollars will not be available to balance the next budget as they were for the current budget, he said.

He said he is not considering furloughs and layoffs of state workers in his proposed budget but still is working on its details. He was not sure whether state workers and teachers will get pay raises.

 He will announce his plans for tax reform in the next week or two. He would not say whether he will pursue tax reform in the 2012 legislative session or later.

 He is "excited" about plans to renovate Rupp Arena and revive downtown Lexington but does not know whether the city will be in a position to ask the 2012 General Assembly for state support for it.

"There's no question that the state, at whatever point Rupp Arena will be renovated, will be part of it just as we were with construction of the Yum Center (in Louisville)," he said.

Beshear said he hopes the city and the University of Kentucky will "come together" in what they will seek from the state.

 He expects to announce by year's end his decision whether University Hospital in Louisville should merge with Jewish Hospital & St. Mary's HealthCare and Saint Joseph Health System in Lexington, which is owned by Denver-based Catholic Health Initiatives.

Beshear said he is waiting on a report from Attorney General Jack Conway before he announces his decision.

Concern about the merger focuses on University Hospital's agreement not to perform sterilizations and other procedures banned by Catholic health directives.