Executive Director's Report - Spring
Issue 2003
Constitution Commission Recommends Changes
In his article, which
appears in this issue, ACCA President Johnny Flowers addresses
the recently completed report of the Alabama Citizen's
Constitution Commission appointed in January of this year
by Governor Bob Riley. President Flowers pointed out that
Governor Riley charged the Commission with the responsibility
of recommending constitutional changes in five areas.
President Flowers’ article specifically addressed
the area relating to Limited Home Rule For Counties. I
am using this space to briefly address the report as it
relates to the other four areas.
Recompiling Our Current Constitution
The Alabama Constitution is notorious for its length.
It has been amended more than 700 times. The amendments
are assigned a number and appear in the document in chronological
order. If a particular amendment amends an existing provision
of the Constitution, the new verbiage is not incorporated
into the existing provision but rather is given a number
and placed at the end of the document. This is entirely
different from the way existing general statutes are amended.
When a general statute is amended the new verbiage is
eventually incorporated into the Code of Alabama at the
appropriate location.
Many of the existing amendments to the Alabama
Constitution do not amend another existing provision.
They either provide new general constitutional law relating
to matters affecting the entire state or are aimed at
local issues relating to one county or other local governmental
entity. Amendments of statewide application are not grouped
by subject matter and amendments affecting local issues
are not grouped in any logical manner.
The Commission concluded that recompilation
of the Constitution could be accomplished without having
to amend it. The Commission recommended that legislation
be introduced that would direct the Code Commissioner
to prepare an official recompilation of the 1901 Constitution
and have it published. The recommendation contained the
one caveat that the recompilation makes no substantive
changes to any operative constitutional provision.
Earmarking of State Revenues
A very large percent of state revenues are earmarked for
particular purposes either in the Constitution or statutes.
Many individuals, and Governor Riley, contend that such
earmarking provisions "tie the hands" of the
Legislature in the appropriation process. The Governor
charged the Commission to study earmarking and recommend
changes while ensuring that the state's children's educations
are fully funded.
The recommendations of the Commission in
this regard were lengthy and somewhat complicated. Complicating
matters further is the fact that the Commission offered
three alternatives with regard to earmarking of highway
and vehicular use taxes and fees.
With regard to statutory earmarking, the
Commission recommended a constitutional provision prohibiting
the earmarking of (1) new taxes levied by the Legislature,
(2) revenues derived from increasing the rate of an existing
tax, and (3) revenues derived from changing the deductions,
exemptions, credits or allowance with respect to an existing
tax. The recommendation further provided that a constitutional
amendment be adopted that would provide for the eventual
termination of all statutory earmarking unless continued
by the Legislature.
The Commission found that there are three
major areas of constitutional earmarking: (1) earmarking
for education funding, (2) earmarking for highway, road
and bridge funding, and (3) earmarking for the funding
of game and fish activities and regulations.
The Commission basically recommended that
the practice of earmarking certain tax proceeds for education
be terminated but that education funding be held at minimum
levels unless changed by a "super majority"
vote of the Legislature.
The Commission adopted three alternative
recommendations with regard to the earmarking of highway
and vehicular use taxes and fees. The first recommendation
suggests that only 85 percent of such taxes and fees be
earmarked for highway, road and bridge purposes. This
would mean that the Legislature could appropriate up to
15 percent thereof for other purposes.
The second alternative would protect an
amount up to 100 percent of the amount of such taxes and
fees that were collected in the year prior to the year
in which the recommendation was adopted. The recommendation
contains provisions for built-in escalation of the base
amount in subsequent years. The legislature would be authorized
to decrease the protected amounts in subsequent years
by a "super majority" vote.
The third alternative recommendation was
that earmarking of such taxes and fees be continued as
it is now. The Commission noted that most states currently
earmark such revenues.
The Commission recommended that the current
practice of earmarking revenues derived from hunting and
fishing licenses be continued.
Governor's Line Item Veto
The current Alabama Constitution does not grant the Governor
authority to veto line items in a budget presented to
him or her by the Legislature. Governor Riley asked the
Commission to develop a proposed constitutional amendment
that would give him that authority. The Commission presented
to the Governor a proposed amendment that would give him
that authority under certain circumstances.
Super Majority Vote For New Or
Increased Taxes
Currently, the Alabama Legislature can enact laws levying
new taxes or increasing existing taxes. With very few
exceptions, such laws are passed by the Legislature by
simple majority votes.
Governor Riley instructed the Commission
to make a recommendation concerning "The appropriateness
of amending Alabama's Constitution to establish a threshold
three-fifths super majority vote of the Legislature to
enact and impose any new taxes." The Commission responded
by recommending a constitutional amendment to require
that "No general bill imposing a new tax or increasing
the rate of or revenue from an existing tax shall become
law unless it receives an affirmative vote of three-fifths
of the elected members of each house of the Legislature."
The proposed amendment also provides that
the super majority vote also applies to votes taken to
concur in an executive amendment or a report of a committee
on conference or to an amendment from the other house.
The three-fifths vote requirement would not be applicable
to state fees-for-services or local acts that levy taxes.
As President Flowers stated in his article,
the proposals are now in the hands of the Governor. He
can accept them as they are or change them. Indications
are that he plans to present them in some form to the
Legislature.
Sincere appreciation is expressed to Governor
Riley for appointing two county commissioners to serve
on the Commission. Commissioner Stanley Batemon from St.
Clair County served on the Home Rule Committee and Commissioner
Mark Culver from Houston County served on the Super Majority
Committee.
These two men made important contributions
throughout the entire process. They were especially diligent
in protecting the interest of county government.
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