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In Legal Terms
- Spring Issue 2005
Legislature addresses local constitutional amendments
There has been much debate in Alabama in recent years about constitutional reform. This state has one of the longest, if not the longest, constitution in the country, made up in large part by its almost 800 amendments. I have never counted, but would venture to say that well over half of those are local constitutional amendments - amendments for one county or one municipality, and most of those adopted to bring the affected county or municipality "out from under" some ancient provision of Alabama's constitution that prevents the local government from effectively providing for the needs of its citizens and the community's growth. Many provisions of our constitution had some legitimate public purpose when initially adopted - as early as 1901 - but really have no valid application in this day and time.
Many of the local constitutional amendments which have been ratified over the years are, in fact, identical or substantially identical to others ratified in other counties or municipalities. Each county or municipality, as it recognized the need for the change, has separately passed an amendment to make that change valid in each particular jurisdiction. This has significantly contributed to the length of Alabama's Constitution - and to the growing interest in looking at whether the time has come for substantial constitutional revision in this state. And, in fact, this process has added to the growing sense that certain provisions of our Constitution no longer have any valid purpose or use. As local jurisdictions take steps to "exempt" themselves from certain provisions of the Constitution, those provisions, in time, became obsolete.
The particular problem of multiple local constitutional amendments on the same issue is now finally, in small ways, being addressed. While the debate about whether sweeping constitutional reform is, in fact, needed, and if so, in what form, in recent years the Legislature has begun to look at ways to eliminate the need for each separate county or municipality to pass constitutional change which really should apply to the state as a whole.
The first successful effort was accomplished in November 2004, when the Alabama voters approved a constitutional amendment granting all county commissions and municipalities in the state the authority to take certain actions to promote economic and industrial development within the county or municipality. In truth, a majority of counties had already passed a local constitutional amendment authorizing such activities in some limited or broad fashion. One by one, counties (and some municipalities) had identified the need for the ability to better encourage and promote economic development, and one by one, the local constitutional amendments were passed. Finally, in 2004, the Legislature decided to pass legislation proposing reform of the Constitution to grant this power to all counties and municipalities in the state. And fortunately, the citizens of Alabama approved this effort.
The statewide constitutional amendment was intended to - and will - provide all counties with much better ability to assist in recruiting and promoting industry and other economic development, and as written, will allow counties which may have already had some limited authority under a previously-enacted local constitutional amendment the additional authority granted under this new constitutional authority. With the passage of Amendment No. 766, all local governments now have this authority and all are on equal footing on this issue.
A new effort to "combine" local constitutional amendments into one statewide amendment has been introduced in this session of the Legislature, and if passed by the Legislature, it will be voted on by all Alabama voters in 2006 in this state. Currently, Alabama's Constitution provides that all court costs shall be uniform - in other words, set in the same amount in all counties in the state. However, over the years, approximately forty counties have passed local constitutional amendments which allow the Legislature to pass local laws setting court costs in that county, and as a result, court costs now vary widely from county to county. Uniformity of court costs clearly no longer exists in Alabama, and the validity of the original provision requiring uniformity has long since vanished. Rep. Jeff McLaughlin has introduced a bill proposing a statewide constitutional amendment to allow the legislature to pass local laws setting the costs of court in all counties in Alabama, and setting the salaries of local officials in the few counties where certain officials are still paid by fees. If House Bill 67 is passed by the Legislature and approved by the voters in Alabama at the next general election, all counties would be allowed to have court costs adjusted by local legislative act. There would be no need for additional individual counties to pass additional individual local constitutional amendments identical to those already on the books, and this issue, like economic development would finally be put to rest. In addition, Alabama's Constitution, at least on this issue, would more accurately reflect current needs on a statewide basis, and would again put all counties on equal footing in this regard.
There are other areas where Alabama's Constitution no longer adequately represents the needs of county government and the citizens it is charged with representing and serving. And there are other areas where one by one, counties are successfully "changing" the Constitution to more properly reflect the times. I hope that the Alabama Legislature will continue to look for areas where a statewide constitutional amendment will grant to all counties needed changes currently handled on a county by county basis. And I hope that counties will support these efforts and assist by supporting the legislative efforts - and by working hard for ratification of such statewide amendments when the issues come before Alabama voters at the polls. |
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