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This Week in the Alabama Legislature…March 18, 2011
Download a printer friendly version of the March 18 Weekly Report
Though lawmakers have been on Spring Break this week, we expect next week to be hectic. The
leadership’s priority appears to be immigration reform, which we expect to be the first item up in the
House on Tuesday. HB 56 by Rep. Hammon has serious problems that need to be corrected. Call
your House members and tell them this bill as written is unworkable. A few of the concerns for
counties are:
• The bill would allow citizens to sue officials or agencies, including law enforcement, if a
citizen felt that the official or agency was not enforcing the law aggressively enough.
• The bill appears to require holding persons in county jails while their legal status is
determined and keeping those unlawfully in the country in jail until they can be turned
over to federal authorities.
• While the Legislative Fiscal Office has been unable to determine the cost of this bill, it
is clear that passage of this bill will create significant financial and administrative burdens for counties.
In other business, the Association is working to get the Jailer Liability Protection bill (SB 90 by Sen.
Taylor) up for a vote in the Senate as early as this week. Counties should contact members of the
Senate Rules Committee to ask that they support giving this bill priority treatment on the
Senate’s working agenda. The members of the Rules Committee are:
Beason, Chairperson; Holley, Vice Chairperson; Bedford, Brooks, Dial, Dunn, Figures, Glover, Irons, Orr; Pittman,
Sanford, Waggoner.
ACCA BILLS
Subdivision Regulations
The House County and Municipal Government Committee is scheduled to take up the
Association bill on subdivision regulations at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The bill (HB 162 by Rep. McMillan)
would provide that if the county has adopted subdivision regulations for the unincorporated areas of
the county, the county will be responsible for enforcing those regulations within the municipal planning
commission’s jurisdiction unless there is a written agreement between the county and the municipal
planning commission authorizing the municipal planning commission to assume responsibility. Passage
of this bill would ensure that subdivision development is properly regulated so that roads and other
infrastructure are properly constructed.
The Alabama League of Municipalities has expressed concerns with this legislation, and the Association
staff is meeting with staff from the League on Monday to try to address their concerns. It is
important that counties contact committee members this weekend to ask for their support of
this bill in committee on Tuesday. And it would be very beneficial if some county engineers
could plan to attend this meeting to show county support. The committee members and the
counties they represent are:
Steve McMillan, Chair – Baldwin
Randy Wood, Vice Chair – Calhoun and St. Clair
Demetrius Newton, Ranking Minority Member – Jefferson
George Bandy – Lee and Russell
Alan Boothe – Dale and Pike
Napoleon Bracy – Mobile
Owen Drake – St. Clair and Jefferson
Allen Farley – Jefferson
Jeremy Oden – Blount, Cullman & Morgan
Patricia Todd – Jefferson
Dan Williams – Limestone
School tax elections
The bill to establish procedures and
deadlines for petitioning the county
commission to call an election on ad
valorem school taxes and to require
school boards to pay for special
elections (SB 177 by Sen. Dial) is
scheduled to be considered by the
Senate Finance & Taxation
Education Committee at 9:30
a.m. Wednesday. Opponents to this
bill have called for a public hearing.
Therefore, it is very important
that committee members be
contacted and asked to support
this bill, and it would be great if
some county officials could be
there for the hearing to
demonstrate county support.
Members of the committee are:
Pittman, Chairperson; Dial, Vice
Chairperson; Allen, Beason, Bedford,
Blackwell, Figures, Orr, Sanders,
Smitherman, Waggoner, Whatley, Taylor
Election Expenses
Both the House and Senate versions
of the bill to address problems with
the reimbursement of elections
expenses (HB54 by Rep. Wood and
SB139 by Sen. Pittman) are out of
committee and ready for action by
the full House and Senate.
Association staff is working with the
sponsors to get these bills placed on
a special order calendar for
consideration on the floor. County
officials should contact their
House and Senate members to
ask for their support of this
important legislation that will
ensure counties are properly
reimbursed for election expenses.
OTHER LEGISLATION
Photo ID for Voting
As reported last week, HB 19 by Rep.
Rich would require all voters to
produce a photo ID at the polling place.
As the bill came out of committee, it
would allow someone who did not have
a photo ID to obtain one from the
judge of probate’s office at no cost to
the voter. The cost of providing photo
IDs for voters could be enormous and
should not be the responsibility of local
governments. It is very likely that this
bill will be considered on the House
floor either Tuesday or Thursday of next
week. Therefore, every member of
the House should be contacted and
asked to oppose this legislation
unless amended to provide that the state will pay all costs associated with this new requirement.
Construction property
Currently homes which are under
construction are treated as business
property unless they are being
constructed by the property owner. This
legislation (HB 179 by Rep. Jack
Williams) would treat such homes –
which are built by construction or
homebuilding corporations – as though
they are an individual’s residence. This
change would reduce county revenue at
least $890,000 a year and establish a
dangerous precedent for future
exemptions for all construction
property. The Association and others
opposing this legislation have called for
a public hearing, which is on the agenda
in the House Commerce & Small
Business Committee for 3 p.m.
Wednesday. We urge you to contact
committee members and ask them
to OPPOSE this dangerous bill.
Greg Canfield, Chair; Jack Williams, Vice
Chair; Craig Ford, Ranking Minority
Member; Richard Baughn, David Colston,
Blaine Galliher, Barry Moore, Kurt Wallace,
Pebblin Warren
Financial institutions excise tax
The week before spring break, the
Senate Finance & Taxation – General Fund Committee carried
over a bill (SB126 by Sen. Whatley)
that would grant banks an exemption
from the financial institutions excise tax
based on expenditures on research and
business expansion. Counties receive
25 percent of the proceeds of this tax
and the Association strongly opposes
the abatement of county revenue
without the approval of the impacted
county commission. Please contact
committee members and ask them
to OPPOSE this bill that would
reduce already scarce county
funding.
Orr, Chairperson; Beasley, Bedford,
Brewbaker, Dunn, Holtzclaw, Pittman,
Sanford, Singleton, Ward, Waggoner,
Williams
Agricultural tourist attractions
The House Agriculture & Forestry
Committee gathers at 3 p.m.
Wednesday to consider Rep. Elwyn
Thomas’ HB 188 dealing with
agricultural tourist attractions. The bill
would require the Department of
Agriculture and Industries to define and
approve agricultural tourist attractions,
and it would allow for the placement of
directional signs to direct traffic to
these attractions. The Association wants
to amend the bill so that county
engineers would approve placement of
any signs to be placed on county roads.
Engineers, please contact committee
members and ask them to support
the bill only if the Association
amendment is adopted.
Chad Fincher, Chair; Steve Hurst, Vice Chair;
Richard Lindsey, Ranking Minority Member;
Donnie Chesteen, Randy Davis, Joe Faust,
Dexter Grimsley, Paul Lee, A.J. McCampbell
The real-time status of all ACCA, Danger and local bills can be found by going to www.acca-online.org and following the steps under Legislative News. Please make copies of this report for all county officials and employees. And remember, ACCA staff frequently update the Association’s web site — www.acca-online.org — with the latest information on the activities in Montgomery.
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