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David White
News Staff Writer
March 22, 2002

MONTGOMERY — The House of Representatives effectively killed a resolution Thursday that would have let voters decide whether to hold a convention of elected delegates to rewrite the state constitution.

   After 2? hours of talk, House members on a voice vote decided to delay further debate on the resolution.
Lawmakers could debate the plan again in coming weeks, but supporters agreed the issue is almost certainly dead in the Legislature this year.

   The plan’s sponsor, Rep. Marcel Black, D-Tuscumbia, said he clearly didn’t have the votes to pass the plan Thursday and he doubted too many votes would be changed in coming weeks.

   But Black said the issue of a constitutional convention won’t go away.

   He and other supporters said the best chance of passing a convention resolution likely will come next year, after the Nov. 5 elections for all 140 seats in the state House and Senate.

   “This was a first step,” Black said. “Many issues of importance in this state, unfortunately, take several tries.”

   Gov. Don Siegelman, who endorsed the resolution, said debate in the Legislature focused attention on the need for a new constitution that would create a fairer tax system.

   “The fight for a new constitution is not over,” he said. “More Alabamians know that the only way to set these wrongs to right is to rip the power out of the hands of the special interests in Montgomery and give it back to the people.”

   Other supporters said a new constitution could give county commissioners greater power to pass local laws dealing with weed control, junk cars, economic incentives and other issues.

   But John Giles, president of the Christian Coalition of Alabama, praised House members for rejecting the resolution.

   He and other opponents warned that a convention could propose a much worse constitution that could raise state taxes, legalize casino gambling and give county commissions greater power to raise local property taxes.
“We consider this a great victory for the people of this state,” Giles said.

   Rep. James Buskey, D-Mobile, rejoiced after House members delayed the convention resolution.
“I love it,” he said. He, too, worried that a convention could propose outrageous changes to Alabama’s supreme state law and propose a worse document.

   “A constitutional convention can do what it wants to,” Buskey warned.

   The resolution states that any new constitution proposed by a convention would have to be approved by state voters before it could take effect, supporters said.

   But Rep. Mark Gaines, R-Homewood, and others contend only an amendment to the current constitution could guarantee voters would have the last say on a new constitution.

   Such an amendment has been proposed and will take effect if voters approve it Nov. 5.

Mutual distrust:

   “We will not rest until we have a new constitution for a better Alabama,” said Thomas Corts, president of the non-partisan Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform.

   “Ours may be the only state in the Union where simply allowing citizens to vote becomes controversial,” said Corts, who also is president of Samford University.

   Secretary of State Jim Bennett, who lobbied for a convention, said too many state lawmakers fear a convention might put term limits in a new constitution or let people bypass the Legislature to pass laws by citizen initiatives.

   And he said too many voters distrust the Legislature to fairly rewrite the constitution.

   “A lot of legislators are distrustful of what a convention might do,” Bennett said. “The sad thing is, the people don’t trust the Legislature to do this in the right way and the Legislature doesn’t trust the people.”

   Bill Smith, a spokesman for Alabama Citizens for Constitutional Reform, said some House members may have opposed the resolution because Siegelman supported it.

   “We got hit by a lot of bullets that were aimed at other people, like the governor,” Smith said. “A lot of people had a particular beef with the governor and wanted to hand him a defeat.”

   But Rep. J.E. Turner, R-Citronelle, said he opposed the resolution because supporters, in his view, see a new constitution as a back-door way to make it easier for state lawmakers and local officials to raise taxes on working people.

   “What we’re talking about here today is not so much about the constitution as it is an opportunity for a fewer amount of people to put on taxes on the mass of people in the state of Alabama,” Turner said.

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