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Opinion April 14, 2003 The Alabama Senate, warring over operating rules, hasn't passed or killed a bill since March 11. It is burning legislative days like jubilant Iraqis in Baghdad are torching likenesses of Saddam Hussein. "Any day that we don't pass a bunch of laws here isn't really a bad thing," said Sen. Jack Biddle, R-Gardendale. With the Legislature's sorry history, it's tempting to agree. The fewer bad laws the Legislature passes, the better. But the Senate feud does have a steep price, especially for counties and cities that have gone begging to lawmakers to get them to approve local legislation. It's yet another example of why local governments need what is known as home rule the ability to govern themselves and why Alabama needs a new constitution. The state's current wreck of a document, drafted in 1901 to concentrate power in Montgomery, gives local governments, especially counties, very little power. Counties can't pass noise laws. They can't pass weed-control laws. They can't call elections on whether to raise property taxes to provide more money for local schools. So they must ask the Legislature for permission. Shelby County school officials went in good faith to lawmakers. They scheduled a May 13 referendum on whether to increase the county's property tax rate by 9 mills to pay for new schools to accommodate the fast-growing population, and needed legislative approval to allow them to do so. The House of Representatives already has passed the bill, but the feud has stalled it (and dozens of other bills) in the Senate. Right now, it looks like the stall will force Shelby County to push back the referendum. If the Senate manages not to pass the bill at all this session, Shelby County would have to wait for another legislative session before the bill could be considered. "This is another classic example of why we need home rule," said Shelby school board member Trey Ireland. "It's unfortunate to get caught up in something like that, because the problems in the schools are not going away." The problem of local governments not being able to run themselves won't go away either, until the Legislature fixes the constitution. Return to: Constitutional Reform ~ In the News Return to: Editorial Index |
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| Alabama Citizens for
Constitutional Reform Foundation, Inc. P.O. Box 34 Montgomery, Alabama 36101-0034 E-mail: accr@constitutionalreform.org |
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